New here

[ponytamer]

I've been browsing this site and find it very imformative. I've been into r/c cars and trucks for a while and decided I needed a new callange. I bought a Hummingbird V4 and I am just learning how to manuver it so far. I can sorta keep the tail pointed at me, but Im still trying keep it from drifting to the right. I have'nt got it to hover any higher than to get the weight off the training gear. I am taking it slow till I feel like Im in control of it.

[Aztek1701]

Hey there,

Welcome. you sound like your going the right way about it. Keep it low and Slow and you'll soon learn to anticipate the helis moves and correct for them before they happen.

Best of luck and feel free to drop by and ask stuff

Take care... Azzy

[pcsummit]

The best analogy I ever heard for learning to fly a heli is this.

Imagine keeping a regular balloon floating in the air. You need to keep tapping it back and forth to keep it aloft. If you tap it too hard it quickly goes one direction, then you have to tap it hard to get back where it originated and you can quickly lose control chasing it around. But if you gently tap it back and forth, you can maintain control and easily keep it aloft.

Too fly a heli, you need to learn that it takes a lot of small movements. Helis react quick and if you can't keep up, it can be costly. Watch the heli, feel what your fingers are doing, anticipate what the heli is going to do, not what it has already done.

With that said, you want to work towards trimming your heli, adjusting the trims so that the heli atleast momentarily will stay in one place. You do this once again by feeling what your finger are doing to get the bird back where you started. If it constantly wants to back up towards you, adjust the forward trim one click at a time until it reasonably maintains it's position. Don't overwork the gyro, if the nose wants to keep turning say to the left, instead of increasing the gain on the gyro, adjust the rudder trim to the right. Again adjust one click at a time and do this for all the directional controls.

An improperly setup and trimmed heli is extremely hard if not impossible to learn on, let alone it will be costly. Don't rush to "fly", a properly setup and trimmed heli is just as impressive as flying the skys. And one more word of advice, helis are mechanical, that means parts wear, and as they wear you need to make adjustments. Nothing is "set once and forget".

Mark

[pcsummit]

One more note to what I said above. Remember that any stick movement sets the heli into motion, it will not stop by just releasing the stick, you need to counter that movement by moving the stick the other direction. Remember tapping the balloon back and forth.

[ponytamer]

Thanks for the advice, I can use all I get. I can hold the atil in one place for the most part and Im still learning how to keep it a 10' box with out hitting anything, but Im still have'nt got the trim set.Once I got the trm set and I can hold a hover then Ill work on foward flight. I gotta say, this is addicting!

[Aztek1701]

Hi again,

Before you start on forward flight, make sure you can AT LEAST hover left and right side in and (and everything in between), Nose in would be helpful as well but its not quite so important. The reason I say this is that once you move into forward flight, 3 things happen. 1st, the dynamics of the heli change (the blades become more efficent), 2nd, the heli can move pretty fast and might catch you by surprise so you need to be almost instinctivley able to hover and also not be phase by it if it turns unexpectedly, 3rd, at some point you are going to have to bring it back. While you can do this by reversing back to yourself, the heli will natutally want to spin round to face you.

Take a look at http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html if you havent already.

Have fun and good luck ... Azzy

[pcsummit]

One simple little trick to use if the heli is facing you and you get a little confused is to hold the transmitter off to one side away from the direction the heli is coming from, then your inputs will match the direction the heli is heading. Remember to steer the nose, not the tail.

As for forward flight, after you are comfortable with a reasonable hover, with the tail towards you move the helicopter back and forth from the left to the right.

Next, still with the tail in, try doing a circle around you, move with it as it goes around.

Then gradually bring the nose towards forward flight and try to do a slow circle around you. If you get uncomfortable swing the tail back towards you.

When you feel confident controlling the speed in forward flight around you in a circle, then it is time to try figure 8's in front of you. Initially make all your turns outwards, away from you. Then progressively increase the distance away from you the heli travels.

Don't rush into forward flight, focus on the orientation of the heli. You will find that if you rush into forward flight that the heli will quickly get a distance away and the orientaton will be much harder to interpret and land safely if needed. Don't stand still, walk with the heli.

Good luck

[uneverno]

Hey there,
got a V4 myself. Bird is a little tricky, especially outside, but it comes together nicely, and it's really durable. I've only had mine since September, but getting it to hover nicely, even in a mild breeze. It doesn't take long to get a feel for where the heli is going to go next and then counter that. Like pc said, many small inputs are the key. The hardest part for me was not mashing the throttle off in a panic and letting the heli just drop. Had a hard boom strike on one of those "landings" and broke the boom. Since the boom is CA'd in, it's tough to replace. I'd recommend buying a V3 chassis, as it's the same as the V4 and cheaper, and then you can just swap out the electrics. It's also cheaper to do that than buying individual replacement parts.
You'll find that once you get the bird 1 1/2 ft or so up you get out of ground effect and it becomes a lot more stable. I've also heard that taking off the training gear helps, but I haven't had the guts to do that yet...
Word of caution if you fly outdoors - don't attempt to take off from grass with the training gear on. Blade wash wraps the grass around the gear and holds the heli down - my experience was just on one side, so the heli wanted to take off sideways...
I'd highly recommend getting a sim as well. Century has a transmitter cord for their system that'll plug into your serial port and it comes with FMS. If you already have the cord, FMS is free on line. If you're running Win2k or XP, you'll need PPJOY as well (also free on-line) as those OS's don't have the appropriate drivers to recognize input from the TX.
Have fun with it Watch out though, 'cuz this is really addictive - I'm building up an Elite 3d now which should be ready to fly in a couple weeks.