Hello

[SKMoss]

Hi all.

I've been lurking on the forums for a few days, and thought, heck, make the plunge.

I'd call my self a newbie, but I'm so new, I don't think that would be fair to newbies. Lets just say, what little I know, I've found out from reading here.

I'm seriously considering trying to get into RC Helis again. I say again, because some time back. 14 or so years ago I had a chance to visit a school yard in San Bernardino, CA where some of the most amazing RC Chopper flying was going on. These guys could do anything. They were hovering, they were flying all over the place. They even went upside down and cut grass with the rotors. "WOW, that's cool. I wanna do that" A week later, my brother in law gave me his Hirobo(sp?) RC helicopter. I traveled all over So Cal, and found new parts to replace broken parts created by his only attempt at flying it. Got it running, took it off, 3.25 seconds later i had hovered (.0025 seconds), and flown (1.5 seconds), and it got upside down (not sure how it all happened by the way.), AND, I had a new collection of broken parts, and they went in a box, never to see the light of day again. By the way, it's amazing how far a broken rotor blade can fly. They sound cool as they shoot past your ear.

I've thought a few times over the years about trying it again, but my first experience was such a disaster I just didn't want to deal.

Well, that brings us to the here and now. I'm going to make a run at RC helis as a hobby. What i've done so far, is read a lot of info here. (GREAT SITE by the way). Based on recommendations here, I've found an LHS that has good selection of RC helis/parts, and is run by a Rotorhead. Also have found a local flyers club. This one is a stroke of luck. It's only about 10 minutes from the house.

I'll be able to fly in my garage and wind permitting on my property. Got a 5 acre horse ranch, so plenty of room.

Based on recommendations here and the LHS owner, my current plan is to:

A) Buy and learn to fly on RC Simulator. Note, picked up G3.5 last night and man is that fun. I did, get a tad tired of my 15 year old son, laughing his head of after the 40th crash in 2 mintues. I did get him to shut up when I threated him with moving the date for getting his driving permit back a month or so. (this really works well by the way)
B) Buy entry level Heli trainer. Learn to fly this and prove a real and lasting interest in the hobby. (Plan is the Blade CX2)
C) Finally get into "real" heli. (Recommendation from LHS owner is T-Rex 450 SE, and Spektrum DX7 radio, and gryo, micro servos, etc)

I don't have a clue what kind of questions to be asking. I'd sure appreciate any advice, and suggestions for modifications to the plan.

THANKS!!!
Steve

[Aztek1701]

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the forums and welcome back to the hobby

It seems like last time you tried this 14 years ago, you did everything wrong but this time it looks to me like your doing everything right. The problem with RC helis like their full sized brothers (which you know) is that they are very complex machines and need to be pretty well tuned to fly at all, never mind fly well. Id be willing to bet that on your last attempt, there was a problem with the set up and it wouldnt have mattered what you did, the heli would still have crashed.

Getting the sim is an excellent first step towards flying for real and it will help you learn the instincts for flying which are essential. There are a number of things that are different with the sim and the real thing that you need to be ready for when you go to fly for real. The most obvious is that crashing the sim doesnt cost money. What this means is that it removes the tension of flying the real thing this is both a blessing and a curse. The other thing the sim does is it gives you a well set up heli to fly which isnt always the case in real life.

Also you might want to take a look at radds school. http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html which is a good instruction book for beginners.

When you come to getting your "real" heli, I would find out what they fly at the local club and see about getting the same machine as that. If they fly the t-rex, great, The reason for this is when you need help, they will have knowledge of the model. Also, I'd look at getting an experienced pilot to check your setup and test fly the thing when youve built it.

Good luck with it and dont forget to post up how your doing....

Take care... Azzy

[SKMoss]

Aztek,

Thank you for the great advice, and the welcome back. This seems like a great place. Lot of great info. Feels like a good community. A tad quiet I suppose.

I would be delighted to post my progress.

Living in the Internet age can be such a wonderful thing. My last attempt was just soooo tough to get info. Now, it is a click away. Wading past multitudes of junk information cab be somewhat interesting. As long as you have multiple sources of information you can compare and contrast, and can add a bit of logic, it is possible come up with decent conclusions.

Spent a lot of time here last night. One of the things that caused me to sit back and really understand the complexity of the hobby was the posts under the safety forum. THESE ARE NOT TOYS. These are serious machines that have the potential to gravely hurt you and/or anyone around you. Pilot error, machine malfunction, environment are just a few of the ways things can cause a flight to go bad in a hurry. I'm starting to understand just how deep this hobby is. And I'm excited to venturing it to it.

