RC Helicopter Reviews - Bell 47 / Medevac

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Twister Bell 47 / Medevac

Reviews	Views	Date of last review
2	52558	Mon October 16, 2006

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
100% of reviewers	$199.00	8.0

supersize	supersize

Description:	This product is very similar to the Blade CX (in fact closeup pics of the rotor head make be think the parts could be interchangable). In the package you get the helo, a 4 channel transmitter, 8 dry cell AA batteries, a 2-cell 7.4V 800mA li-po and a cell balancing charger. You also get a spare set of upper and lower blades, manual and training DVD.
Keywords:	co-axial blades jperkins

Author

wjohnsaunders
Newbie Member

Registered: September 2006
Location: NSW
Posts: 7

Review Date: Thu September 14, 2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $199.00 | Rating: 8

Pros:	stability, price, RTF
Cons:	frame appears flimsy

This is a great rc heli to get started on. In 2 weeks I went from sliding around the ground and hopping to stable hover. The next 2 weeks my altitude control got a lot better so I take off from the ground and land on the kitchen benchtop, then hop over to the dinner table. My nose-in hover has reached 2 minutes continuous but still needs more practice.

The heli does fly out of the box, however I found I needed to play a lot with the 4in1 gain/proportional settings to prevent tail movement otherwise the trim was hard right and it still spun slowly. I turned the gyro gain down to 0 then adjusted the proportional setting until the heli didn't spin in either direction (it is not possible to totally trim out the rotation but you just need to get close). The manual suggested a gyro gain of 90% but I found that the tail wagged with that setting and that a 25% to 50% seemed stable for me.

Once tuned it flys very well. Hover is stable once you get out of ground effect and only needs the slightest touch to hold position. However hover is affected by rotor air currents bouncing off walls and other objects so it's best to fly in an open space. Full power causes the heli to leap into the air quickly so it doesn't lack power, however cyclic control is fairly modest and slow (which is good for a beginner). Holding altitude seems to be harder than holding position as it is all too easy to yoyo (the clicks on the Tx don't help here either).

The li-po battery charges in about 1hr and will provide 10 to 15 minutes flight (a guesstimate rather than an actual time). The 8 AA Tx batteries run down pretty quick and you will need to get either alkaline batteries or rechargable NiCd or NiMh. The transmitter has a DC plug that some web sites say will charge NiCd but the package and documentation say nothing of this. I use an external NiMh charger and a single charge will run for weeks.

The few crashes have not resulted in anything more than the flybar popping out of the head (it was simply popped back in) and the tips of the rotors being roughened up. I also bent the flybar once but managed to straighten it. The frame looks fragile and you need to hold the heli carefully, however it hasn't yet sustained any damage so it must be OK.

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Aztek1701

Flying Member

Registered: November 2005
Location: Warwickshire
Posts: 760

Review Date: Mon October 16, 2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 8

Pros:	Easy to fly
Cons:	Not terribly happy in Forward Flight

I learned to fly on one of these and Can Heartily Recommend this as an Intro to RC Helicopters. Still fly it in my lounge dispite owing 2 T-Rexes and 2 Sceadus.

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How much?

JP Bell 47 Twister
Align T-Rex 450 XL (well it was once)
Align T-Rex Airwolf
Align T-Rex 600N Sport
Align T-Rex 600N Pro
Align T-Rex 600e Jetranger

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