Best First Helicopter

[P Farrell]

I am looking to buy a radiocontrolled helicopter for my son who is 13. He has had a radio controlled plane before but it was very disappointing as it only lasted about 3 minutes in the air and had very poor control ( it also broke easily ! )..

We have searched the web and found a few between £20 and £70  but its very difficult from the on-line shops to know which is the best 'first' model to buy.

I've seen the Picoo-Z, Dragonfly and mosquito all advertised in various guises..

 Any help on which to choose .. or which to avoid !!

 Thanks

[Tim Mackey]

Well really, the piccoZs and so on are just fun toys, and although pretty breakproof, are not true R/C helicopters (they are infra red actually )

For the next step up, and for around the £100 or so mark, you could could not do much better than this IMO ( 2.4 Ghz R/C too !! )http://www.tjdmodels.com/product.jsf?productId=552

[Gareth Child]

I bought a Twister Bell 47, and after a very nasty crash (alcohol was involved so don't be sympathetic or suspect a fault in the machine) rebuilt the innards in the body of a Twister Medevac. It has been a brilliant, utterly outstanding 'first' heli, and I am now trying to decide what sort of 3d machine to upgrade to. However, more important than the machine you buy is how you treat it. I followed the instructions and video for about 90 seconds before taking my heli outside to fly it "properly" - and within another ten seconds had done £30 worth of damage to it. If you don't want to break things, then you have to follow the instructions. It also hurts if you crash the heli into yourself. Buy a training undercarriage, and spend at least a dozen battery charges with the heli no further than six inches off the ground. Then have a look at this site: http://www.littlerotors.com/flyinglessons/index.aspx I would also recommend at least two spare batteries, because 15 minutes flight time is not much when the LiPos take about an hour to charge. I am still dead keen to start flying like Alan Szabo, but every time I get cocky I end up with bits of plastic flying all over the place and a three day wait for spares to arrive at my local model shop. It's a tough lesson in self restraint for a 38-year-old to learn, so I reckon a 13-year-old is either going to have to fly like an angel or learn incredible self control.

[Doug Ireland]

P Farrell, I've spent thirty years flying fixed-wing models and bought a Raptor 30 V2 a couple of years ago thinking "how hard can it be!" After trying to get my head around "throttle hold" and "pitch curves" all I managed to do was wipe out three sets of rotor blades!

Its been gathering dust ever since!

[Tim Mackey]

What can we say.....

"some people never learn" seems very appropriate in a double meaning sort of way

Seriously though, I too have a twister bell, and a little toy PiccoZ, and after my initial enthusiasm, and steep learning curve on the Twister, the novelty wore off after a few months. I managed to get pretty reasonable with the twister, but then got cocky and flew it in the garden. Although a pretty flat calm day, it still managed to find some extra lift, and as it climbed ever further up, it also found a little gentle breeze ( and I mean GENTLE ) which took it over the neighbours roof and beyond to about 3 gardens away, out of site, and never to be found again. I had to express deep sorrow to wifey, as it was a Xmas pressy from her last year, but secretly........I am slightly releived, and can now use the 6 spare batteries I had accumulated ( pun intended ) in a proper flying machine...IE Fixed wing!!

[Gareth Child]

Horses for courses, innit, Timbo? I find fixed wing unstimulating. The only fixed wing models I have ever enjoyed were the ones that came in pairs, with little lasers on the front and engines that cut out when you scored a direct hit. Brilliant fun, but with a flight time of just three minutes and no spare parts, they didn't provide entertainment for very long. And they were impossible to fly outdoors. For me, controlling my Twister in the garden with unpredictable breezes is a stimulating challenge that I enjoy - although I wouldn't attempt a flight at wind speeds of above 5mph. The Twister is capable of up to about 20mph and the Tx has a range of 50 metres - the height of Nelson's Column, and at that distance you can hardly see it. But the point is that even if I am caught out by the breeze, opening the throttle all the way and using height to buy time to control it has always worked.

[Tim Mackey]

Oh yes I agree Gareth, and my comments were ever so slightly tongue in cheek

[Gareth Child]

Oh - in that case can I say that planks are just too easy to fly...?

