Newbie with some leasons learned

[Bigpyro]

Hi All, new to the hobby and new to this forum. I am about 3 weeks into this addiction and thought I would share some of the lessons I have learned so far. Hopefully this will spare some other newbs the problems I have encountered.

1. Purchase a kit that your local hobby store stocks parts for. I purchased a Heli-Max Axe CP. I love the model but would have chosen a Blade CP if I could do it over again. I bought the model while out of town and all the local shops stock E-Flight and T-Rex parts. Everytime I break something I have to order it. This ruins a saturday morning real quick.

2. RTF kits are great...unless you crash it. I enjoyed the fact that it was out of the box and flying (well hopping at least) quickly. I also realized just as quiclky that after you crash it RTF also stands for "I do not have a clue how this thing is put together" I actually broke my model twice while "fixing it". If you are new to Heli's, take your time repairing it and study the blow ups in the manual.

3. Get a simulator. After hopping around my basement for a week I crashed my heli. Took 2 weeks to get the parts. I decided to go get a simulator. It killed me to spend the same amount of money on a piece of software that I did on my model. While waiting for my parts I put in quite a few hours on the simulator. After getting my heli repaired my first flight was 1-2 minute hover instead of playing leap frog across my basement floor. Simulator time definately paid off.

Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps some other newbs. Please post your "lessons learned". Maybe you can save some of us newbs from the same pain you experienced.

[Jeff0r3]

Welcome to the Hobby Bigpyro. Looks like some good information for anyone thinking about getting into the hobby. Also welcome to a great forum..

[Danimal]

Hi Bigpyro
Welcome to the forum
That's some grate advice. I know I learned it the hard way like you have. The one thing I would add is that every new pilot should check out Radd's School of Rotary Flight. Besides a good flight sim this is one of the best training tools I have ever come across.
http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html

[hawkman]

Bigpyro....good points....very good points.

RTF is all nice and good but by building a heli from a kit you will get to understand how its put together.

A sim is a must....if you want to progress quickly....once you get the basics of flight theres loads of stuff to learn if you want to do stunts etc......and what better way to learn how to auto than on a sim.....at least a real auto shouldnt leave you 'frozen' at the controls as your heli plummets to earth....its better to do an ugly auto and get your heli down more or less together than to pile it into the earth.

Rob

[uneverno]

Hey Bigpyro,
training gear is also good. Lesson learned there, however: Don't attempt to take off from grass. Blade wash pushes the grass blades onto the training gear where they get entagled, thus tipping the heli on lift-off. On the upside for me, the dirt underneath was soft enough that when my main blades hit - at near 3/4 throttle - nothing broke.

I much prefer the sim to pilot error as a training tool

[Bigpyro]

Unevero- I learned that the hard way also, which resulted in my first crash mentioned above. It was the first time I took my heli outside. It did'nt last 20 seconds before disaster struck. Good thing time and money are no object other wise this might be a stressful hobby (just kidding).

[uneverno]

lol, I heard that