The SIM is a blast in and of itself. I'm a computer geek of the highest order and spend a lot of time playing other computer games. When I watched the flyer's in San Bernardino last time, they all made it look just soooo easy. NOT. This is tough, and there's a lot to learn to get really good. This is the first time I think I can honestly say a computer game is teaching me something useful. I've set my self some goals. Hover, Fly anywhere and return to hover, fly small circle with heli on same heading, and fly large circle all the away around me with heli consistanly pointing away from me.

I think the TRex may be a great idea. I know the LHS owner flys one. I dropped by the LHS (independent store that only carries, RC Gear) yesterday afternoon to chat and to get specific models numbers for the Heli and Tx he was recommending. While I was there another customer (experienced pilot) was there, is a member of the flyers club, and also flys the 450. We have 2 other stores (both major chains) in town. I'll drop by them this week and see if I can get some unbiased opinions from them.

I'm really excited about swinging by the air park this weekend. The directions I initially received seemed a bit confused. So I went hunting for it last night after work. It's actually 3 miles or so, closer to my house than I originally thought.

Thanks again Aztek for the welcome.

[hawkman]

Definately use that simulator.....they are a great idea.

I have used G3 in the past....very impressive.

The trick with a sim is to get good on it.....and in real life just back down a bit so you dont get too confident and break the heli in some silly accident.

The obvious thing for sims is that you can practice emergency situations....like autorotations...beacuse if you hesistate in real life...wondering what to do as your helis blades slow up....and it plummets to the ground you are in for an expensive time. With a sim you can condition yourself to react accordingly.

The Trex is a fine heli....a bit twitchy but otherwise its a lovely heli....

www.trextuning.com

try this site for some advice on the Rex.

Rob

[SKMoss]

Rob,

Thanks for the reply, the advice and the link.

What's impressing me about the SIM is just how detailed the flight characteristics are for the models. Amazing program. I'm not quite comfortable yet with having the random in-flight "events" turned on, but i did try 30 or so auto-rotations last night for fun. Just took off, went up high and chopped power. Did OK. Most were pretty hard landings, but never broke anything off.

Only thing I wish they could do better with this sim and any other sims is deal with peripheral vision better. I know, without some kind of helmet, it's not possible, but man it would help.

[hawkman]

Yeah...a virual reality type thing would be so much better. Interesting about the 'events' option on G3....so you can have an unpredictable heli to fly? if so thats one neat idea.

The trouble with autos on sims is that they are easy enough to do...but what would result in a 'boom strike' (rotor hitting the boom on touchdown...which can happen given the right circumstances) rarely seems to happen on a sim....I use 'Phoenix' which is a great sim....I can do a lovely touchdown during an auto.....but the heli can just tip over....which is quite realistic.

A good tip for autos in real life is to fly your heli about....and then come in and land...without hesitation....most people can auto the heli down...but its the dithering looking for a place to land that can result in disaster.

If you fly about and land without hesitation your chances are higher of saving your heli should an engine failure occur.

Either way....I dont mind a bad auto...if the heli is more or less in one peice rather than a 3D jigsaw puzzle...with parts of the puzzle missing!!! then so be it.

What you could do to replicate real life is this...get a projector and connect to your PC....this way you can stand and 'fly' the sim heli...havent tried this myself yet...but might do sometime in the future.

Rob

[SKMoss]

Originally Posted by hawkman

What you could do to replicate real life is this...get a projector and connect to your PC....this way you can stand and 'fly' the sim heli...havent tried this myself yet...but might do sometime in the future.

I've talked to my oldest brother a few times about flying Helicopters. He hated autorotation practice, when the army was teaching him to fly. Repetitive and boring. But when he lost engines twice and had a tail rotor blown completely off his machine, and survived each of them, in retrospect he didn't mind all the practice after all.


I just happen to have a projector handy. Hmm.... And a laptop too boot. And a big white bed sheet I use for photography backdrop in the garage.

hmmm.....

[hawkman]

There you go then! I would like to get a projector sometime....trouble is my house is tiny....maybe I could beam the image onto the clouds

The obvious thing is that with a sim, you are sat down....mug of coffee and cookies to one side...etc etc...real flying you are stood up...weather looks like it might rain..and you feel a bit nervous too.

Sounds like your Brother had a great time!!!

Rob