Newbie interested in trying rotory wing

[Nicholas Kay]

Evening all,

 

Having flown fixed wing, ic and electric for a couple of years now I am curious about trying a heli and was wondering where I would best start to keep costs low and success high.

 

I have the usual spare servos, lipo packs (3S 2100mAh) , Spektrum Rx and bit floating around, so would be looking to make use of any existing kit as a preference.

 

What budget heli's would anyone recommend to give me a taste for the sport.

 

Nick

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[batcho99]

Nic.

 I had been flying planes for nearly 20 then decided to try the heli's. If your gonna go for it then get something decent instead of wasting your money on small heli's that you can only fly indoors or on calm days. I bought a 2nd hand raptor 30. Great trainer, but now I wish i'd have got the 50 instead, they're much better. Trex do some awesome heli's too, they have the ccpm head unlike the standard raptor, and they do big electric heli's too.

 

The raptors are cheap for spares when it all goes wrong too which is definetely something to consider when starting in the world of heli's!

 

Iain.

[Alan B]

 

Hi Nick

Taking on board the comments above I would personally go for the Century GL-450. You can pick up one complete in alloy case minus the radio gear i.e. TX & RX for about £200. I fly mine on a regular basis and I am very impressed with it for the money. It has a  all metal head and is very stable in the hover. I am quite surprised how I just love flying this heli. It ticks a lot of the boxes. I fly mine using Spektrum gear.

 Try your skills on a good sim first and purchase a training carriage. Before the purists start giving me a hard time. I do happen to be lucky enough to also own a T-Rex 450 and a Mini Titan so I can compare it against other types I have and other peoples that I have flown for them.

 I also have a couple of i/c Raptor 50s and have flown 30’s As batch above commented if you want to start the I/C route then go for the Raptor 50 at the start. As once you get hooked you do not need to upgrade from a 30 as most people will do.

 In conclusion - I am very impressed with the GL-450 (for the Money!) as a budget start to heli’s - but that of course is only my own personal opinion

Al

[Nicholas Kay]

Thanks All.  Picked up a MCX BNF for £60!  Amazed!  Great fun and very controllable.

 

Controls are easy to master and spot landings achieveable.  I think I will keep an eye out for something bigger to employ my existing 2100mAh packs and spare Rx and servos.  Any suggestions of others that use a battery that size??  Century GL-450?  Any others I should look for on eBay?

 

Nick

[Alan B]

Yep The MCX 's  are great fun.  Bear in mind though single blade heli's are a diffferent ball game .  The 2100mah packs are fine in the GL-450 - or any other 450 size heli's

 

Al

[wlfk]

I disagree with Eric on a lot of points:

 

I know people who've had bad experiences with a lot of the cheaper little helicopters (single rotor fixed pitch) though I understand there are some good ones now. It sounds like you are enjoying the MCX and there's nowt wrong with that.

 

However I think that a 450 size collective pitch such as the T-Rex or Century is the way to go in the long term. They're very capable, and can handle strong winds. I've flown my 450 in winds so strong it struggled to make headway, and probably far rougher than most people would consider flying a model aircraft in (except perhaps a slope-soarer). You don't need to go nitro in order to get a very capable outdoors machine.

 

There's also my 600, which is electric and as capable as anything out there powered by an IC engine. But that would involve getting new battery packs.

[kiwi g]

Id go rappy 50. the bigger size gives smoother flight.

I have trex 600 gas and rjx extreme and always go grab the rappy for fun flying.

Indoor electric grab a mini titan or a blade 400 .

Remember a couple of things.

Quality gyro, fast servos, quality heli, . all adds up to easier flight,.

Some cheaper gear is hard to setup.    Eg blade tracking .. balance etc

[Nicholas Kay]

Thanks for thehelp.  I am looking for a second hand Trex 450.  Just as a thought, there is a second hand Trex HK hybrid, spec below.  Would anyone suggest how much I should offer for such a spec.  There are so many options and variations, I fear being ripped off.

 

 Align trex 450 / hk hybrid rc helicopter with flight case, there is a spektrum AR6200 2.4GHz receiver but no transmitter.

helicopter made up of
align 325 pro wood main blades
align cnc metal head with trueblood dampners, also spare set of truebloods thrown in.
align 220mm flybar with yellow gorrilla paddles
align cnc tail unit with align cnc tail blade grips
HK450 main frame and skids
align esc
align 3550 motor
align custom painted canopy
spektrum AR6200 receiver with satallite
align 5.1 stepdown converter
3 tower pro cyclic servos
align tail boom
AL-G1000 gyro ( futaba gy401 clone, performs almost as well )
futaba S3154 digital tail servo

 

How much would be the right price?

 

Thanks,

Nick

Edited By Nicholas Kay on 16/08/2009 09:20:40

[Alan B]

Looks like the same spec as the GL 450 other than the tail servo plus the inclusion of the RX.  I personally wouldn't offer more than £200.  I would also not normally buy a second hand heli that I haven't seen fly.

 

Having said that (against my better judgment)  I picked up a second hand high spec Raptor 50 worth about £800 new for £280 the other day.  It was in a second hand shop (they knew the seller )so I couldn't run the engine but I checked out everything else which was fine.  The engine is fine too - but I soon came to realise it had been set up previously by a experienced heli flyer. So I was lucky - it is a good un!

 

So basically if you are buying off somewhere like e-bay - then you are taking a chance.

 

Al

[Nicholas Kay]

What are peoples views on the Flasher 450?  Does it perform well?  Would it make a suitable heli to learn on?

 

Nick

[Alan B]

If you haven't already noticed - it is been reviewed in the coming mag  HERE

 

On first impression - it looks very similar to the century GL-450

Edited By Alan B on 24/08/2009 17:04:45

[Vic. P.]

Hi Nick,

 I started flying helis 3 years ago and bought a GL450 SE and a year later i bought a Trex 600 E.

 The small 450 heli is NOT repeat NOT the one to learn with!!! The larger 50 size Align 600e is much more stable in the hover (and that's where you'll start), can handle most wind conditions (other than gale-force ) and is much easier in the set-up initialy.

 I found the GL 450 to be very fiddley when repairs were needed and although a very good flier  in still to light wind conditions is generaly a lot more twitchy to fly.

 

If i  were starting from scratch again, i would DEFINATELY go for the 600e any day given what i  know now, even though it's more expensive to start with, you'll save a bundle compared to the 450 which, as a beginner, you will crash more easily and more often.

 I reckon i've spent nearly as much on my 450 (including repairs) as the 600 cost to buy and equip, and so far, touch wood, i have not had a crash with the 600 .

 

I would also recommend getting a flight sim if you don't already have one which will help to train your reactions to any unexpected situations and will consequently save you money with heli repairs.

 

Hope this is of some help in making your descision

 

Kind regards

 Vic.