No! I thought it looked like fun. I was searching for heli videos cause I wanted to get a real RC copter instead of the little co-axial one I have and stumbled across that vid. Should see the one I just ordered. Cant wait for it to get hear so I can tear some sky up! This is almost identical to the one I ordered. The one I am getting has the newer gyro and radio plus a full carbon fibre frame.
Welcome to the addiction!!!! Holler at me when you get that Shark if you need some guidance or help. It's a very steep and frustrating learning curve. I have, what you may call, a problem....
You sitting down?? The biggest one I have will run you ~$1,000-$1,500 Batteries for it will runn ~$125-$300 a pack Radio will run $300 The mid size ones I have will run you ~$800-$1,000 Batteries for it will run ~$50-~200 a pack Small ones will run ~$400-$600 Batteries for it will run ~$20-$100 a pack These are all quality kits though. You can definitely get into it for cheaper, but part support is difficult, part quality is compromised and upgrades are minimal. There are a ton of "Clones" out there. For example, Lazer's "Shark" is a clone of the Align Trex....the smaller ones I have. You can definitely find cheap stuff in this hobby, but you tend to get what you pay for.
Not sure I would call the video of the Shark "3D" flying. That's how I fly. True 3D is a bit more complicated and frenetic. Here's a good example
Well I would love a T-rex but cant afford something like that. I was just going to spend $250 on a lesser machine and found the Art-Tech 450 and liked it. Comes with everything I need and two batteries for under $400. I can use T-rex blades and belts and gears so parts support is excellent. And to me a collective/pitch heli that can fly tail down, upside down, barrel roll, instantly flip itself and just do crap that appears to defy they laws of physics then I will call it a 3D. It has a 3750kw motor (brushless outrunner) and a 30a ESC so it should run pretty good. One thing is for sure, it is 100x more capeable then I am. It will be quite some time before I have the nards to fly it like that. I do know I wont be able to just hover it there for several batteries like the RC places reccomend. Ill hover it for the first battery and as long as I can controll a stable hover then the next battery will be that heli flying across 40 acres at some serious speed.
Doc....that video is quite misleading. I remember looking at that one as well when I picked up 2 of those kits thinking they would be GREAT. They function very well in very tame hovering and simple forward flight, but beyond that, they aren't very good. I can do pretty much everything in that video that the HBKII is doing. I can do most of it pretty easily with my Trex's and larger helis....but I can't get the HBKII to do it. I can't even get the HBKII to do clean tight flips and rolls....and basic inverted gets hairy. There is just to much flex and slop in the all plastic (cheap plastic) head and frames... The HBKII's are decent cheap entry level, but it's misleading to believe that they are inherently capable of that type of flight......
I think you need to reign in your expectations a bit. I can guarantee you, if you don't have any experience with a collective pitch (CP) helicopter, you won't be in a controlled hover for much more 10 seconds at a time, and that will no doubt take you many, many battery packs to get to..... 3D flying, defined by the community, is flying in a manner that is requiring constant inputs from all four axis. A simple flip or roll is only requiring input on the pitch axis and the forward cyclic. A piro flip, on the other hand, is requiring constant tail input, constant collective input, and constant pitch cylic and roll cyclic. I can not stress how patient you have to be and how important it is to take things REALLY REALLY slow when starting. It is incredibly important that you understand how to setup a rotor head. It is incredibly important that you understand your radio settings. Google "RADDS school of flight" and give some thought to following this process for learning to fly. It's slow, it's tedious and it's boring....but it does teach you control and the fundamentals. I can't stress enough how HARD learning to fly these things are at first. Once you get comfortable with the basics, it becomes easier, but learning the fundamentals of hovering and orientation is a very frustratingly difficult thing to do......especially by yourself without any prior experience.
