I just bought my son a co-axial heli for Christmas. Naturally, it was up to Dad to set it up and test it so I got a few minutes of flying and I realized I might be hooked into this.

RC as a hobby started for me when I was very small. One of my earliest memories was of one of my uncles driving my Tamiya Grasshopper into a swimming pool. In high school, I saved up and bought a Tamiya Dirt Thrasher and ran it like I stole it. I've always been an RC snob as well, considering all the usual RTR stuff being toy cars and "real" RCs being the ones you had to build yourself.... or could buy RTR from named-companies but are basically the build-it-yourself kits already pre-build. So I've always been an RC snob of those £20 helicopter kits that were charge-up-and-play. I never thought one that was on sale for £15 would show me how wrong I was.

I'd say it was about 15 years ago when I last looked into proper RC helicopters and the idea back then was helicopters with "protective rings" around them so that the rotor blades would not strike anything and thus save the heli from damage. It gave me the impression that 1) flying helos was hard, 2) crashing your heli is bad, and 3) repairing a crashed heli is expensive.... or rather, significantly more expensive than if you crashed an RC car.

Anyway, fast forward to today. I googled a few RC heli videos and came across these:




Hahaha!! Such an obvious fake, right? Very good photoshop skills though! Or so I thought. Then this:




And this:





Okay, so I guess the hobby has progressed a lot since I last looked.... or I just didn't look hard enough the last time.

Does anyone here fly these sorts of helicopters? I, a humble beginner, have a few questions, but basically, I am looking for recommendations for a good kit to start out with. I've read a few websites and it seems like it's best to buy a big/complex helo now, "dumb it down" and learn it and then just unlock more and more of the RC's capabilites as I go on. Basically, I understood it as to buy a helo that is expensive but good-quality and grow into it rather than buying a beginner helo then an intermediate one then an advanced one. With this in mind, well, here I am.

First off, I do not want a co-axial helo. That just goes against everything I imagine helicopters to be. Sure, there are great models out there and there's the Black Shark, but give me an Apache any day, thankyouverymuch. So one big rotor and one tail rotor. Next, I'd like it to be decent sized. Maybe 12 inches long or so? Basically, small enough that I can practice hovering in my living room but big enough that I can bring it outside and it can survive small gusts of wind. Third, obviously, that it is upgradeable and will allow me to grow into it as my skills grow.

I do not have plans of flying like insane lunatics like the videos above.... while that would be a fun thing to do and I might dabble with that later on, what I want to do is precision flying. Straight-up takeoffs. Rock-solid hovering. I had a vertibird toy when I was young (oh, did that thing fly!!) and even now, we have one that is adapted to the movie Planes. So we'd like to do some "rescue" work as well, like hooking up onto a picnic basket and delivering it to safety. Then land on a postage stamp.

Looking forward to hearing from other helo RC pilots!

The mad mosquitoes are out again.
Watching 3D flying always scares me, way too close to the pilot, and these carbon blades...

You should check Thunder Tiger Mini Titan, and Align T-Rex 450. Both models are electric and offer "basic" setup, 3d conversions and scale fuses.
Don't get fooled by their size, depending on one skills they can either be dogs or beasts, and none should be flown in your living room, ever !

Cheers,
Slug

How the heck do they even do that? IMHO, they should not be called "RC helicopters" if they are doing something real helicopters cannot.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll do a bit of research on them now!

Guy in NY was killed this past summer when flying to close to himself. Yes, it was a blade that did him in.

For a first RC helicopter, try a small indoors one, either 3 channel or 4 channel. (4 channel adds bank/slide left/right).

You can get a pretty decent one for £50, and a cheap (but will still fly) one for £25-£30.

Some of them even come with weapons if you want to add a bit of an extra challenge/gimmick - For example.

Here is one with a camera.

Well, I'd get a small indoors one if the "indoors" here in the UK were actually large enough. I'd have to go to a warehouse or something to be able to "stretch my legs" with an indoor helo.

