Opinions on Heli's

[SMaxxin]

After killing a few cp helis about a year ago I'm getting the itch to buy another one, I have been flying a mini coax for a while now and I really want something for outside. My questions are.....

Is there a big difference between belt and direct drive tail rotors? The ones I had before were not belt drives, what differences would I notice with a belt drive?

How much easier is a FP compared to a CP? I have no problem upgrading to a CP later if learning on a FP is much easier.

I have read about most of these things but we all know you have to take info from the internet with a grain of salt, input from someone with experience is what I'm looking for.

Thanks!

 

[Rolex]

The latest edition to my fleet has an electric tail rotor. The other 4 are all belt driven. A belt driven tail rotor turns at the same RPM ratio relative to the main rotor head, and any corrections in the yaw works the same as a collective pitch...the servo will add + or - to the fixed gyro setting.
That kind of motion is very smooth as well as responsive and dependable.
There is no pitch change with an electric tail rotor since the blades are at a fixed pitch and any yaw control is dependent on the motor speeding up or slowing down to act against the natural rotational torque of the main rotor. In a fast rotation, the motor will even stop completely, to allow the heli to spin and then input starts the motor to counteract it.
I don't like the results, but it does work.
The only reason I got it was to fit it inside a Huey heli body that I totally detailed out in Nam military dress, and since the Huey has a raised tail rotor, this was the only heli that would fit inside that body and had an adapter to raise the tail and rear rotor.

Don't waste your time on a fixed pitch main rotor. That's just a controllable fan. Learning the stick controls are what's important, and you learned that on the coaxial setup.

 

[SMaxxin]

Thanks for the response Rolex!!

 

[Rolex]

Just to clear something up. In the first paragraph I made it sound like the + or - pitch is added to the gyro. The gyro will stabilize the tail, and the stick input will over ride it to add + or - PITCH to the tail rotor blades with a mechanical linkage from a servo.

I would highly recommend a kit heli where you can start out with the frame and mechanicals such as the rotor head and tail rotor. You provide the motor, speed control, gyro, batteries servos and radio and receiver. Using a cheap 2.4 4 channel that comes with it makes the flying difficult for a beginner. The first thing you should invest in is a computerized 6 or 7 channel radio.

 

[SMaxxin]

I would love to build one from scratch but I'm not sure if my budget will allow that, I'll have to shop around. If I go with a RTF I will look into replacing the stock radio asap.

Thanks again!

 

[SMaxxin]

Will a Heading Lock gyro make flying easier? I read that it will but I also read that it's mainly for doing 3d flying....I will not purposely attempt 3d acrobats anytime soon LOL

 

[Rolex]

You don't need the expensive heading lock gyro, but you do need one. Even the pros use them. It prevents any unnecessary tail drift in a cross breeze.
Let me know what heli you're getting. If it's RTF it should already have one installed.

 

[SMaxxin]

I was thinking about an esky bely cp cx, it seems to have one installed.

http://www.xheli.com/eskyheli-beltcp-cx-rtf-red.html


I looked at a few others that might be a little better but I want to have a few bucks left over for a better radio and a couple of spare parts.

 

[Rolex]

Good choice. I have one. I've also dealt with them. If there's any way you can get it without the radio, I'll give you one. The first thing I do with a new heli is take out the rx and replace it with the DX-7 receiver.
I have 2 of those radios in the FS forum, but no bites.
I just ordered a 4' long Bell 222 fuselage for my big nitro heli. I haven't touched it since I got into electrics, but now it's down to sell or rebuild. I got the unpainted fiberglass with retracts. Painted is about $250 more, and that's what I enjoy doing.
I just designed my paint scheme on the computer last night.

Here's a real one. Really sleek style

With retracts...

 

[SMaxxin]

Good choice. I have one. I've also dealt with them.

Thats great to hear, I feel a lot better about it, the scale look is just killer!

 

[Rolex]

I'd recommend going the extra 20 for the simulator. I'd also suggest picking up the basic pod canopy and save that nice body for when you trust yourself.

 

[SMaxxin]

I'd recommend going the extra 20 for the simulator. I'd also suggest picking up the basic pod canopy and save that nice body for when you trust yourself.

I finally placed my order an this message was stuck in my head...I did get the flight sim and I decided to go with the cp 450 v2 instead of the cp-cx 450, same heli different canopy. Once I know I can keep it in the air and land it I'll grab a scale fuselage. I'm also picking up a pitch gauge...Now I just need to figure out what to do with it LOL

 

[SMaxxin]

The new heli showed up yesterday!! I spun it up and it and right away I know it's not ready to fly out of the box, I'm going to have my first shot at balancing blades and setting pitch...Wish me luck!

 

[PaulC]

I would have went for a TRex 450 clone. Parts are cheaper and more easily acquired. But that said a lot of fun can be had with the eSky stuff. Radio is junk though, good luck setting it up

 

[Rolex]

I guess I missed your last post. Have you set it up and flown it yet?

 

[HPIguy]

Congrats Smaxxin, nice lookin' bird. I have a love / hate relationship with helis. I love flying them, hate fixing them when I auger in with all the linkages and setup that goes into them. I'm going to go totally against the grain and say that my Honey Bee fixed pitch is my favorite heli. Sure you can't do any 3D stuff (not that I can anyway) and it doesn't like wind, but man is it DURABLE. I've lawn darted it hard enough to bend the fly bar, but didn't break anything, and I simply straighten everything out and go again. Plus, since it has a 90 degree fly bar, it FEELS like a CP heli in the air, meaning it has none of the forgiving factors of say a Blade MSR design. For the most part, if you can fly circuits with it, you can fly circuits with a CP heli. For less than $100 RTF, I think they are a fantastic training tool. just my .02

 

[Candyman]

Good choice. I have a Belt-CP. And much like Rolex's Savage it looks good on my shelf. Mostly because I haven't had much time to try to fly it. But also because even these mini sized helis are freaking scary. Since my world is calming down I may just take the time to tune it and dial in the HH gyro that I just put in. They're fun. The only downside I've seen is when they crash...they crash. Helis don't bounce.

 

[SMaxxin]

I have flown it a few times and crashed it twice, broke the same parts both times...Blades and feathering shaft.

My first flight with it, crashed it less than a minutev after this LOL

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MeqjAofVs8"]YouTube - E SKY Belp CP firts flight[/ame]

 

[slowngreen]

Nice flight bro, seem to have good control over it.

 

[HPIguy]

Nice flight smaxxin! One thing that really helped my Blade 400 was to go through and properly set up the head and tail, even though it was RTF. It's time consuming, and a daunting task at first, but it truly made it a whole different animal once finished. I could get a good five to ten seconds hands off hover afterward.