Electric Helicoptors

[Phil Meredith]

if not for the "jap crap" (and other third world countries) as you put it, half of us would be sitting in the pits watching, or not even enjoying the hobby at all, thanks to these underpaid bowl of rice a day grafters, (i kid you not, average wage in the Phillipines for unskilled labour is £2.40 per day,) for a 12 hour shift, and as brendon has noted they are very good at taking someone elses idea and making twice as reliable for half the price, "try buying a uk made anything these days" and if you could the parts for it would be sourced from asia somewhere,

[Steve Loates]

I bought the Esky Honey Bee as an inexpensive way of learning the basics and keeping the costs down. I found that it did actually fly straight out of the box, was easy to set up after a few early mishaps and the parts were cheap and easy to replace. After a few days of practice lift offs, I could get it light on the skids and into the air with no drama and was also able to compensate easily for that annoying habit of floating left on take off. I have only just started on the forward flight thing, but I have no doubt that it will be a relatively easy and very enjoyable process. The only problem I had was that no matter how far forward I positioned the battery (LiPo instead of the usual NiMh that the kit comes with) the heli was slightly tail heavy. A bit of modelling clay sorted this and now it balances well at the correct CofG and hovers stably with very little input from me.

[Brian Daniels]

some of the cheap micro helis (fixed pitch etc) are a good way of seeing if Helis are for you, but hard to master. The co-axel are more stable for learning and better for flying in the lounge, one of the best small electrics has to be the Trex by far :o)

[kam24]

I think the Mini Titan is more stable............

[Brian Daniels]

I dont know..A trex se is a very good heli. A proven design with a great track record

[kam24]

I know, But the Mini Titan is still more stable lol

[HughG]

I posted these comments in the Medevac thread, but didn't get any reply. Reading this thread, it looks as though one of you guys knows an answer?
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I've struggled for some time with an ic powered heli (Century Hawk) and it's been getting quite expensive in repairs. However, with the Medevac I've been able to practice without too much expense (mainly replacement blades) and now on a quiet evening I can happily fly figure-of-eights in the garden and also do a nose in hover. Now for the bigger model!
The medevac is a great training tool and beats simulators!

I've now gone back to the Hawk and found that the hours with the Medevac have really paid off. I can now do with the Hawk what I was doing with the Twister. I brought the Hawk home with no damage - I was never near damaging it, which was not the case before! However, the Hawk is far more sensitive - I just seems to have to 'breathe' on the sticks. Would you experts out there recommend using exponential or should I stick with the sensitivity?

[Brendan]

Use the exponential. You still retain full travel, but it makes life much easier when mastering the basics. Plenty of time later on for increasing the sensitivity, but for now concentrate on improving your confidence and soft control inputs will really help with that.

[HughG]

Thanks for the reply. How much would you recommend? About 20% to start?

[Brendan]

I would start at about 30% and then adjust according to personal preference. I fly a Raven 30 which is CCPM and a bit more lively than the Hawk and I use 30%. Expo also helps to reduce the effect of unwanted inputs that sometimes happen when you move aileron or elevator and inadvertently introduce movement in the other control(if you know what I mean!) I only use it on cyclic as I like a crisp response from the rudder. If you use Futaba, its -30% - JR I believe is a positive value - but don't quote me - best to check the manual!

[Ron Burrows]

i have just built the titan and found it much better than the trex in the hover not had it in forward flight yet as the weather has been c**p
out of the trex/x400/viper/esky cool i have found so far the manual is the best i have seen
next down the list the twister 3d
not realy 3d unless you upgrade but a well priced starter heli
i did what i thought was a bad crash with the twister but after checking it over up it went again until i crashed again but then only £20 to repair
a good learning heli and cheap to repair
the titan is a trex killer so far in price and hover above that unknown
never had a heli out of the box fly and have the correct motor not evan the trex
later models maybe but the cost now the trex is way over priced
but all good fun and that is what we all want in the end
Ron

[Ron Burrows]

when you first start with any heli
start around 35% - expo Brendan jr are + for - ?
as you fly and get used to the heli reduce the expo by 5% every 2-3 hrs of flying until you get back to 0%
some helis are made to be fast on the input
and at first can be a handful expo is a good way to slowly get you into a faster response
Ron

[Owen Hailey]

Hi fhere lads.

I tened to no be lead by lots of ££££ when it comes to getting people intrested in our very fufilling hobby. One of my work mates sore me flying at work and said that is somthing I have allways wanted to do, but the cost had allways put him of so I said I could get him flying for £30 kwid of ebay and that I would get him stated with my 2 chanel syma 606 within a week he was totaly hooked and I sent for his first heli so money is not what its all about live and let live.

happy flying.