A Place for Your Progress Be It Good Or Bad...........

[joshua jones]

Hello all,

     I have been thinking that a place within the Heli threads where like minded people can leave there thoughts and share there progress might be a good idea????? 

Can i just say i would love to hear of all Heli people out there im not just interested in one perticullar brand or specific model but every thing and every aspect of Heli flying.

 

Helicopters is such a huge aspect of model flying that i think it warrants some space trying to learn it all on your own would take forever and at the bad times when you crash and it all looks bleak it is made easier with some encouragement from your peers. Anyone who thinks its easy to set up a Heli (Properly) and fly it is obviously a man of many words and very little action or they would not make that statement in the first place so somewhere to share tips, set up advice and methods might prove very usefull. I know this sort of thing is by no means new on forums and i dont pretend to think i am doing anything "earthmoving"  but just a very interested modeller who would like to see others thoughts and opinions. I would be very interested to see what you all felt about this am i right or should i shut up and shuffle off??

 

Personally i am a raw recruit when it comes to Heli's i have a much loved Belt CP y first ever Heli and to dated have only put 5 batteries through it so i have MUCH to learn and can't wait to start taking it all in. I have managed to trim it out so i have a nice lift of without to much movement other than virticaly, Have managed to hover for longer periods each time i think 30 seconds is the record so far! have tried some very gentle piro's and some forwards and backwards flight over a very short distance of course. The Heli its self i have found to be absolutely amazing what a machine!! i cant belive how stable it isand how well it went together and flys of course it is an entry level Heli and theres better out there but for a learning tool it surpasses all expectations.

I think its well built easily repairable and above All CHEAP which was my main reason for going with the Esky in the first place knowing that at some point i WILL need to rebuild it and my budget is very small so i have to consider things carefully.

Any awy i think i have said enough for now and will let someone else take over but i will be back with updates of my progress.

 

All the best, be safe. 

[Owen Hailey]

Hi Joshua

You sound like you have got your feet fermly on the ground, and that is totaly the rite aproach with heli flying, we all need help from time to time so talking about it is very inportant in the learning curve, and as for keeping the spending under control, that is a major plus in the first place for most people, as it can be quite of putting to some one if they spend 4 or 5 hundred pound only to see it in peaces after only one flyt and may be a finel nail in the cofin be for they have begun, so good lucke and hope more people can join in the chat.

Let keep hovering Owen. 

[Andy Dockerill]

Joshua,

Like you, I feel I have all to learn regarding rc flying. I have had rc helis for about 13 months now and I am just getting into fixed wing (planks)!!

I started off with a Honey Bee CP2 which is the smaller brother to your Belt CP.

I spent many hours with the heli weighted down sliding around my kitchen floor getting a feel for the controls.

I did this because I saw lots of posts about RADDS. This is a training program that if you stick to will get you hovering your heli with confidence in about 10 batteries!!.

Google RADDS and give it a go and if you stick to the lessons you will progress really well.

One thing I would point out is that it is very important to have your heli set up as best you can!!

Hovering a heli is hard enough and if your set up is wrong then you will just be making things harder for yourself!!

I am not endorsing any products or people but if you go to you tube and search for heli set up there are many videos that will show you the basics of setting up your heli.

If you search on you tube for CP2SETUP,NightFlyyer has a lot of very good videos that will help you out. They are based on the CP2 but relate to most low cost helis.

All that said, once I got to being able to hover my heli “tail in” I found that I got stuck there. I never felt I had the confidence to move on from there.

That is when I bought a new heli but I will talk about that later!!

[joshua jones]

Owen,

 

 Tanks for leaving a postng a wasnt sure anyone would, Yes i couldnt agree more if  i spent that sort f money t start and stuffed it i wuld be in tears quite litterally i think

Again a main reason for the Belt i am not so worried if i cras as i know i will but i have already plenty of spares for the event!! and this way i feel alot more relaxed and confident to push my self i thin learnins is just that building confidence and realising anything can be done you just have to again and again.

I would be interested in hearing what you fly if you dont mind sharrng?

 

Andy,

 

Well its looks like were in the same boat then hey  i did it the other way though planks first then helis and in one way im glad i did because that was hard enough but trying to fly a heli without even holding a TX eerrr no thanks, so after your 13 months of increased blod pressure how far have you got?? not to say you shuld be oing this or that by now just cause i want to figure ut what to expect i know every one is different but there is still common ground for all. I have looked at RADDS excellent thankyou i have kinda been adopting a similar approach my self but it is good to have someone whos done it all and can help me now i think i might of skipped one or two steps as you do so todaY IM STARTING OVER USING radds . I have sooooo many setup vids its untrue but better safe than sorry hey! Finless bob on Helifreak is very good and a few others so im confident in my setup it starts sweet hardly any vibes at all and tracking is spot  on 0 pitch mid stick in idle up every thing is square swash level as is paddles and evenly spaced i have a nice pitch curve in normal to help avoid slamming into the deck more of a float down ( thats te theory anyway) with -1 + 6' pitch.

Any way i must go pratice!

 

Again thanks to both for leaving a post look forward to talking again.

josh

 

 

 

 

[Andy Dockerill]

Josh,

I found that my flying skills really improved when I bought my second heli!

