Wanted: More Heli Pilots

[HeliG]

Hey heli pilots. Are you still out there? This thread is starting to fall! I just finished painting the trim in my basement and I'm at the firestation for 48 hours tomorrow and Thursday. I "reassemble" the basement on Friday and then head to Kelowna to see my parents. This is where it gets good. I'll revive my T-rex and spend some quality time flying about. I can't wait.

[vortex05]

Still waiting for my battery shipments.

[bassplayinDude]

I'm down one heli because of a tail strike on my Blade 400. I'm worried I may have damaged my battery pack too as it seems slightly 'bent' where the charge/discharge leads come out of the plastic.

[vortex05]

don't worry HeliG were in the rebuild period right now we'll be up and flying soon.

[Figure.N9ne]

i'm starting the addiction so i'll be posting a bit about heli's. i put together an 450se v2 on sunday and been flying it non stop since. i'd say i have about 50 or 60 flights on it. flight 29 ended in a crash when i lost orientation in foward flight at night. for now i'm keeping forward flight for day time. i had a belt cp but after a few crashes i got sick of waiting on parts for it from ebay and hong kong etc. i flew the belt cp for about 2 days total and gave up. the 450sev2 was exacty wht i needed, its beyond stable and a dream to fly. in 3 days i've gone from tail in hover to hovering in all orientations and forward flight, pitch pumps, piro's etc. its an addiction for sure!

[HeliG]

Yaneil,
How long have you been flying helis?

[Figure.N9ne]

Originally Posted by cyberlabs

that's just it, the engineers don't take stress points into account...if they did
the parts WOULD fly off, but not break into pieces...i'm sure an all steel construction like the real thing would yield less actual damage upon impacts. But really I don't know you could very well be right, but I do notice a big difference in my two copter's designs. As said...it's like the more expensive ones are specifically more designed to shatter...which is sorta..reverse what you would expect from a manufacturer, least historically; chinese have an interesting way of building things.
I'm thinking of using a wax cast method to remake these parts in clay, especially things like the blades...real blades are made with ceramics, why not these...their are new clays out there that require low thermal bake points so you can pop them into the oven and they'll work as good as carbon fiber blades or used to strengthen the balsa wooden ones.
I have noticed their are critical stress points specifically designed to help the copter from shattering, but if they aren't taken advantage off and use inferior parts, other parts suffer instead.
What I really want to know is; do all metal copter rigs exist cheaply for electrical? And if they do (I think I've seen one under 200bucks), are they worth it?...It's like you expect certain parts of the helicopter to break on impart, but when it shatters, something seems wrong in the overall engineering to me. When i land hard, i expect the skids to take a beat, but not the blades..or when the blades catch something..not the skids...
but it seems with mine..the blade will catch..or the skid will catch..and both break together...which shows it's a fragile craft because my other one (which is a much cheaper FlyDragonFly, isn't like this at all..I can literally KICK IT 2 feet in the air..and it will hold together just fine..looking for another flight..(i don't recommend it - but it shows its hardiness)
The mosquito is similar, totally fragile, I was able to get it flying a little, but it's so hard to stablize without a set of training skids - this is where I highly recommend the training skids..trying to set the gyros right because mosquito gyros are real touchy IMO...
what about the glue gun..ever try that?
what kinda wood you use..balsa..or something stronger..can you use a polymer coating on that to strengthen it?

the problem is you want expert level equipment to have beginner level durability. the expert equipment is made to last in hard flight, not hard landings or crashes. the parts are engineered to be light and strong enough to handle hard 3d flight, the skids tailbooms, fins etc are made to be light and dont need much strength in flight and are expected to be flown by someone proficient in heli flight. the fp heli's and coax heli's are designed for beginners so they are more robust.

then again i slammed my trex in from about 75 ft when i lost orientation and went inverted into the ground all that broke were the blades, a ball link, the main gear and the boom, about 18 bucks total to fix it.

[Figure.N9ne]

Originally Posted by HeliG

Yaneil,
How long have you been flying helis?

since sunday lol. i flew a belt cp for 2 days a couple of months before but basically since sunday

[bassplayinDude]

Originally Posted by Yaniel

since sunday lol. i flew a belt cp for 2 days a couple of months before but basically since sunday

Welcome to the addiction!

[Figure.N9ne]

thanks! definite addiction. today i had to go to the accountant during work hours. next to his office is a school and of course in the school there is a large field thats empty due to spring break... i had to call the boss and tell him i was stuck in traffic. got 3 packs in. now i'm waiting for 5 o clock to roll around to go fly some more! i feel like i did when i first started flying planks, which is why i got into heli's in the first place.

[Figure.N9ne]

woohoo! got foward flight in every direction pretty much down, all hovers, figure 8's, pitch pumping, even did my first flip! a year of sim time has helped my learning curve tremendously plus finless bobs videos on trex setup and my friend that did the final trimming on it. it almost hovers hands off and i've been flying it since day 1 in no less than 12 mph winds. and not to mislead anyone, its only been 3 days but i have 7 battery packs and 2 cellpro 4s chargers so i'm flying about 25 packs per day. i have well over 70 flights on this heli already.

