Dragonfly electric heli

[Rolex]

Does anyone have the Dragonfly? My neighbor owns the LHS, and one of the regular nitro car customers wanted that electric heli. I have a nitro heli, and he ordered the Dragonfly since I would teach him how to fly it. Well, it came in today so I went to the LHS to check it out. The throttle, or up and down is on the right stick instead of the left, and forward and back is on the left stick instead of the right. It's also that way in the manual, so it's not a wiring error. I refused to even attempt flying it since my experience with the nitro heli would make me hit the wrong stick at the wrong time. The store owner tried it, and broke a rotor blade, and it's now a display heli.
The guy who ordered it swapped out his payment for an electric car.
If anyone plans to buy this heli as a training tool before stepping up to a larger electric or nitro heli, DON'T do it.
It's like learning to drive a Traxxas car the right way, and then getting another brand, only to find out that you now have to steer with the trigger and throttle with the wheel.

 

[scottm]

I agree, do not waste time learning anything with non-standard controls. That is amazingly stupid for them to make it like that. I refuse to fly rtf planes that have goofed up controls for the same reason.

 

[Candyman]

I have a Dragonfly. Sounds to me like he ordered it in Mode 1. That's a very common setup in Europe and Asia. Next time he has to make sure he orders it in Mode 2. That puts throttle and tail on the left. Fore/aft and left/right cyclic on the right. If it did come Mode 1, it can be fixed. It's just a matter of taking the back of the radio off and switching the throttle ratchet over to the left vertical gimbal. Then put the centering spring assembly on the right vertical gimbal. And lastly, rearrange the servo connections on the reciever to switch the speed control and the left/right cyclic servo. Now, is this the fixed pitch version? Sounds exactly like the one I have. They're neat, but harder than hell to learn to fly. I have never flown a heli before I bought that and it's an endless challenge. I run the Reflex XTR flight simulator and that helps. Right now it's sitting because I just need to get the guts up to fly it again. The nice thing is that the parts for it are basically identical to the Century Hummingbird so there are a lot of places to get replacements.

 

[dougc]

I know this is a stupid question but can't you just plug the servos in the right channels? where throtle is up and down

 

[Rolex]

It needs be be corrected in the radio. The wiring needs to be changed and the gimbals need to be changed for spring centering, or rachet also. I know, even without flying it that it would be more difficult to fly just because of its' light weight, and no collective. (fixed pitch) The nitro heli is very smooth and stable, not only because of its' weight, but being able to adjust collective, exponential, dual rates etc. in the computer radio.
Thanks Candyman for the info on the European version, I wouldn't have thought of that.
While searching for info on it last night, I came up with 3 different Dragonflys.
GWS Dragonfly, another brand, don't recall, and this one, all using the same name. However, this had no other brand listed on the box or in the manual.......Just Dragonfly. No web address either.

 

[flash]

i just got one a few weeks ago. its a lot of fun once ya get past the the twitchy flight attitude. as Rolex says- wieght makes a huge difference.
i must have got the "mode 2" version because the controls are the same as those on my jr but at the same time way more sensitive to input. dual rate and exponential settings would be nice, but for the money i can't expect much more than what i got.

 

[CorradoPsi]

I've also got a micro. still learning on it, havent touched it in a few months because of racing though.

 

[Candyman]

Twitchy is an understatement. There are plenty of scars on my coffee table, walls and my new surround sound reciever. I'm convinced they're damn near impossible to fly.

 

[flash]

lol. practice outside when its not windy. it takes a little time but it'll come to ya. i had mine fairly calm by the end of the second flight.

 

[Rolex]

Since the LHS owner busted a rotor blade, he can't send it back. I told him to order a new blade, and I'll rewire it the way it should be.
Since I already know how to handle them, I shouldn't have any problem with it, other than its' twitchy stage just before lifting off.

 

[flash]

lol...my lhs owner broke a blade too! then he had the idea to cut the other to match and balance the thing...right now its a good practice heli. it wont quite leave the ground- it will just barely slide accross the floor occasionally lifting a max of 1/8 inch.

 

[MaxxRunner]

Flash thats the same way my Caliber M24 has been since right out of the box, can't get it to hover off of the floor....i thought it was my poor piloting ( first timer with a heli) but maybe it is something mechanical like the rotors? any feed back on what to look for?

 

[Rolex]

Do you mean you can't raise it at full throttle?

 

[Candyman]

There's a few things to watch for. First, if you cut the blades too much, you'll never get enough lift. The upside to cutting the blades is you increase head speed which can stabilize the copter and make it more responsive. Always be sure to check your flybar paddles. These need to be set at 0 degrees of incidence. If they're even remotely pointing down, they'll create a ton of negative lift and the copter won't fly.

 

[Digital Liquid]

Are the dragonfly's capable of doing any 3D aerobatic maneuvers?

 

[PiErow]

Yes some of them are. That is called collective pitch models. I have a picco fun model(not cp) its a kit. I crashed it first day repaired it and tryed to sell it. I have no exspirence with a heli. When i go up 3 notches on the throttel it will want to take off but it shakes so much and appears to be so unbalanced i wont let it. What should i do?
I'm workin on getin a flight sim.

 

[Rolex]

I know there's an upgrade for the Picollo that will allow it to autorotate, but I don't know if it will do 3-D.
As far as the shuddering prior to lifting off, centrifugal force brings both blades straight out, and until the RPM gets up there, they won't straighten out fully.
If you get it past the shaky point, it will smooth out as long as your rotor is properly balanced. If one is chipped, you need to re-balance them.

 

[DarthRacer]

I skipped the whole fixed pitch thing and went collective pitch. 3D flying man! I've never flown a heli before but how hard can it be to learn? . I just bought a Shogun 400 CP by EvoFlight. One of the reasons I bought it is because it has a shaft driven tail unlike the FPs with separate motors for the tail. I only have the kit right now and I'm shopping for the electronics. I've been hanging out in the micro heli forum on rcgroups.com a whole lot learning about helis. You can hop the holy hell out of a micro heli just like any car or truck. In a few years I'd like to get into nitro helis too.


Damn, I have been away fron RCNT for a while, haven't I?? Seems like I didn't logon since the ECB II.