Need Advice

[bigbad]

Hello all,

I'm absolutely new to RC Helis and have been doing some research. More and more people are telling me to get gas instead of electric. They say once your battery is done your done and batteries are expensive. For gas some say get a 50 cause anything smaller is not stable and hard to fly. The raptor 50 keeps coming up and is said to be a good starter to intermidiate heli.

I'm also trying to find the best/affordable flight simulator.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thanks...

[Aztek1701]

Hi bigbad.

Welcome to the forums.

Well the stuff you are being told is sort of true but seems to be a bit biased towards the "old school" nitro thinking.

I fly both nitro and electric for the record

Its true,with an electric once your battery is done to need to land and charge. The same applies to a nitro heli, once the fuel runs out, you need to land and fuel. The difference is that the electric packs take a while (1 - 2 hours) to charge and you cant rush them if they are lipos. It only takes a few minutes to refuel. The downside of Nitros is that to fly them you need a toolbox full of stuff to get them off the ground. (Glow stick, starter, starter battery, fuel, fuel pump, ect) The solution to this problem (for electrics) is to carry more charged packs and a charger so that you can charge one pack while flying the other. The batteries cost around 50 gpb ($65-70) for a t-rex sized lipo. Expect this price to fall in the near future because there are a lot of new big electrics hitting the market now and I think this will force the prices down.

The comment about get a 50 cause anything smaller is unstable is also a bit biased. The difference between a 30 and a 50 size heli in stability terms is non existent. It is true that the bigger they are, the more stable they are, this is really due to one thing. Weight. It is, however, quite possible to learn to fly on a T-rex, Zoom size heli (I did). Again what they didnt tell you is that the bigger they are, the more they cost to fix when they crash. So you can expect a t-rex to cost about half what a Raptor does to repair. Also, a T-rex can be made stable by building it properly and weighting the flybar.

The other thing that maybe wasnt mentioned is that Nitro helis need large ammounts of space to be able to fly. Your unlikely to be able to drag the raptor down to your local park and fly without being complained at / being told to stop by the police ect. Its far more likely you would get away with it with an electric. If you can get in a club / live in the middle of nowhere, this problem goes away though.

The Raptor 50 is a fine beginners heli and is well supported. However your choice of heli will be affected by lots of things. Remember, whatever heli you choose, you need to add about another 1.5 times the cost of the heli for the stuff you need to be able to get it flying.
Some other suggestions for you are...

Hirobo Sceadu Evo 30 or 50 which is arguably more stable and better engineered than the raptor.
Knight 50 a new heli with an all metal head. Looks nice.
Century Hawk.

Also some electrics..
Align T-Rex 450
Hirobo Lepton (if money is no object)
Century Swift (30 Sized electric, won Clubman 3d in the UK this year)

Your choice of Sim is also down to your budget / preference but there are 2 main contenders.

Realflight G3.
Reflex XTR.

My preference is for Reflex because it looks real and it uses your transmitter (and all the settings in it).

Advice... Basically, 1. Get that sim, 2. Find a club and join it. 3. Buy a heli that a few of the other club members have. 4. When youve built the heli, get somebody experienced to check it/set it up for you.

Hope this helps a bit and your still awake after such along post.

Take care and good luck... Azzy

[bigbad]

Thanks for the advice.

Now people are telling me to go electric. They say gas is too dangerous for a newbie. I wish people would hurry up and make up my mind. I'm looking at the Trex 450 SE. Some say it's good for beginners and some say not. Does anyone know if this is a good electric and can a newbie learn with this?

I know I need to get a good simulator to help me out.

Your help is much appreciated.

[hawkman]

Nothing wrong with nitros.....I am impressed by the new li Po battery technology......I have got a small indoor heli with this type of battery....I am getting 12 minutes or so of flight time on a 800 mah battery!! an hour and a half later its charged up ready to go again....so the TRex is feasable....parts are fairly cheap (its going to get broken sometime)

Nitros are ok....I started out with a Nexus 30 and now fly a Century Hawk....which is a great heli...very cheap and quite capable of stunts etc as you get more advanced.

I have a Sceadu 30 but havent flown it as it needs kitting out with engine etc. Folk say the sceadu is a superb machine....the 50 size is meant to be better.

Century make 50 size helis....and they are meant to be very good.

30 size or 50 size....doesnt matter......the 30 size machines seem stable enough.....50 size is ok for a beginner...why not? at least you wont have to upgrade....and you should have plenty of power.

Electric is good if Nitro fuel is hard to get.....I am seriously looking at going electric as nitro is a pain to find.....but I enjoy nitro.....ah heck!!!!! I like them all....electric and nitro



Simulator? try Realflight G3 ....its quite expensive but with the included 'transmitter' it saves a lot of trouble messing around trying to find a spare radio to use it.....the graphics are cool.....and the options are very very good. Its well worth the money.....sim time is important.....it will help you learn the basics.....right through to advanced flying.......if thats what you want.


Rob

[Aztek1701]

Hi again bigbad.

I'll ask you a question, what did people learn to fly on before electrics?.. yep, you got it... Nitros. Both electrics and nitros are dangerous but not it you respect them. The t-rex 450 SE is a great heli but maybe a bit expensive to learn on. Get the t-rex 450 XL, it costs a lot less and the parts when it crashes do too. Also it doesnt fly much different in beginners hands.

I would simplify it down to this, if you can find a club or somebody to help you, then get a nitro. If you cant find a club then get an electric.

Take care.. Azzy.

[james199]

Here is my thoughts on this ..i fly both gas and electric my gas are ergo 46 venture 30 cp upgraded to 50 i have blade cx, df 4 and df 60 i love them all and yes there is large expense on the gas birds remember fuel is high $ 19.00 a gallon or more and i can go through a gallon or more a day
(1) get a Sim this is a must and i recommend it every one ...why ? simple you can crash over and over and it cost you nothing
(2) start slow buy a blade cx or some other coax-el type Heli. learn with it after a month or 2 move up to the next level and so on as you move up you can sell your old Heli for almost the price you paid for it also the X type Heli's are made for the beginner and the cost is CHEEP !
i hope this helps

[bigbad]

Thanks again everyone for all the advice. It really helps me out.

I went to a hobbie shop and told him I was interested in the Raptor 450XL. He said for a beginner that is like getting a Ferrari for your first car. He recommended the eSky Heli to start. He then said from there you will have a better idea what you want to move up to and whether you want gas or electric. He demoed it for me in the store. Really looks like fun this whole heli stuff. He did have a lot of helis both gas and electric. He had a monster gas one sitting on the shelve so I figure he wasn't just pushing junk on me. He also recommended a simulator as good advice.

So with that in mind does his advice make any sence to you guys? Also any thoughts on the eSky? It won't hold up to any wind but then you can pretty much fly it anywhere.

Also, now that I'm leaning more towards an electric to start, should I be in another group?

Thanks for your help...

[hawkman]

Stay with this group.....this site caters for electrics...plenty of experienced folk here with electrics.

Rob