[Tim Mackey]

LOL

[Gareth Child]

I'm not laughing now. A simple mistake while flying figure eights around the garage has chipped the ends off both lower rotor blades - and I only have one spare. I wouldn't mind, but I have eight spare upper blades. I'll just have to spend the rest of the evening wondering what heli to buy next...

[Bill Jowitt]

This would be my suggested route:

Buy a Twister Bell 47 or Medevac for indoor flying or very calm outdoors - this will give you basic heli skills, orientation and when you have the hang of it, a whole lot of confidence.

Then, buy a computer sim - the concensus seems to be that the Phoenix sim is the best, but I currently have RealFlight G3 which has been good so far. Play with that until you can confidently hover the heli models on the PC.

Then, depending on cash, get a collective pitch model. Again, the concensus seems to be that the larger the heli, the easier it is to control outside and in winds. I started off with a Twister CP v2, but had an unhappy time with it for a long time before I got it sorted out by the shop that sold it to me. I then did make some progress with it, but by then the tail motor was getting burnt out so I would not recommend that route. I then moved on to a Falcon 3d Deluxe from HeliGuy which I got into the hover out of the case. If you have tons of money, then start off with an even larger heli, but it would be worth seeking advice from a club and going with what they fly.

Have fun...

[newbie]

I have a blade cx2 which I have found to be very good to learn the basics and am now thinking of taking the next step to something bigger, has anyone got any advise?

[Mark Lewis]

I would recommend a Twister Black Hawk as i have one and was getting confident with the flying in the front room and decided to take it outside for a spin, not too bad for about five minutes then a gust of wind stacked it into the tarmac. Damage to the fuselage and the under carriage, bent fly bar and main shaft (gutted) i brought my second instalement earlier on. Anyway there a great little chopper, the training undercarriage is recommended by some and not others.. As a first heli to play with the controlls are good, heli battery not great but FUN, i would say this heli needs a very soft landing as the landing gear can damage the fuselage and the battery tray if treated hard. An all in one package for a hundread quid, heli, controller, data cable spare blades, and flight sim CD. you cant do better than that.. A soft landing is a MUST.

[Owen Hailey]

Hi there I can strongly recommend the coaxial two roater type as the price is good for a 4 channel heli do no fly out side till you can hover and do small circuits thes can be got for as low as £80 on the net.

[newbie]

Thanks guys, I already have a Blade CX2 twin rotor helli witch I am getting on well with but I now fancy something a bit bigger and more sutible for outdoor use.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[wlfk]

I'm going to spoil things by suggesting that you need to spend significant money if you want to buy something that will fly happily outdoors.

The co-axial helis are the only cheap ones that generally fly OK, but fixed-pitch helicopters generally have a bad reputation for dealing with wind - even the larger ones.

The heli forums are filled with reports of people who've bought cheap RTF helis that they've never got flying in a way you could describe as 'controlled'. Mentioning no brands, my flatmate got stung this way too.

A T-Rex comes in at £400 or more, by the time you've bought some half-decent servos, batteries and a gyro. www.clearviewrc.com is a good simulator for the price.

K

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[wlfk]

I'm not disagreeing with you Eric - but there are reports of people actually having got coax helis to fly successfully. Not so for the cheap single-rotor helis.

K

[newbie]

Thanks Wlfk, I am downloading the sim at this moment, I know what your saying I was thinking about a Century 450 sec electric, any good?

[wlfk]

I honestly don't know - never seen one in real life, just on the internet.

I have a T-Rex 450, which is about the same size - basically looks like the Century is a clone. They take the same parts which is good, because T-Rex parts are relatively cheap. If the Century is equally robust and flies as well, then it would be a very good option. If not, then... Conceptually the idea's fine.

I use A123 batteries, 3s. It involved some modification to get them to fit in my helicopter, but I think they're by far the better option. They last much longer and can be charged much faster than LIPO batteries and are also safer. www.brchobbies.co.uk sell them, though you can't use an ordinary LIPO charger.

There are several ebay shops that sell the commonly broken parts (booms, main shafts, feathering spindles, main gears) about 1/2 the price of the Align's own parts. By and large I haven't had too many quality issues - some of the tailbooms needed holes drilling but that was about it.

All the same, I've easily spent the cost of the heli on spare parts and being realistic you will need to budget for this.

K