So, it was my birthday on Friday. Turned 29 for anyone who wants to know, and I decided to buy myself a cheap rc helicopter. Pretty basic, up, down, turns, forwards and backwards. Anyone here who has experience with helis? I want to get something that can do more, been looking online and I have seen a few that are pretty nice but they all cost a lot of money (200-400cdn) and I don't want to spend that much money on something that I don't know a lot about. Advice?
Somthing like this? http://www.rc-fever.com/walkera-dra...tf-24ghz-w-brushless-motor-lcd-tx-p-9795.html You should also consider visiting your local model shop for advice.
I bought one like that and after 2 days it broke. I used to have a petrol one may years ago and it scared the crap out of me!
The first thing you should do is to get a good simulator, and get good practice. If you ever manage to fly properly you could look at what heli to get. Keep in mind that small helis are cheaper, but also harder to fly because they are less stable. Talking to some local members of you local RC club could be a good idea. Maybe you'll find someone to help you set everything up, and maybe be your copilot. I have a Kyosho Caliber 30. I bought it from a colleague who bought if from a guy who flew it once and crashed. It was rebuilt but never flew after that. When I got it I tore it down and rebuilt everything. I did have a hard landing on my first flight and crushed the tail boom and both rotors... (good tip: Don't set up your controller for 3D flight when you are new...) It's been a few months since I last used my heli. To be honest it scares the crap out of me. They are really dangerous when they get out of control.
+1 Go to a heli club and ask around they're all looking for new members so they will be very helpful and will save you money in the long run as you can run with a buddy lead ( means if you get into trouble they can take over and save it for you )
Those little ones (as linked) are incredibly easy to fly. My little girl could fly it after 5 minutes. Oh actually forget that it's bigger than I thought.
My helicopters charger broke. I plugged it in and the magic smoke that makes all electronic devices work, found a crack or a hole or whatever and escaped.... Will take the advice above into consideration when I look for another one. But I might get another small one that is cheap before I crash an expensive one into my girlfriends tv....
Oh, so you want to fly it only indoors? If that's the case you can forget anything bigger than those small toy helis. Most of the "proper" helis are about a meter long, and have a rotor diameter about the same. They are next to impossible to fly indoors. (Unless you have a ridiculously large house.)
I reckon this could take a bit of payload: I've always wanted a model chopper but learning how to fly one is a bit daunting.
Might I suggest you start with a fixed wing aircraft (gliders or planes) as they are a lot easier to fly (and cheaper) which is why RAF pilots all start in a Grob Tutor even if they are going on to helicopters later.
Being an enthusiast of this sport, I can tell you right now that the heli in that vid probably took about 2 years to design and build (depending on how many people were involved and just how epic their engineering skills are) and cost upwards of £6000. And takes an extremely experienced, skilled pilot to fly. What an absolute monster! Want! Anyway, most of my input on this might be totally redundant, as the two that I have are for outdoor flying only. If you only want to fly indoors, don't get anything that won't fit in the palm of your hand. If you want to start flying outdoors, though, get yourself a good TX and simulator and put in plenty of hours practicing the basics like takeoff, hover, nose-in hover, landing, basic manouvering etc. Once you're confident that you can get a real heli off the ground and land it safely again, get something cheap(ish) to begin with. For the record, I'm still scared to take my more expensive heli more than a few meters off the ground. The last time I crashed it badly it cost hundreds to repair, and I learned a valid lesson the hard way (flying conditions). Nothing over £150 is a good starting point, but you may think differently depending on how much you want to invest in the hobby. My two helis are a world apart, one is a cheap training model that I've upgraded a good bit since I got it, a Honey Bee King II, and the other is something slightly more... well I think I've mentioned it before. It was expensive. And I'm afraid to fly it. And at the moment, I can't remember the chassis model it's based on I'll look for you the next time I'm home, but it's mostly a custom by now - something I really don't deserve to own because it just doesn't get the use it should. My real passion as far as RC is concerned is on road touring cars, but I won't derail the thread by changing the topic. I also want to get into homemade UAV's at some point, mostly because they combine a few of my favourite hobbies like robotics, RC, electronics and modelling.
I have a Basic 4ch Apache (rebadged Esky). It's great, but I can't really give it too much stick. They have limited capabilities, but give you a feel for the basic's of flying. Next up for me (I'm saving for it), is a Mikrokopter. After I get to grips with it, I'm adding FPV to it. My previous interest in RC was Petrol Drag Racing. I Ended up with a 4ft long 125cc monster.
RC cars are a good tip for a hobby, though. It's cheaper, easier and just as much fun. You could get a beast of a car for the money a proper heli will cost you. And a crash is normally cheaper. I have a HPI Savage X SS. While it can be scary at times, it's nowhere near as scary as a heli. Whatever you get, try to find a kit version. Half the fun is actually building the thing. Besides, you will then know how to fix stuff.
RC cars are great fun too (got a Tmaxx) but can't really compare to anything that flies. As for cost the cheapest by far is gliders (but they are very dependent on where you live need a good set of hills facing the right direction). The combat stuff goes for ~£60+remote and they bounce instead of breaking when crashed (well not quite true I've manage to break one before but cost almost nothing to fix). As for helicopters being scary the ones I've flown aren't nearly as scary as my 60in pylon racer with full ballast that thing is insane. Sadly I've lack the time to play around with any of my RC stuff for a couple years now.
I'm looking at one of these two: http://www.hobbytron.com/GYROMetalPioneerMX35CHElectricRCHelicopter.html http://www.rctoyhouse.com/helicopters/rc_helicopter_esky_big_lama_24ghz.html Reasons are these: not too expensive can go outside a small step up from what I had. thoughts?
I have flown the esky, and it is a nice model, this is the largest heli I would recomend flying in your livingroom. I recomend buing atleast one or two extra batteries, it is irritating to have to wait all the time... Personally I have the following: Starting from the smallest one, located at the lower right. Eflite MSX Eflite MSR Align T-rex 250 Align T-rex 450 Align T-rex 500 Align T-rex 600ESP Align T-rex 600NSP (nitro) since this picture was taken, I also have bought a bigger one. Henseleit Three Dee NT (picture of a similar heli, mine is not ready yet..) I've been driving RC cars for "forever" and it gets a little boring, especially if there is no club or track in your area. the last car I bought was a FG-Beetle gas-fueled 1:5 scale. The thing about that is every time I use it, the day ends because something is broken.. and the parts are expensive. But I hear good things about the Savage..
