|
|
|
|
|
#1
12-15-2011, 06:20 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
A little bigger huh... well there's the Esky Honey Bee FP, it's closer to 400 size. You'll most likely be shopping for parts online but they are available. I don't have any personal experience with it but from what I've read it's another good one, you may wanna do some quick googling to see if it's more up your alley.
http://helidirect.com/esky-hb-fixed-...py-p-14271.hdx On a somewhat related note, I'd highly recomend looking into an innexpensive flight sim program like Clearview for example. It'll use your existing Tx with a USB adapter (purchased seperatly, about $20) as the input device and will help you to practice the basic orientation skills, and take a crack at the more advanced models to see if you're ready. Real Flight is well known and comes with it's own Tx input device but it's spendy. Last edited by jostafew; 12-15-2011 at 06:23 PM. 
|
|
#2
12-15-2011, 06:52 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
jostafew great suggestion on the Blade Series from HH! The beauty of getting a Blade series is that you pretty much get everything you need out of the box.
I've been flying (and instructing) R/C since I was 6 (didn't start teaching that early lol) and got into rotorcraft about 5 years ago. The "Blade" series are pretty well put together and most hobby shops carry spare parts for them. That's a huge plus because you will need spare parts. The only way to NOT crash is to never put a battery in it and never pick it up. Crashing is part of flying. I have flown everything from "humming bird" sized heli to planes with winspan of 8' and a 26" prop. By far the most common (and probably will only get more popular in time) mode of propulsion is not battery (aka electric). It used to be that liquid fuel (nitro, gasoline etc) was the way to go because electric was just too heavy and your power to weight was way off and performance just sucked! That's not the case now. Because of major advances in battery and controller technology electric is taking over big time. I used to only fly fueled birds but now everything I own is electric and I doubt I'll ever buy another gallon of R/C fuel or gasoline for an RC aircraft. Below is a list of the current offerings from Blade and how they are stacked up in order of easiest to hardest:  mCX2 is a small and fairly durable heli. It's indoor ONLY and I wouldn't even suggest getting it near a door let alone outside. This one is a blast to fly and I've even had first time pilots be able to fly this one on the first battery pack.  For you very first a Coax is a good choice. It will teach you the basics in R/C heli but wont require you to be "good". The CX2 is a good size if you want to "sample" some outdoor flight but you want NO wind. A gnat fart will blow it off course and much more you wont be able to correct for it and will crash a longggg way from home.  Moving up if you want a single rotor to start with the mSR X is a very durable and fun little heli to play with. It's light so outside you want no wind but due to it's small size it carries very little momentum so it can take a pretty good smack with little damage usually.  Then to take it up another notch (still fixed pitch here) check out the 120 SR which is just a slightly larger (and more stable) version of the m SR-X (but mSR-X doesn't have flybar but that's another conversation).  Next in lineup is the SR which is again slightly larger but this is the the first step into Collective Pitch (CP ) heli and isn't really your best bet for first heli. It's a lot of fun to fly and an excellent 2nd or 3rd heli. Now let's step it up a notch to some touchy but fun helis!  Next in the lineup is the 450 3D (3D means acrobatics and some crazy flying to say the least). This is a newer version of my favorite "All In One" heli. If I can help in any way please don't hesitate to ask or shoot me a PM! Flying is a PASSION I've had since day 1 and I love helping other people get into the hobby and STAY in the hobby!! Sincerely, Allen
|
|
#3
12-15-2011, 06:58 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
 Have you ever seen or tried Phoenix? I've tried all the above (heck I started on a Dave Brown sim running on an Apple 2e back in the day). The Phoenix sim is second to none and very cost effective. The only perceived drawback is radio because you need your own radio. Some think that's a drawback I think it's an advantage because you get to practice with exactly what you'll fly with. Another huge bonus for Phoenix is that all upgrades (new planes, helis, etc) are FREE! You don't have to buy "Add-On" packs like you do with Real Flight. Three things I can't stress enough...
|
|
#4
12-15-2011, 07:30 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Hey BigAl07, yes MAAC insurance is available here for about $75/ year, but it's only valid when flying with a club at an approved field. So unless you're a club member and fly there regularly (they usually require insurance to fly with them) it's pretty pointless. Just find a quiet place away from pedestrians, traffic, and windows hahaha. It's bad news when a model goes down and takes something or even worse, someone with it.
What's the cost for Phoenix? Clearview is $40 and I have no real complaints with it, graphics are decent and model dynamics are good. New models are free as they're developed. I chose it after trialing the popular ones (including Phoenix).
|
|
#5
12-15-2011, 07:45 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I don't remember the price (I've had mine several years just keep upgrading it for free) but I know it was something around $100. It's probably a tad more now. Well worth it because almost as soon as a new heli/plane is release it goes onto the sim or at least when the bird gets popular.
Bummer about the MAAC insurance. AMA offers (or they used to) a Park Flyer version that would cover you flying at other places not just a sanctioned AMA flying field. Normally I'd say it's not worth the $$ but I had to "use" it one time. I "might have" ran into a parked car a few years back with a fairly large plane. I'm just saying LOL! I used to fly only at the club (Was flying some fairly large planes) but once I got into the smaller helis I drifted away from the club and like you said away from people etc is all I need now. I routinely fly at parks, in Gyms, and almost anywhere I can get a spin in. I've been known to take one (or more) of my heli on vacation. I took my Blade 400-3D camping last year in the Smoky Mountains. Was awesome for a few days then I lost a gear at about 100' and the whole campground got to see what a sloppy nasty auto-rotation looks like LOL!
|
|
#6
12-19-2011, 01:30 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
I used to fly electric heli's in the UK, and brought my Align T-REX SE over with me. Sadly work left me with no time to fly, but I keep my fingers twitching with some indoor heli's.
If more than a few of you are looking for helicopters, let me know what you want and I can source from various agents in China and work out a group buy for you. It would be easier if you all wanted the same thing of course 
|
|
#8
12-19-2011, 01:40 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
I came into it by accident.
My Dad was bored so I bought him something to slowly learn with. After 2 hours I got a call telling me it was faulty! HUH? So I took it off him and after several rebuilds to the point that only the screws were still original I got air borne. I then switched up to something real naff that used to have a fit at 50ft and cost me a new rotor assembly everytime, so had a Trex XL built for me, which I slowly transformed into an SE each time it would crash "itself" I never mastered forward flying, very much still a novice but keep my hand in with these cheapies you can now buy. Moving to Canada saw two favourite hobbies fall by the way side weekend clay shoots with my Berretta 686E over and under and flying heli's
|
Hybrid Mode