First thing I'd recommend you to do: Find out if there is a local club flying RC helicopters, for example you could ask your local RC parts vendor. They'll have loads of advice and experience, maybe an "airfield" where you can fly, they'll know what kind of additional insurance you need, and perhaps there is even somebody who is willing to instruct you. Modern RC controllers usually can be connected for instructor and student to fly together, which is really great for beginners, but requires compatible RC platforms.

I would also advise you to keep away from the co-axial helis, if you want to get seriously into this hobby. I had a very small one and mid-size of these a couple of years ago. The small ones are usually very cheap and can survive crashes very well, but flying them outside does not work so well. The mid-size one (a Blue Arrow XL) was too big for indoors, so I flew it outside, but it suffered much more when it crashed (which invariably happens if you fly without an instructor). Both very already a lot of fun, but handled wind very poorly -- the mechanics are designed to stabilise the rotor disc with respect to gravity, and will counteract your controls if you try to correct for wind.

The conventional RC helis (with tail rotor) do not have this problem: they nowadays use electronic stabilisation systems, and those stabilise the helicopter body, not the rotor disc.

Anyway, due to money and time constraints, I only know a bit of the theory of these beasts. Try to watch one in real life, they are awesome to behold, and talk to the pilot (perhaps not while he's flying, though), and don't forget to ask him how much money you should set aside (I would guess 600 EUR and upwards).

Sound advice there OlafM! Thanks!

Also, have a look at this site:

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/index.html

IIRC, it's a nice collection of articles by a Canadian RC heli enthusiast, he also has quite a number of Youtube channels with lots of instruction. That could be useful to get a feel for what getting yourself into.

So first off,
This:


Is still true.

Also, I do think a small, hobby grade co-axial is a good place to start, as it lets you practice inside and work out how your right and lefts reverse on you when the heli is flying at you.

I can personally vouch for this one:
http://www.horizonhobby.com/specials/blade-mcx-rtf-eflh2200

I'd also recommend a good RC simulator (such as real flight):
http://www.realflight.com/products/

Be ready to pay the better part of $200 for it, but it's a training tool that will continue to serve you long after your first handful of flights. It's a great way to continue keeping your orientation skills in check, as well as practicing new maneuvers before trying them on a $500+ aircraft. Real Flight is what I started with, and frankly a high end RC sim is to RC pilots what a Level D sim is to "full scale" pilots. It won't replace actual real world stick time, but it's a much cheaper and safer way to to learn and develop skills that easily transfer to real world flying.

I have an Align T-REX 450XL which is absolutely lovely.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for the beginner due to the expense. But it is a lovely ship which handles very tightly. The hobby shop set it up, then I taught myself to fly it - albeit only to a very basic point, I'm not into aeros - though I was already handy with an Ikarus Piccolo and an R/C flight simulator. And before that I'd learnt helicopter theory from FS2002.

Best wishes

R

On the toy-side of things, I like the WL V911 . Can be had for <$40, very durable and fun to fly. Friend and I even fly them in the woods around tree trunks. Not sure how it will translate to flying a real collective pitch RC... I also got a V913 for Christmas. It's a beast that needs a lot of open space.

Thanks guys! I went to the local hobby shop and he had 2 Blade MCXs so I got me one of them plus 2 batteries. It's fun to fly but for some reason, the screw at the very top of the rotor assembly is missing so the balance bar thingie keeps popping out whenever we crash the thing.

I'm not a big RC helo/plane guy but if you're looking for safe cheap bang for buck fun the Syma S107G's are great little indoor helis. I know you said indoors are kind of small but these helis fit in the palm of your hand and can zoom around a 14'x14' room with ease. You can get them for about $20 on amazon. They don't flip or go very fast but there great for chasing a cat or dog around and you can make obstacle courses too.

http://www.amazon.com/Syma-S107G-Channel...ords=syma+s107g

I've been through a couple of these and they really take a beating, just turn off the ceiling fan!

I finally turned over my Syma 102G to my 5-YO, he's getting the hang of it, and he's destroying it. But it still flies perfectly well. Amzazing considering the furniture/ceiling/hardfloor landing beatdown it gets constantly.