You are obviously very knowledgeable in this and I believe ya. Chances are my first flight may cost me $40 (average repair cost) and the second and third too. Yeah I have had some serious RC stuff my whole life but never anything this complex. And I know that because I can fly my Axe CX great doesnt mean I can fly this new heli worth a damn but I have been playing with the sim software and watched several videos on how to fly them and just feel confident I will do well. I am going to do my first few flights in zero wind and in the middle of my 40 acres that is completly clear of everything so that should help a little. I was looking for a simpler machine but knew I would get bored quickly if it wasnt fast and couldnt do cool stuff so I went ahead and got something that is beyond my current abilities. The big reason for getting this Heli and ordering it from where I did was because I have spoke to Pete many times and he is going to set it up and trim it out for me. He is going to have it setup for novice flight in regular idle mode and gave me some throttle pitch curves that he has used for that specific heli with that motor and pinion option as I get better. Now I realize I am gonna need to aquire new stuff to as I crash it. Gonna need a blade balencer and a RPM tool to check head speed as I change stuff. This heli is supposed to be good for 3000 rpm head speed but will be 2100 (I think) set up out of the box. Its just going to be alot of practice I guess. I may only hover it for the first ten packs but I bet I can hold it pretty still for over ten seconds before I kill the first battery. I am going to have to get a better charger right away too. The one it comes with can only do an amp so it will take apx 2 hours to charge each battery if I drain them to 35-40% and I am going to want to fly more then 20 minutes per time I bring it out. There are some 11.1v 2500mah 25c batteries on ebay for $18 shipped new right now. I know they are not great batteries but I may get a few of them so I can have more fun.
Yeah, I can understand the limits of the one I have. It is quite touchy and not the most stable creature in the world. I agree about learning to fly them. I do good to get a stable hover for the entire life of the battery. And when I mean stable hover, I mean within a 1ft box. Sure I could just lift way up and try to fly around and act like I know what I'm doing, but odds are its gonna come crashing down sooner than later.
Cool. Didn't realize you had time with a CX and with a Sim. VERY good ways to start getting a grasp of the controls. Collective Pitch helis fly VERY different, but experience with anything is relavant and will do worlds to at least clam the nerves a little bit. Having a lot of space is good, in as far as the risk of things happening if/when you lose control. But you should really be focusing on controlling the helicopter in a 6' foot box. Draw a 6' box in your head and fly in it....if you break out of that box...land, redraw the box in your head and try again. The most important skill you learn is to have a "safe" hover in an orientation that your comfortable with...usually with the tail pointing to you...so that the heli responds 1:1 with the cyclic. (forward is forward, back is back, right is right, left is left) Being able to control the heli is small areas is very important when learning to transition from fast forward flight to a hover and back. Having someone help you with setup is a very good thing. If you can, also get him to help EXPLAIN how to do the setup. It's important to know that stuff. It helps figure out problems, it helps understand why something is happening...and it helps after a crash!!!! The heli you got should be a good starter. It's much better than the HBKII that I learned on. It's basically a TRex 450 clone....as you break stuff, put in Align parts. While Align isn't the greatest quality itself, it is going to be better than the stock stuff your starting with....and decent priced. You don't need too much to get started. In early learning crashes...the most likely thing to break are the main gears, the tail blades, the main blades, the main shaft and the feathering shaft (small shaft that attaches the blades together) Get a crash kit of those parts, and you'll be ok. Also, don't fall for the trap of Fiberglass or plastic blades.....they fly like crap, are heavy, and typically do more damage to OTHER items in a crash rather than breaking. Use some wood blades until your skilled enough to make carbon fiber blades cost effective. A set of Align 325mm woodens are only ~$10. Blade balancer is nice, but not needed. Actually, with 325mm blades, you can get by with a simple bolt. Balancing the 325mm isn't as important as it is with larger helis. I rarely balance my 325mm anymore. My 600mm blades, Absolutely. You don't need a tach either, not for just starting. You can just do gear calculations and figure it out close enough. You really only need