First helicopter

[Justie]

Hi

I'm seriously considering purchasing a heli but have never flown one before so need one to teach myself on. I think electric is probably the way to go. I'd like a good sized one but also as quiet as possible.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Phil Meredith]

the most popular at the moment seems to be the t rex, i have the 450x, one of the first they produced, it is pretty stable in the hover when set up right, thats about as far as i have got apart from a bit of side on hovering, hard on the head but im getting there, can be hard on the pocket too,
my advice would be to get a fixed pitch mini heli such as the ripmax sabre, the cml venom or the twister, any one of these will train your finger responces, and they are so cheap to repair, the odd mistake is not too costly,
once you have mastered the stable hover with one of these then progress to something more expensive, the bigger the more stable,
regards phil

[Jonathan Lewzey]

If you've never flown heli before don't get a tRex because you'll crash it. Get a contra rotating one and keep the money for a better one when you're proficient.
Jonathan

[Dead-stick]

I agree with Phil; I bought the Twister V2 and taught myself to fly. I proberbly paid what the 'copter cost me in spares alone, but it was money well spent in my opinion as I can now fly nose in circuits with aplomb! If you can master a fixed pitch chopper indoor and outdoors, then a TREX, Swift or similar will be so much easier to fly enabling you to try out new manoeuvres with relative confidence.
Two suggestions would be to:

1) Have at least 3 spare batteries (4 in total) so as to maximise airtime,
(Ebay is a good source for some really cheap flight packs and spare parts).

2)Take off the training U/C sooner rather than later as the overall controlability will be so much better. It tends to have quite a pendulem effect which you end up fighting and invariably loosing!

[chris hamilton]

Simulators are simply the best for helis, they really help keep your learning to max. and when the weathers bad you lose that which you have lost. just a thought but a tiny indoor heli like a twister bell or somthing will keep you going indoors anyway, when your learning its really important to keep getting loads of stick time. remember to learn to hover get some heigh, chest hight or aboves, helis are unstable at lift of and turblent when very very low. so dont be afraid of get some hight, it will improve your hover

[chris hamilton]

oh and if you are flighing something indoors, like a twister bell 47, and your flying zone is the lounge dont forget to stop every so often to let the air calm down again, if not it can affect your flying.

[Chris Dickens]

Totally agree, start with a conta rotaing job and get plenty of sim time before moving on to a Trex or similar, then get it set up by somebody who can fly before you have a go.

[Justie]

Wow thanks for all the responses especially those with longer answers. Given what has been said I've been leaning towards the Twister.

In particular, the Twister 3D - does anyone have any views on this helicopter?

Also does anyone have any suggestions on keeping things quiet? I only ask as I saw a demo of an electric helicopter flying and it made a horrible whine!

Again thanks for your time.

[Patrick Adams]

The word is twister bell 47 they are fantastic. I have just bought one, my progress is unbeleavable in just a few days. The upside is that when and if you have a prang, you can buy any single part that you break. Blades are very cheap on ebay.
By the way if you are a new heli pilot like me, keep it simple, learn to crawl first then walk. DONT RUN forget 3D for the time being.

[Anthony Jones]

i started with a twister bell cotra rotating heli just messing about in the living room then i got a t rex learned outside with that got it hovering then i got a raptor 50 and im just starting to fly it around now ideally something around 30 - 50 ic would be ideal but in eletric it can be expencive as you need good reliable flight packs like flight power or the over tec ones from overlander personaly idd stay away from the ebay stuff they only have about a 10c discharge rate and the voltage will drop off very quickly u need somthing around 15 - 20c as witth a heli the motor is at high rpm most of the flight

anthony

[chris hamilton]

Yes the twister is great BUT the Eflight Blade is identical insides, same motors, same gyro. HOWEVER It comes with spectrum 5 channel 2.4G radio. i have both a twister and blade, and without a doubt the blade is better just for the radio. and its a tad less in price.

If anyone needs help with mending a contra rotating job give me a shout.

[Peter Davidson]

I have e-sky robin 22 that banks to the left every time even with full right trim and plenty of right stick. Is there anyway of adjusting this?

[Steve Loates]

Unfortunately not Peter, helicopters do this naturally...even the full size ones. With a bit of practice you will start to naturally compensate for this at the point of lift off. Once you have the heli level add a little extra throttle to lift up to about chest height, this will stop undue movement through ground effect.

[Owen Hailey]

Hi there Peter I have Robins 22 and this sounds quite familiar as I had to adjust mine first make shore the swaosh plate is pushed together and not wobbling about then unscrew the left servo conecting rod one turn put trim back to center and try a very gentle hover.