RC Helicopter info/discussion thread

kellets hobbies in liverpool nsw stock the blade msr , but its probably cheaper to purchase from overseas with the current high dollar

 

Hey does anyone know if hobby stores will rebuild a 3D heli? My friend dumped a 3D 500 size heli on me almost 2 years ago and I never had time to set it up, lots to be done and I've noticed he did a horrible job at building it...

Swashplate is a complete mess and I have no time to fiddle around, needs to be taken apart and done properly IMO, blade tracking was a joke also and the radio setup too. He really has no clue but I can't really say anything.

 

Been playing around with this coaxial (fake) 4 channel heli:
http://www.lightake.com/detail.do/sku.41860
and had a load of fun. Spent the day reading up on what to go for next. Eventually I'd love to have a Blade mCP X but I know if I jump for that right away I'll kill it in a few minutes.
I've decided to skip the real 4 channel coax and go for a single rotor. Can anyone recommend one? I'm thinking a Blade mSR but it seems a bit pricey. Any other similar 4ch single rotor, SMALL (indoor), gyro stabilised ones?

 

Hey guys
Been reading this thread for a while, thought I'd contribute.

These are some of my heli's

Click to view full size!

My most reliable one has been this one- http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=GT3382&keywords=apache&form=KEYWORD

I have a vid.. stuck a cam on it and flew it


cheers

 

Fixed for you

And WOW! That is amazingly cheap for such a big chopper... I might have to get one myself!

Edit: What does it mean by "charges off the PSU" though?

 

gah, what am i doing wrong with my tags?

it might be related to being charged with the lipo charger, as there is a mini Apache that you can charge off USB.

 

Hi Guys,

Still haven't grown a big enough pair to stick a full camera under my heli but thought this might be interesting at least. Took it for a flight today to show the amount of water that is cutting off the Pacific Highway at Corindi Beach.



Our block is at the receiving end and there is normally a little trickle of a creek so this will explain why you're hearing so much about it on the news. It actually happens about twice a year but the news people like to jump on it every time. And yes it's been deshaked, still a little windy out there especially when it gets above the tree line.

 

Anyone know if these are any good for a first (cheap) chopper?

http://www.esold.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=201

Or can some recommend a good cheap chopper for around $40?

 

I got myself one of these from Stanbridges hobby shop for $50 (checked just then and they don't seem to have it anymore) and they're great! The built in gyroscope means you won't have to play with the trim as much to get it stable

 

One from esold looks more or less the same.. anyway, bought it so hopefully should turn up tomorrow

 

Got my chopper... and already had a major crash.. lol... it was all going fine until the controller lost contact with the chopper and sent it spinning with full power.. whilst it didn't explode, I'm now missing that tiny bit of plastic that holds the main blade to the gyro.. theres 2 bits of plastic, 1 is gone.. might be able to use a tiny piece of wire to hold it back in place...

 

Heli to put camera under

hey Guys

Ok so I want to put a Canon 7D camera under a Heli...not straight away because i havent flown one before but I dont see the point in buying a small heli to learn with and then get a bigger one might as well spend the money when i have it learn it for a while then stick it under and pray hard i dont dump it.

So can anyone suggest a decent heli for me, that will be able to haul the weight easy enough.

Jason

 

You want to lift a 1kg Canon 7d on a heli? good luck..

Whilst i haven't really looked at all, i think a $500-$600 heli might be capable of lifting a GoPro HD cam.. 7D.. no chance..

 

My advice after going through the same scenario, you have a few things to consider...

* Be prepared to spend a lot of money
* Build (yes build yourself) a decent 600+ size helicopter preferrably with the strongest/thickest frames you can find
* Get every metal optional extra you can (blade grips, tail grip, etc.)
* Don't buy a cheap (and by cheap I mean $1000) trex kit.
* Buy the best servos that are available at the time
* Be prepared to spend a lot of money
* Don't buy a cheap hobbyking kit
* Don't buy cheap anything other than possibly batteries and maybe charger
* Stick to common/well established parts for electronics (castle, scorpion)
* Be prepared to spend a lot of money
* Learn everything there is to learn about blade tracking, pitch curves, throttle curves, governors, mixes (I still haven't got that one down).
* Make sure you have a large private block of land, or flying club to practice in - the ones of this size are not park legal.
* Buy a 3 axis gyro.

If I had to I'd buy a 700 size purely for the redundancy. I have yet to stick my DSLR of 1.5kg underneath my chopper because of how easily it can fall from the sky and how many points of failure there are. I have flown my 600 with the 1kg mount and 1.5kg test weight and it's a "pucker moment" as they call it and there are lots of little bearings and dampeners that will need to be replaced often with that weight on.

When you fly it you'll decide whether it's such a great idea to stick a heavy camera under it.

 

i went down to the hobby shop and he suggests for now i look at getting the police heli cam to practice with and then go from there, he thinks i would be "silly" to buy something big outright.

Anyone else had a shot with this heli or can someone suggest something I can learn with pref RTR to start with, maybe i can look at some software too but i use mac if there is anything good out there please let me know, im located in SA if thats any help

 

They said the same to me, I bought one anyway and got the sim and the whole deal but found it much easier to fly the real thing*. It's just a matter of getting over the thought of losing potentially $2000 if it drops (or $4000 with dslr on it), and it costing about $100+ to repair if any (main or tail) of the blades even scratch the ground.

I've got it somewhat reliable now but the beginning when it crashes every couple of flights puts you off a little. Buy training gear and if possible buy the gear for the helicopter the next size up from yours. And take it slowly.

Still very daunting having 6kg floating in front of you or 100m in the air above you but at the same time the noise it makes is awesome

* GET A 3 AXIS GYRO! the helicopter purists will tell you not to, but for camera work and ease of flying it's a must.

 

Finally got around to building a DSLR mount and strapping the camera to the heli for a test flight after a lot of tweaking to the electronics to hold the weight.





Next step is to try it during better light and get the distance / angle worked out.

 

Alright guys, troubleshootin' time. I have here a twister 3-channel that won't fly. The remote and heli both switch on and it's fully charged. Applying throttle gives a barely audible "click" and zero movement. The receiver light on thr heli works when you apply throttle, and the LED's on the heli are working (though I might remove them, they are annoying and use powa!) and the remote works. It's on the correct channel too. It just won't fucking fly

Note: It did start spinning for about half a second, then stopped. It did this twice, and now I can't even get a twitch out of it. It's an IR controlled, not radio, but that shouldn't matter inside...

So yeah, help me get this bastard flying so i have something to do for my stay in Tamworth (Snorseville, Australia)

EDIT: Got it working now after taking it apart and soldering some things. Still doesn't fly because the battery refuses to hold more than a 30 second flight charge

 

T-Rex 600 EFL Pro on order... this should be interesting.

 

Anyone have a suggestion on a cheap place to get Real Flight G5.5 with a Mode 2 controller? Ebay for about $250 seems to be the cheapest, but figured I'd check with you guys first.

Alternatively, anyone in the Melbs area willing to hire their copy/controller to me for a week or two?

Got my Blade SR, and I don't want to turn it into a pile of rubble within 60 seconds of powering it up.