Venom-Aircorps Night Ranger

Dont see too many posts on this helo so I will add something to get it started.
Spoke with the head helo guru at Venom-Aircorps a.k.a. Venom-Racing. I had an issue with the ESC / Gyro. I had to keep plugging and unplugging the battery to get the little green light to come on. Also kept on burning up tail motors. Unknown if these problems are related. The item was covered under warranty due to I had only had helo for less than a week. Phew...
He stated that they are aware of the takeoff problems when the helo wants to go left all the time (or right for a couple of persons). This could be a problem with hover height. This phenomenon is not nearly as bad after the helo acquires a height over 12 to 18 inches. Something to do with rotor wash cushion. All us trainers get to experience a pucker factor now. Better get those training dowels warmed up.
He also suggested that on sight physical altitude may affect the helo. Shaving 1/2 to 1 inch (No more than that) off the main rotor blade ends may increase performance for close to sea level flyers. This makes the overall diameter of the rotor less, increasing torque and rotor head rpm. Thicker air could *possibly* decrease stock engine performance and rotor head rpm slightly. Keeping the ends you cut off and using them for a template to ensure you keep the blade rounded off accordingly is a must.
Also, he suggested that rotor notions dot com has a couple of aftermarket parts for the Night Ranger. Some tail boom fins and a rotor head stiffiner looked to be all they had at the moment. Heli hobby dot com is also a good one for some other goodies. Not a lot for the Night Ranger yet though. Electronics mostly.
Hope this helps everyone.

Hey,

I'm completey new to this R/C stuff and I was wondering if there was a way to counteract the slide my Night Ranger has (it slides to the left).

Also there seems to be a lot of vibration in the heli still even after i've loosened the blades off. How loose should they be, free moving or sorta stiff?

Any help with these problems would be great as it would mean i could get this baby off the ground!

Cheers!

As far as the slide, it seems that this problem exists on close to ground hover. You should probably try hovering. I have noticed that anything above two feet or more corrects this problem. Are you using the stock transmitter? I have a Futaba transmitter that is computerized. I can add or subtract the servo throw. I can take it out to 110% or back off to 0%. I have done this with the Night Ranger receiver. This will allow you to fine tune the hover characteristics more. That way the fine tuning sliders are more accurate. You cannot do this with the stock Night Ranger transmitter. This is not to say that you can't achieve this with out an expensive transmitter. It just makes it easier to do. If you are having left slide after hovering two feet or above, add more of the opposite to the swash plate. Set it up when you are at dead stick (no movement on the right transmitter stick) there is a slight right side cantor on the swash plate. This kinda pre loads it so that it may not head left so much. When you get it close, then you can fine tune it with the fine tuning slides.

If you are a beginner, you should look online or at your local hobby shop for any literature about beginner's helo flying. I purchased one when I bought my nitro helo. The smaller electric helo's are easier and harder than the bigger ones. They are more demanding due to size yet easier than the collective pitch helo's. That book with most certainly cover how to correct vibration. I just tried to write everything down and ended up with way to much. They can cover a lot more with pictures and can probably explain it better than I. There isn't just one way to fix vibration. Just remember, the smaller the helo, the more critical everything must align. Bigger helo's tend to be more forgiving unfortunatly for the small helo lovers. Especially the beginners. I honestly think in my opinion that small electric helo's are not for beginners. I had a better time with a larger .30 nitro helo (Kyosho Nexus .30) More helo, more moving parts, more forgiving with wind outside.

Hope this helps. If not, write back please.

Hey,

Thanks for the info, it really helped. Now if i can just get the hang of this whole 'getting the helicopter off the ground' idea, i think i should be on a winner! I'll let you know how it goes...

My next question is, what options do i have for upgrades? A longer lasting battery pack would be nice as would a semi-scale body. Where can i order these from, and are they made specifically for the Nightranger?

Cheers!

No specific aftermarket parts for the Night Ranger at the moment. Some aftermarket universal stuff can be found at rotor notions and heli hobby websites. Rotor notions has a universal head stiffiner and a tail boom fin/landing gear thing. Heli hobby has some electronics. Nice brushless motors and controllers. Some other neat stuff too. As far as Night Ranger specific, nothing yet. Company is still fairly new still for companies to make any stuff yet. Aftermarket battery packs is also a no go for what I have found. 850 mah is about the biggest. At $12.00 a battery pack though, you get three or four of those, you will be fine. Hope this helps.
Word of advice. Get PROFICIENT with this helicopter first. Know how to hover very well. Know how to fly forward, backwards, etc etc. Once you know this helo, then purchase you one that has been around and has what you need to take your helicopter skills to the next level. If anything, keep the Night Ranger mechanics the same. Upgrade your electronics. If you get serious with all this, get you a Futaba computerized transmitter. Will make a world of difference. Get a good electronics upgrade then do a helo upgrade i.e. totally different manufacture. Not to say the Night Ranger is a bad choice. It is a beginner helo. Go to heli hobby website and see what different types of mini electric helicopters are out there. You can use a good transmitter with any type of helo. I have a Futaba PCM 1024. Older transmitter but still has a LOT of functions. This radio has moved into a third helo now.

Hey,

Well, i got the Nightranger flying this morning (you were right, the slide stops after you get 30cm of air under the blades). Everything went fine until i rolled it into the ground on the second flight trying to land. I'm now left with a bruised ego and a somewhat sorry looking Nightranger. Oh well, down to the hobby store tomorrow to spend more money!

I've been talking to some guys at the hobby store about upgrading to a nitro heli, and they keep ranting on about needing a computerised radio. These are quite expensive and i'm not sure i should fork out the cash for one. Are they really a good thing to have (i.e. it makes flying a lot easier), or is it just a handy bit of equipment that saves you some time? I have no problem with taking an entire afternoon or day to set up a heli so i wouldn't need to worry about increasing servo throws with a switch or having a model memory as i'll only have the one. Seems to me that this makes having a computer radio redundant as i'll never use any of the extras that it provides. Would a 'steam driven' unit do, or will it be an advantage later on to have a computer radio?

Cheers,

I can tell you this. My first Helo was a Kyosho Nexus .30 I had absolutly no one to help me with learning how to fly it. I was stationed in a part of the country where there was no local hobby shop or anyone locally to ask questions of. By myself, and a lot of reading, I learned advanced hover and forward flight. It can be done. Only problem, I had a lot of patience and a whole summer to do all that.

Second, if you are serious about staying with helo's, a computerized radio is well worth it. Compare it to portable CD players and MP3 players. The music is the same, but one player has a LOT more functions and capability than the other...

And dont worry about the crash. When learning how to fly helo's, you get used to it. No one said it was cheap. Thats why I suggested sticking with the Night Ranger before moving into more advanced helo's. They can be much more expensive to repair.

Hey,

Got the Nightranger back in the air, easily and without problems. Then crashed it again after a further three flights. Oh well, thats the way it goes. Still, just pulling the thing apart and putting it back together is enjoyable and i'm learning a lot in the process.

Okay, now that i've decided to part with my hard earned cash, i'm looking at buying a 6 channel hitec radio. Have you had any problems (or heard about them) with this brand of radio?

Cheers,

PS. About the crashing, its a good laugh in the end and can make for some amusing bar stories....