a tach for nitro helis, because your relying on an electric control to throttle the motor....and electric heli has a very finite gear limiting speed. It's a simple calculation: [(KV of the motor)*(Avg voltage of the batter)* (pinion gear teeth)] / Main gear teeth for example. Your running a 3750kv motor, a 3cell battery and I'll assume a 150 tooth main gear. I'll guess a 12T pinion (3750 * 11.1 * 12)/150 = 3,330 RPM. That's 3,330 RPM maximum given that setup. There is typically a 10%-15% efficiency loss. After that, it's a 1:1 conversion to your throttle curve. If your running 80% on your throttle curve, it will be 80% of the maximum headspeed. See...simple. For learning purposes, I'd stick in the 2,500-2,800 RPM. Headspeed helps stablize the heli, but makes it more twichy as well....the trick is finding a sweet spot where you like it. The one piece of equipment that is important and you should pick up is a pitch guage. It is important to know how to use one and how to verify the head setup. Making sure you know what your max and min pitch is important, as well as making sure that the pitch of the blades matches. Dude, If I lived near you, I'd bet you a beer against that one. Your going to be surprised just how LONG 10 seconds can be with you get it in the air for the first time. Everybody struggles at first....everybody. Don't worry about it....just be persistent. But, if you do manage to make it for more than 10s...Great....just, and this is important possibly the most important piece of advice...DON'T PUSH TOO HARD!!!! Listen to yourself. If your struggling with focus...STOP. If your just can't feel it...STOP. Keeping a heli in the air is an incredibly mental task. If your head isn't in the right place...STOP. I, and many others have learned that the hard way. "One last flight...." becomes the Heli equivalent of "Hey, yall, look at this!!!" Batteries!!!! Great final point. Brand name battery's are good. They are a more know quantity and they usually carry a warranty. But DAMNIT they are expensive. Don't need them. Especially if your learning. Cheap batteries will be fine for you. Hell, they are fine for me. They may not have as much "punch" or they may die quicker than others....but they will work, and be much cheaper!!!! Forgive me if you know this, but I'll go over "C" ratings quickly....cause it's important with LiPos, which can be dangerous. A "C" rating refers to the current that the battery can deal with...both discharge and charge. A "C" is equal to the amp-hours of the battery...the capacity. in a 3S 2100 mAh battery, 1 C = 2.1 amps. So, a battery that is a 3s 2500 mAh 25C battery, can discharge 62.5 amps continously (2.5*25). The higher the "C" rating the more "Punch" a battery will have. You want to stick with 20C or higher in the heli your getting. Make sure they are 20C or higher. Actually, you want to have a battery that can do 50 amps....which translates to ~20C or so. Charging. You don't really want to charge any greater than 1C....that means for your 2500mAh battery, you want to charge at 2.5 amps...which means it will only take an hour. You can charge higher, but higher charging rate increased internal temperature and that's what kills batteries. If you get a smart charger, you can usually tell it what "C" to charge at. I typically do 1-2C for most of my batteries Finally, Ebay isn't a bad place to get batteries. If you want to order several batteries, here is where I pick up most of mine. They are very cheap for what they are...but there is shipping costs from China. Works out if your ordering several...but not cost effective if your only getting one or two. Good battery for what you need Wow...that got long. Hopefully this is helpful. Always enjoy seeing others get into the hobby, but it is a brutal hobby to get into without support and assistance. Holler at me via PM any time if you have any questions or need help...more than happy to give a hand!!!!
Been there....Done that!!!!! Nothing scarier than having it over your head for the first time and not knowing what to do!!!! If you can keep a HBKII in a 1' box for a full battery....your doing damn good with it.
There are some great RC forums out there as well with huge threads on specific copters. I made the mistake of trying to fly mine when I was drunk once. I was showing off the 3d mode to a friend....basically the blades spin at a set speed rather than training mode which uses the speed of the blades to raise the copter. Umm, came down a bit sideways and since lifting off the throttle didn't stop the blades, the concrete did. They shattered into a million pieces.
one of the most friendly, and knowledgeable forum sites for RC Helis is HeliFreak.com. There is also RunRyder and RCGroups.com Plenty of information and support out there. Granted, it ends up being the same people on ALL sites.........The community is still a very small group of people.....couple thousand I'd guess that really contribute online.