I was flying the CP2 outside in my rear yard and a lot of the time I didnt really feel confident enough to fly when it was a bit windy.

I bought a WALKERA 4#3B. This is a tiny heli and is quite difficult to control but as I could fly more often I was getting more stick time and therefore felt I was actually improving.

It is so easy to plug a battery into the Walkera and fly for five minutes what ever the weather. Even when its dark outside I can get my flying done!

The heli is very strong for its size and other than having to buy new motors for it I havent replaced many parts.

Now when I fly the CP2 I find it so much easier I am looking forward to the warmer weather so I can see how far my flying skills have improved.

I have flown circuits with the Walkera outside so think I could do the same with the CP2 now!!

There is some thing about flying a small heli that gives me more confidence!!??
 

All I need to do is transfer the skills I am learning on the Walkera to the CP2 and Ill be buzzing around the skies!!

[joshua jones]

Andy,

 

Thats very interesting that you found the smaller heli a little easier as general thought that bigger is better however i strongly belive each to there own and we must do what works for us as individuals..

 

And there is no substitute for actuall stick time consistantly on the same machines i found that very true last  year when learning fixed wing.

 

I would love to be able to have a smaller heli in addition to my belt i couid fly indoors to although it would have to be a CP heli and unfortunately funds wont allow that right now which is a reall shame as the T-rex 250 is VERY tempting to me....

 

My progress has taken a knock today i have been adopting Radds ( i cant thankyou enough for that one) which has been really working for me i think more than anythng it has taught me CONTROL and that if the heli moves and i havent told t to then im not in control. And focus is the key in just a day and a half i feel i have improved..

But as always with me good is envitably followed by bad my ESC mallfunctioned one of the motor wire came away from the pcb and shorted on the poss+ wire releasing the MAGIC (or not so magic) smoke of not only esc but it fried the motor too.........GUTTED;

 

So untill i can replace them i am am well and truely grounded........

ill update when i get hovering again.

 

I have put a new thread on here some where about esc, servos and regulators if you would be so kind to have a look and if you have a opinion i would be most gratefull to hear it.

 

Josh...

[Andy Dockerill]

Josh,

 

sorry to hear about your loss.

 

I don't want to mislead you or any one else about how easy it is to fly smaller helis. They are most definately harder to fly!!

 

The point I was trying to make was that because I was flying the smaller heli more often - at least three or four times a day -I was getting so much more stick time that my skills improved quicker.

 

When I was only flying once or twice a week outside with the bigger heli I was having to relearn all the time.

 

Also because the small heli requires faster reactions it is like flying in slow motion when I fly the biger helis, lots more time to react and plan.

 

Will check out your new posts and if I can give any input I will, but from some of the posts I have read on here there are people who are far more qualified then me to answer your questions

 

Andy

 

 

[joshua jones]

Ok so its been a few days since i updated on my progress so heres a brief listing:

 

Spent some time getting the CG correct and the model properly trimmed out, then commence hovering very low and letting go of the sticks to see what the natural tendencies are when i was happy with that i started to go higher. Once i realised i dont need to my corrections continuosly i improved a lot, instead just correcting the helis natural intentions has help me hover in a very smal area.

 

Kept praticing the low hover untill i was totally confident, then increased the height againg until i was happy once i could keep it with the box id drawn on the floor i repeated the exercise at different angles not nose in just yet but im happy at any angle where im still viewing the rear of the model.

 

Again increasing height i am happy up to about 12ft now and now started to play a little with the collective and seeing how height is lost and gained, FUN.

Back down to about 4ft and i have been working on flying forward a few feet stop hover land and take off hover slowly backwards hover and land.

This i have repeated many many times

 

Then the same thing but side ways which surprisingly i found easier than forwards And back! 

The only other thing i have tried this week have been slow piro's whilst trying to remain in one place, yeah right one place!!!!. i found clockwise easier to hold still than anti clockwise so tomorrow i will pratice this untill im happy.

 

So all in all a very productive week. The buzz i get from these Heli's is intense and i see why so many people do it i have a smile on my face now just thinkin about it!!

 

Anyway got to go now but ill be back tomorrow.

Josh 

 

 

[Andy Dockerill]

 

Joshua,

sorry for not posting for ages, somehow I have been overlooking this thread in "MY ACCOUNT" ( that's how I try to keep track of stuff).

How's the flying/training coming along?

With the better weather I've managed to get outside a couple of times. The Walkera 4#3B gets most of the flying time. It is such a small heli and really gets pushed around by the wind but as I said before, because it is so small and strong I have an absolute blast with it.

Almost without fail the heli will suffer more than a few controlled crashes on a trip to the field!! Usually all i need to do is straighten out the tail boom and tail motor alignment and its off again!! ( I keep the blades and tail boom securing bolts real loose to prevent more serious damage and it's working so far!!.

My Honey Bee CP2 also gets flown and although is also very twitchy it is much more stable than the 4#3B due to it's size. BUT I think that due to being bigger I am more worried about crashing this as it will definitely get damaged!!

This seems to be a "mental block" I have that I am trying to overcome. If I can do circuits with the smaller heli why not the larger one!!!

 

Hope you are progressing well and look forward to hearing how you are getting on.

 

Andy