The problem with the big WL V913 is that all the neighborhood kids run out to see it when I fly out of the backyard. If I lose control, somebody could get hurt. I make my kids stand behind me when it's airborne.

Same bloody thing happened to me over Christmas. Bought my 8YO twin nephews a couple of the Syma 107G co-axial toys, and they were a huge hit... but I enjoyed playing with them probably more than they did. Day after Christmas ordered a Syma F3 4 channel single-blade, and have been having an absolute blast since learning to fly it around the house. For $35 this has been an unbeatable learning 'copter, since I've crashed it more times than I can easily count and it just keeps on flying.

I haven't mastered it yet, but I've gotten at least fairly competent. Moving up to the Nano CPX next month.

I've had 3 107Gs a Large S32, the larger single bladed (cant remember model#) and I have the mini chinook too. I had the big Chinook as well but it had issues out of the box and I returned it but didn't replace it. All them suffered many many crashes before they stopped working and I got more than my moneys worth in flight time and learning about how RC helis fly. My mini Chinook still flys but I need a new battery because I let it sit too long without charging.

I love my F3. Would recommend it over the V911, but that would be a good second micro single. F3 is more stable, but the V911 gets wild and out-of-control in a fun sort of way.
Let us know how the CPX works out!


I have the big Chinook, the later one (Syma S34), which still is a finicky bird and never seems to work 100% of the time. Still, kinda fun to buzz around in the backyard. Not sure if they still make it.

However, just got my boy a $35 Syma quadcopter. Pretty cool so far. Different, and very maneuverable. Though, I'm sorry to say it's too advanced for him. Thought it would be easier to fly. He'll either be sad if I don't let him fly it, or sad when he trashes it. I choose the latter. At least that way I'm not the bad-guy. I'm guiding him as well as I can, but it may not last long.

...aaaand smashed the rotor hardware on my V913 this weekend. The big 'uns ain't as durable as the featherweight copters. Parts coming in on the slow boat from China.

This. I keep 2 x V911s at home and a couple at the office. They are inexpensive, durable, and you can program a real transmitter, like the FrSky Taranis, to control one. They are a bit more challenging to fly than a coax, but easy enough to begin on, then once you build your chops to flying a collective pitch prop, use them for practice while watching the tube or waiting for DCS World 2 to download.

CP pilots will poo poo any fixed pitch heli, but if you fly this on high rate in a tight confined space, you will be surprised how much it translates over to a CP. Flying with absolute precision is the key, in other words staying on the sticks constantly, flying exact paths in any orientation and maintaining altitude.

Then a sim of course. I like Phoenix because that's what I started on. But there are certainly other great ones.

I've had the CPX for about a week now, and it's both a ton of fun and a very humbling handful.

I had the 4 channel F3 down pretty cold. Hover in any orientation, figure 8's with coordinated turns, precise landings, etc. Thought the same basic maneuvers would be cake on the CPX.

Heh.

Bought the CPX with a DX6 transmitter, and did the basic recommended setup from the manual. It redefines 'responsive'. Even at the high rate setting on the F3, you had to manhandle the sticks to get to do quick moves. I'll give you one guess what happens to a Nano when you manhandle the DX6 sticks at 85 DR, and it ain't pretty. I also didn't realize to what degree the flybar on the F3 gentled the response. The FBL system on the Nano seems to make the copter respond when you *think* about moving the stick.

After about 2 hours of total flight time I got a precise tail-in hover back with 55 DR and 15 expo in Idle-Up mode at 100% throttle, and a sorta-precise nose-in hover back. No figure 8's yet. It seems pretty durable as well given the abuse it's taken in a short time, with only having to re-seat the main gear a few times (the drive shaft flexes out of the gear in a crash to distribute the impact.) I've gotten really fast at hitting the throttle-hold switch as well.

Incredible fun. Frustrating, but as soon as I go through a set of batteries and put it away I start thinking about flying it again.