[HeliG]

Wow. That's some serious flight time!

What sim have you been using? I've got G4 and download the T-rex 450SE V2. Very realistic!

[neilg.]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,

part # EFLH1421, EFLH1447, EFLRD5751 are on backorder.

how am i supposed to be a heli mechanic/pilot with no parts.

but i crashed 20x's today on my new G4. how much would that have cost me in R/L?

[Figure.N9ne]

Originally Posted by HeliG

Wow. That's some serious flight time!

What sim have you been using? I've got G4 and download the T-rex 450SE V2. Very realistic!

i'm on g3.5 with the 450 se v2 model. in all honesty the one in realflight is a lot harder to fly and makes me feel confident flying the real thing.

[neilg.]

off topic observation:

velcro is to heli flying as duct tape is to rv'ing

[Figure.N9ne]

i love velcro!


so i think i'm flying this 450 too much. i've been flying it since sunday and i already wore out the dampener in the blade grips and had to replace them.

progress update. fast forward flight and circuits below eye level, landing in all orientations, 200 ft high flips and attempting to learn tic tocs but i'm losing altitude rapidly. also removed the training gear on the last pack i flew today.

[HeliG]

You are a machine! Do you work? How can you have so much time to fly but still have the cash for repairs?
I'm jealous.

[Figure.N9ne]

Originally Posted by HeliG

You are a machine! Do you work? How can you have so much time to fly but still have the cash for repairs?
I'm jealous.

work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week lol i have a warehouse at work where i fly a bit. but after 5 i'm at the field from about 7 pm to 1 am flying the heli and planes.

[HeliG]

Wow that's commitment!

I'm very excited. My poor heli has been broken for a while but I just fixed it and test flew it. My rex is back!!!!

[Balr14]

Time for me to jump in. I have 3 helis, all broken. My Lama V4 has a toasted 4 in 1, my HBFP is waiting for a center hub and upper links and my Axe CP needs lots of parts. It was in rough shape when I got it, but I didn't pay much. I've only spooled it up on the floor a few times while I was working on it. It won't fly because it has broken parts in the head, but it sure does scream when you open it up.

I started out flying fixed wing. But the weather in SE Wisconsin and my rather long commute to work seriously limits my opportunity to fly. I also like planes that are smaller and lighter that don't take a huge amount of space, which means I'm always fighting the wind. I just decided the hell with it. At least with a heli I can practice indoors, or on a well lit patio in the dark. I've also got a nice sheltered area in my backyard I can fool around in when the snow melts and the ground dries out.

I practice with my helis in a basement room about 8 x 9, with a 6 1/2 foot ceiling. The room is irregular and there is lots of stuff on the sides and ceiling, so air currents get real interesting, real fast. I can hold a hover in the middle of the room, for about 90 seconds with my Lama V4. Then, it heads for a wall or doorway and I just can't stop it. I can hold a hover with my HBFP almost as long before it does the same thing. It took me 2 weeks of practice to be able to do that.

So, I've crashed those two helis many, many times. The only thing I've broken besides the center hub and upper links on my HBFP, is the flybar. The Lama V4 is a lot less durable. But, just about the time I have it all upgraded and working real well, the 4 in 1 dies.

I've often wondered if a Blade 400 or HB King or something like that would be easier to fly than the HBFP. I'm encouraged that some people say it is. I don't think I'd enjoy something harder than trying to fly an HBFP in a small basement room.

I spend a lot of time flying helis in RF G3.5. But, I really have no desire to do all of those 3D tricks. I prefer a heli that looks and performs more like scale. In any case, I don't think I'd call me a heli pilot just yet; more of a heli pilot wannabe.

[HeliG]

Balr14,
Pilot or wanna be... welcome to the club. We are a bunch of junkies young and old that have never really grown up! I fly a T-rex 450 SE V2 now and I certainly wouldn't recommend something that large (or a Blade 400) in a room that small. You could hold the hover easier as the larger helis fly smoother BUT once it starts to move, they move fast.

[Balr14]

The real exciting part about hovering an HBFP in a room that size is it is rarely more than 3 feet away from you. It's attacked me more than a few times. I wear a lined flannel shirt, but it still hurts. The good thing is the heli sustains a lot less damage hitting me.

[Figure.N9ne]

the blade 400 in that room would do a little more than just hurt you lol

[vortex05]

Yeah T-Rex would leave a scar... Even the blade CP leaves pretty deep wounds with it's fibreglass blades.

[Balr14]

I have spooled up the Axe CP in that room. It couldn't fly. But, even with blades the same length as the HBFP, it's still scary because they spin at twice the speed.

My new center hub and upper links came today! I'll be able to put my HBFP back together tonight.... right after I perform the daily wrecking of my Slow Stick F.