Heli Questions

[Greywolf74]

I know a guy that wants to trade me a Honeybee King II and an Esky Belt Cp for my Losi micro DT that I've done a brushless conversion and just about every conceivable hop up there is for it including just about every aluminum piece you can buy, oil filled aluminum shocks, Losi 10,250kv brushless motor and ESC, aftermarket rims, tires, and body. I have about $300-$350 bucks wrapped up in my micro DT. Its a real shelf queen.

His helis have some aluminum and carbon fiber hop ups on them as well as extra blades and a bunch of spare parts. They look as though they are a few years old though as they dont have 2.4Ghz tx/rx and one of them has an older esky gyro that has been replaced by a newer model. Now the TX/RX isnt a big deal as I've been looking a buying a multi memory 2.4Ghz set up anyway because eventually I want a plane or two also. Seems like a pretty good deal to me but I dont know anything about Helis so I thought Id get a second opinion. The Honeybee King II is still in production so parts are still available for it and the Belt CP has been replaced by the Belt CP V2 but theyre still making replacement parts for it. thoughts on that trade?

I guess the other question I have is how hard are helis to learn how to fly? Can one carefully start with one of these models or do you need a sim to learn?

 

[HPIguy]

Long ago, at a flying field far, far away everyone learned on .30 size nitro full on collective pitch helicopters that were stupid expensive simply because that's all there was for entry level.

So, yes you can learn to fly with a collective pitch heli for your first bird. That being said, I personally wouldn't recommend it though. I tried that route for learning, and while I quickly learned to hover tail in, I never really progressed beyond that because the costs and time for rebuilding a CP heli after a crash just eventually did me in.

When I came back to helis, I bought a Blade MSR. That thing has literally been beaten to death by myself, and a couple of friends I've helped learn to fly. I've had one broken part on it in over two years of flying. But, it's mainly an indoor model. They do however make an outdoor version, the SR 120 that is an outstanding outdoor trainer, and super durable as well (I had one of these as well, and gave it to a good friend). They're both fixed pitch so you don't have all the complicated linkages going on as you would on a collective pitch bird if you do break something. My flying progressed by leaps and bounds with those two, since I had no fear of crashing or rebuilding.

A good sim (Phoenix or Real Flight) in my opinion is priceless for heli guys. One crash on a 450 sized bird (like the belt cp) can cost you the price of a good simulator. You can fly when the weather is nasty, at night, whenever you want and learn while crashing for free.

The Esky stuff isn't bad, not the quality level of E Flite IMHO (which is still low end in the heli world), but not bad.

That's just my .02, hopefully some of the other resident rotor heads will chime in as well.

 

[Greywolf74]

Yeah I kind of figured they wouldnt be very good to learn on but aside from that would you trade a pimped out micro DT for those 2 plus a bunch of spare parts or would you just keep your DT and buy a higher quality heli?

 

[Rolex]

Did someone say "Rotor Head"?
It's a tough call. Personally I don't go for used unless I'm getting a really smoking deal, and I don't like to trade something I've nurtured and raised since it was just a little bag of parts.
I agree with the RealFlight simulator for learning, and RF 6 is now out with the additional heli package.
You really need to spend some time studying what's out there since there's such a variety of helis available now. When you're really familiar with the different models and features, you'll know what you want to invest in.
For about $25 or less you can get a little Syma heli to fly around inside just to get a feel for them.

 

[hamz9561]

That was my solution. I still have my pimped-out Micro D/T (very similar to yours) and have both an mCX and an mSR. I'm currently looking at the upgrade of the SR129, the flybarless SR130.

 

[Greywolf74]

Thanks for the replies. I'm typically like you Rolex in terms of trading cuz I almost never get one thats in nearly the same condition I keep mine in. The main reason I was thinking of doing this was because i dont use my micro DT at all it just sits around collecting dust...The brushless motor thats on it makes it stupid fast, so much so that its hard to even control it. lol So I dont really enjoy it that much. My big concern was the quality of the kits. I've already looked up parts availablity and they both are available and the Honeybee King II is still in production or at least I found a website that has it for sale the belt cp has been replaced by the V2 but parts are still available. IDK....I'll have to give it some more thought. I'll definatly look into the RealFlight sim as I'm sure its a great way to practice.

Anyone have any advice on learning how to properly set up a heli before you start trying to fly it?

 

[HPIguy]

Grewolf, here are a few sites that have helped me learn a lot in my journey with helis including proper setup.

John Salt has some great e books on the subject, and I've bought a couple of them.

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/radio-controlled-helicopters.html

Radds school of rotary flight covers a decent approach to the learning curve IMHO

http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html

And finally, Helifreak.com is basically the RCNT of the rotor world. They have dedicated sub forums for most brands also.

http://www.helifreak.com/

 

[Rolex]

I learned how to hover and fly on a big .46 Century Falcon. NOT the way to go. I started big and worked my way down.
I've got a dozen helis now, and the Century is my only nitro but I haven't flown it in about 6 years.
I've got both the Belt CP and the V2, and they're great helis right out of the box with endless upgrades available.
I would recommend getting the Spektrum DX7 and programming all your future helis into it. You can't do it with the little ones but the better ones can be purchased as "Bind & Fly" and the advanced ones can be purchased bare bones where you supply all the electronics or just the Rx and batts.

 

[Greywolf74]

Thnaks guys...Ill have a look at those sights later after work when I have time to really sit down and read them

 

[HPIguy]

I would recommend getting the Spektrum DX7 and programming all your future helis into it. You can't do it with the little ones but the better ones can be purchased as "Bind & Fly" and the advanced ones can be purchased bare bones where you supply all the electronics or just the Rx and batts.

Great advice, then you can be a BNF junkie like the rest of us.

EDIT: All the little stuff is pretty much available BNF now too. That's what always suckers me in.

 

[hamz9561]

BNF is your friend! Anytime I want a new aircraft, I always try to get a BNF version, especially since I got a new DX7s for Christmas.

 

[HPIguy]

Depends on whether your friends swipe $130 from your wallet on occasion JK, I love bind n fly, it's great. I'm actually thinking about (gasp) picking up a plank for the summer season.

 

[Greywolf74]

I was thinking of getting the flusky 9CH TX sicne I've had such good luck with the fkysy GT3B

 

[grgbulldog]

Depends on whether your friends swipe $130 from your wallet on occasion JK, I love bind n fly, it's great. I'm actually thinking about (gasp) picking up a plank for the summer season.

Is this a plank?

 

[wwdragon]

Depends on whether your friends swipe $130 from your wallet on occasion JK, I love bind n fly, it's great. I'm actually thinking about (gasp) picking up a plank for the summer season.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh I am sooooooooooooooo telling Kidding, Wurger would have a fit if he knew I have planks, teling him I got cars and trucks as well would totally put him over the edge hehehehe

Barry

 

[hamz9561]

I don't know if the Flysky will work with the BNF products. I know that the Spektrums will.