willhappy Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 hi there i am looking for some advice for a 1st time helicopter. 1 e-sky honeybee king 2 (good or no)2 jamara hg-le hughs 300(mini helicopter ?)3 Humming bird V4 (good or no)i know a bit of a mixed bag but any help would be good, thanksphil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Lewzey Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Hummingbird v4. You don't want CP to begin with. It will scare you to death. Better still is a contra rotatorJonathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willhappy Posted June 11, 2007 Author Share Posted June 11, 2007 thanks john for the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kam24 Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Hey Phil, I got a proper collective pitch heli to start with and I am very glad I did. I wanted to learn with a proper one from the start and chose one which I knew could fly very well, was stable and small enuf so that the spares would be cheap when I crashed it,(you will crash what ever you buy lol) Oh and were in stock at my LHS. I also got a flight sim and I must say that these are great for practice. Fixed pitch helis can be harder to fly than CP ones as you have to use the motor speed to control height.Contra rotating ones are good fun and very easy to fly but very limiting and cant be flown outside except in very calm weather, However they are good for scaring the cat!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Lewzey Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I think CP helis are harder for learning on and I am very pleased to be able to say I only pranged my twister bell 47 once (before I started doing stupid stuff like hovering between solid objects not much wider than the rotor diameter!) Total cost? About £5 of spares for probably 20 hours of heli training. Not bad.My advice would be to start simple and save up for that nice CP heli. You're then unlikely to crash it!Also, I think that using pitch to control height is more complicated than throttle use and a beginner will get confused.Jonathan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kam24 Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Quote from Johnathan Lewzey.....Also, I think that using pitch to control height is more complicated than throttle use How can that be so? Its controlled using the same stick but is more precise and responsive. Surely this helps to learn not hinder.People tend to only go with FP helis as they are cheaper and easier to set up. this does not make then easier to fly IMOAs I said before Contra Rotating Helis ARE helpfull and good fun but buying a proper CP heli and a flight sim was the best way into flying for me.I would of spent far more money if I had fisrt got say a contra rotating, then a FP heli and then moved onto a proper CP heli but then thats the good thing about this hobby, Theres loads of ways into it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torben Theisen Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 Get a century hummingbird, their spares are pretty cheap for the quality, you can get good upgrades for them too. Whats nice about the hummingbird is that there are loads of clubs that fly indoors, and the hummingbird is perfect for this. They are affected more by wind, but that teaches you how to react to it and then flying bigger helis is much easier when you move on.You could also get an art tech mini pred, they are very stable and the spares are very cheap, a new set of main blades only costs £10, half the price of the hummingbird. You will also benefit from a more stable heli as it is larger.good luck whatever you get, and you will crash, so keep it low fow a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin Yeo Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 honeybee FP or dragonfly 4. They take a battering and cheap to buy. But you may go through spares fairly rapidly increasing the price. Totally endless fun until you master flying an upgrade of course. If you do go for this kind of chopper get an extreme skid mod and a lipo battery for extended flight times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the best man Posted June 29, 2007 Share Posted June 29, 2007 Hi Phil, I personally would go with Gavin on this one. I have an EF sabre FP which is essentially the same as the walkera 4 & honeybee FP. I have a friend at work who purchesed a Blade CP Pro and he was also new to the hobby. He has spent a small fortune on spares & also had the inconvience of waiting for them to be mailed. Where as I can pop in to town each time I have a crash and be flying again the same day at very little expense. The CP are alot more stable but if your learning go with a FP, you can always sell it on when the time comes for the upgrade, if its in good condition ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Burrows Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 the fp helis are no good out side puff of wind and away it will go first a sim a simple way to look at it every time you crash stick £30 in a jar after 3 crashes you will have paid for the simafter the next 10 you will have paid for a complete setup with heli and thats in one night as for a heli for cheap spares and a heli that will fly out of the box a twister 3d but get advice on setting up next i would go for the titan cheap on spares but more advanced the esky models are ok but trust me when i say they need setting up to fly correct but they do fly and when setup fly well the smj is a very good heli but spares are a problem the trex is now over priced for what it is the viper is a waste of time the x400 is just a trex this is all from flying each model not 2nd hand Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 My heli flying is limited to Bell 47 and Blade electric counter-rotating types. However, the advantage with these is that you can practice in the lounge - after SWMBO has gone to bed. The best - and most experienced - chopper jockey in my club says that if money is no object the next stepb up should be the biggest I.C machine you can afford - e.g a Raptor 90. That's cos, like fixed wing models, the bigger they are the more stable they are, and therefore the easier to fly. The other weekend he was flying a leccy Mini Titan and reckoned it was a right handful compared with his bigger machines. I am about to build my first Autogyro: a 72in rotor diameter Kellet. The manufacturers, the Autogyro Company of Arizona, say that this large, semi-scale model is actually the easiest to fly of all their models (flies just like a 1/4 scale Piper Cub, they say) but they daren't make that claim because no one would believe them and think they were simply trying to get people to spend the largest amount of money!Best wishesTony Jones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An9ila Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 I'm still trying to work out what an SWMBO is? Is it something that melts rotors? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An9ila Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Oh yes! I just got it! She who must be obeyed of course! :) Put those toys away boys and get to bed! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Langford Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Electric heli's are o.k. and can be a cheap starting point to see if you are into this facinating hobby. Buy the best you can afford, but there is no substitute for a well set up 30 or 50 nitro with training gear and good advice/ help from a competant pilot.tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Rose Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 30 - 50 nitro with a good instructor, but most importantly a good sim with which to get those fingers configured correctly. Good for those days (weeks) when the weather just doesnt want to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Daunt Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Phil, I am new to heli's and having read the advice so far let me confirm my experience.First ..yes a good flight sim. I have the Real Flight G3 whch is great. Lots of different Helis to fly and learn how to use the sticks without expensive crashes. No substitute for the real thing but it gets you started and gives you the "feel" for handling a Tx on a heli set up. Very different to flying fixed wing.Having mastered sim. flight l then bought the Twister 3D. The thought process being l could advance without having to buy different machines/upgrades later.If you buy through a Model shop you can ask them to set it up as a trainer first and after you have mastered the Hover and other basic manourvers you can increase the settings (with help) and move on to the next stage.Whichever way you go ..good luck and keep us posted. Also make sure you buy a training rig for under the skids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Chiswell Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 Hi, I'm looking for the fuselage plan and maybe the building pamphlet for a Precedent T180. Has anyone got one that they don't need anymore please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Courtney Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 I started with a Raptor 30 v2 and it has been superb to learn on. It is easy to set up, very stable to fly and the spares are cheap. I have a fixed pitch Hummingbird and it is nowhere near as easy to fly as the Raptor.Join a club with a good heli section and most importantly, join an organisation such as the BMFA to get 3rd party insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 BernardI think you need to start a new thread as this one is about helis.Best wishesTony Jones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Parsons Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Hi,I have flown Twister medivac, and have mastered that quite well, and now I am waiting to get through the mail a twister cp v2 how realistic is it to be able to fly , anyhelp would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Hailey Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Hi Lads.When it comes down to it we are all trying to master the same box of tricks the tran'e so how we go about it is not just about money its about stick control and this is only about time spent so dont go down the road that the more you spend the easier it will be not the case, practice makes perfect, well maybe.happy flying and saving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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