rc helicopters

gate82

hi,i am interested in learning to fly rc helicopters.....which i hear is very hard.can anyone tell me if they know of any rc club or person who teaches this....gratefull for all replies

coolwings

RC Helis are not hard ... they are expensive...
First you pay 3 x the amount it costs for planes to get the outfit.

Then you start the engine and start breaking parts.
(If it was an airplane you glue them together again, but with a heli you buy new bits)
You keep buying replacement bits for the parts you break, until you stop breaking them. (Usually about EUR250-400 in parts while learning)
At this point, it is great, you have maintenance and fuel costs from now on.

If you can't stand the expense, you would call it hard to learn helis
If you can afford the expense, then you practise-fix-practise-fix-practise until you can fly just right. Now you do't break stuff.
At this stage you say that you paid your dues, learned your lessons, did what you have to do to learn helis.
As far as teaching goes, talk to your LHS who you buy it from, they should have all that sorted out. (There are suitable places-people all over Ireland.)

I seriously advise you to learn to fly on an aircraft first and then switch to helis. You will spend about the same amount, but have two working models in 12 months time, instead of one (much repaired) model.

The questions that matter .....
Where do you live?
Have you any modelling/building experience?
Have you any flying experience?
Are you living in a built up area/what size vehicle does it have to fit into?
Budget considerations ...
indoor helis 250 to 300
outdoor electric 800-1100
glowfuel(nitro) helis big things 800, full outfit including the parts they don't tell you about 1100-1200
For comparison purposes.... full aircraft outfit ... 380-450

NitroCruiser

Hi,

I have been flying my Shuttle Z 30 Nitro heli for 2 years or so now and am only really tail in hovering nice and steadily and doing circle rounds and some forward flight.

The main thing about the RC heli's is vibration & balance. Once the heli goes out of balance due to a mishap it can explode. Wooooow.

So depending on how much you embed the heli into the ground some typical repairs needed after a crash are:

New main rotors - €40
New Main shaft - €8
New flybar - €6
New feathering spindle - €6
New Tailboom Tube - €14
Posibly new main head control bits?
Rear fins and rotors?

It all adds up to at least €80 or so on parts and an evening of repairs before you can get out there and start to fiddle with the head tracking etc. again.

If you are a beginner it is scary stuff.
So if you are not into taking the heli apart and rebuilding/repairing it for the first few flights then don't go near the heli's.

You should have gotten a simulator to prevent the crashes I hear you say.
Nope. No matter how many hours I put into the simulator with wind turned on and everything the Irish weather and winds will always try to catch you out. The adrenaline rush when the wind catches your heli.

But let me tell you the buzz you get out of hovering the heli and seeing the thing you have built from scratch lift off an inch or so off the ground for the first time is excellent. Heli's are cooooooooooooooool. Even better when you go to the local heli expert in the park and let him check it out and fly it for you. Yeah. That is cool. The guy in the park looked mine over. Said I did a good job builting it. Then we fueled it up and off he went 6ft hover. Then he did a nose in hover. Deadly. Great buzz.

Great hobby to be into. Now if only the wind in this country would die down for longer.

NC

coolwings

NitroCruiser wrote:

...if you are not into taking the heli apart and rebuilding/repairing it for the first few flights then don't go near the heli's.

Very true.

NitroCruiser wrote:

... a simulator to prevent the crashes I hear you say..

You're right about the andrenalin,...the sim is too relaxed, no noise, no power, no scary risk taking, no thought that "if a nut, bolt or washer flies out of there right now, will it come in my direction?"
Fear and excitement make it impossible to relax and fly properly.
But the sim is very realistic, and you should get one if you're learning to fly a heli. It does teach you lots of things.
Just don't fool yourself that it is any way near enough. The heli in the sim wont have a loose ball link that you fitted in a hurry, and the rotor blades won't be tracking badly because the manual didn't tell you clearly enough how to set them. And the heli engine in the sim always starts, but if you can't tune your engine right yours wont.
"Learn easy with a flight simulater..." is mail order speak for "buy it and you too can fly like a pro" just catalog sales bull****.
You might as well try to learn circus acrobatics on the trapeze from reading about it in a book.
It is a balance thing, really, the only way to learn it is to do it best you can. Until you can do it right.

And yes, it is a drug, you do get a high after a successful flight of any flying model. My son landed his new Cessna yesterday after a 2nd good flight, and started to laugh. I asked him what was funny, he said nothing, he just felt like laughing. RC flyers know why.

:cool: :cool: :cool:

NitroCruiser

I agree Coolwings.

The sim is a great tool for learning the controls and gives you an idea of how the heli will handle once you take off alright but nothing is a good as the fresh smell of the smoke coming out of you heli engine and the buzz of the actual machine being in front of you. yeeeeeeeeee haaaa.

I use the sim when I want to learn a new maneover. e.g I am curently using the sim for some nose in hovering. Im not ready to try it on the real heli yet but couple of hours practice on the sim and I will be there.

Small steps are the key to learing to fly your heli I have learned.

The real thing definitely makes you smile and laugh.

Cheers,
NC

coolwings

NitroCruiser wrote:

...If you are a beginner it is scary stuff..... Great buzz.
NC

The fear is at the heart of the enjoyment. Onlookers only see a model flying. But you at the controls - you know that it is a heartbeat from a bash, sort of like playing a skilful version of russian roulette that ends when you land ... it's a mixture of relief and triumph that makes you go "yesss" inside.

I'm sure the competition RC car guys get the same kick when they win a race over other highly skilful pals.

greg-h

I think you should realy buy a trainer with a good sport radio so you can upgrade to a heli at a later date you would benefit fiananceally as well

mosizlack

Hi There,

Interesting thread, I bought a TT Raptor 50v2 back in January from Model Heli Services in Ennis, having been flying fixed wing for nearly 15years. I had gotten sick of flying planks of balsa so fancied a new challenge. I can safely say I have very little interest appart from an electric park model in flying fixed wing in the future.

I invested in the Reflex XTR simultator which is an absolutly fantastic learning tool for heli and plane pilots alike. It helped me greatly at the start and to date have had only 2 crashes. I can understand how it might take someone with no rc experience at all quite some time to even accomplish the basics of heli flying. Really the best way to go is join a club who have heli memebers. This is a fantastic resource and you can be looping rolling and flipping your machine in no time at all.

If you are seriously thinking of a helicpoter I cant recommend the Raptor highly enough. There are different trains of thought on trainer helicopters. Some say buy a .30 size machine and then move on to a .50 size machine at a later date. I dissagree. The inital spend on equipment and the model an extra 150 euro on to of all that is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Plus you will get a model you can not only setup for an absolute beginner, but in time when your skill and ability allows set up as an extreme 3D helicopter.

I have no regrets about investing in a 50 machine from the beginning and now after 7 months flying aerobatics, nose in flying and other silly manouvers are part of my flight routine.

Hope this helps you make a decision.

Cheers

Mo Sizlack

TT Raptor 50v2
OS 50 Hyper engine
Youngblood MP II
JR Radio