Let me please introduce myself...

[donles]

I'm relatively new to r/c although when in my twenties, I began building a Falcon 56 but did not finish it, partly because I was intimidated by the prospect of buying a radio, receiver, engine, etc (did not want to spend the $). This was probably around 1980. I'm in southwestern Pennsylvania and there was a really cool hobby shop, A.B. Charles & Son in Dormont. There were lots of finished planes hanging from their ceiling that were just so cool. They had everything, models, trains, planes, cars, scenery, you name it.

Skip to 2013. My sons bought me a coaxial helicopter last year and I've had a ball with it. Then, one son passed along his Blade MSRx with which he had been having a difficult time learning to fly. It was a week before I was able to loosely say that I brought it back to earth without crashing. I've spent so many $'s replacing frames, main gears, swash plate, blades, tail assembly... I was trying to find answers on a few forums but I wasn't really sure what the questions were. I actually stopped trying to fly it for about six weeks after a catastrophic crash. I bought a Hobby Zone Champ and started flying it. I've had great fun flying the Champ.

I rebuilt the MSRx and started back into the forums looking for answers and my understanding began to improve. I learned TBE is caused by rudder trim being off center. More importantly, I learned about adjusting the servo push-rods and I read a good thread about learning to fly by just trying to hover stationary and add simple back and forth movements. I'm flying in the house now (good idea because the high today was in the twenties and these little helis don't like snow). I'm still keeping it simple but am doing some circle tours of the basement. It's been awhile since I've broken anything on the bird.

My son dropped off his Spektrum DX6i and Phoenix sim for me to play with for a few weeks. I think sim flying is a great idea and it's cool to try all these different aircraft. I became aware of rc-help.com by watching Tony's superb 50+ minute Youtube instructional video on setting up the DX6i for a CP heli he owns.

Where do I go from here? Well, I've shopped at a few of the LHS's. There are some nice ones here. I'm aware of Horizon Hobby and Hobbico and their brands. I ordered the Tower Hobby catalog. I've read Tony's blog post and comments re China, clones and/or HK. I've spent a lot of time following links, just trying to catch-up. I realize there are lots of brands and smaller companies and I'm trying to research them all. My impression is the r/c hobby is populated with good people. I've visited a local R/C airport a couple of times and watched some good flying.

Are the electronics much better (or maybe just more sophisticated?) than what was offered thirty-some years ago?

I want to learn cp flight. I'm doing it on the sim and I'll probably buy another heli, maybe up to a Trex 250.

I'd like to build a kit plane. I thought maybe the Alien 72" Taylorcraft, having just read an article about it in Model Aircraft News. And I need a transmitter. I'm not sure what direction to go with that. My understanding is that I can generally swap a matching receiver into any aircraft regardless of the brand, therefore one isn't locked into one brand of aircraft or another, correct?

BTW, I'm an electrician. I've worked in a hot strip mill for a long time. Of course I like pc's, electronics, etc. I also consider myself a flyfisherman and fly-tier but my plan to tie flies throughout the winter has lost it's momentum. I just want to fly.

I never finished the Falcon 56. I think I sold it but I cannot remember to whom.

Thanks for reading this. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

donles

 

[Derek]

Hi there donles! Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have an interesting history with rc. Some good and some bad. Well, that's the road to success. I've had a great deal of crashes and some awesome success stories, as well.

I think its great that you have the Phoenix sim. The sim is an awesome tool for beginners and the experienced. The beginner pilot can use it to learn orientations and beginning forward flight without the fear of crashing the checkbook. The experienced pilot can use the sim to practice new maneuvers. It's just an awesome and "all around" great tool for an rc pilot. The DX6i is a great transmitter to start with. It's the same radio that I started with. I still have it and I've been using it to teach my wife and cousin how to fly. I've upgraded to the Specktrum DX8 and I love it!

If you are looking to get into rc planes, I'd really suggest a high wing trainer. They are great planes for beginners. I'm not much of a beginner anymore but I still love flying the high wing trainers. If you are looking to get into CP helicotpers, I will strongly suggest that you not start with a 250 sized helicopter. The common misconception about helicopters is smaller is better. Well, smaller is better on the checkbook as far as initial cost but they are much harder to fly than larger helicopters. Many other people here will tell you the same thing. I started with a 250 sized helicopter and I crashed it over and over and over again. I was so frustrated. I went to the hobby shop looking for help and I had intentions of buying a 450 sized helicopter because the rotor disk of a 450 is larger than the 250. The rotor disk acts as a gyroscope and helps with balance. Unfortunately the hobby shop was out of 450's, so I bought an Align Trex 500 and I love it. It's so much easier to fly than the 250 that I had. Now...500 parts are a bit more costly. Many people here will tell you to save your dollars and get either a 450 or 500 helicopter to start with. 450 parts are a bit cheaper than the 500 parts but the 450 will fly better than a 250. I promise you that!

Use the Phoenix Sim as much as you can. Practice orientations (tail in, right side in, left side in, and nose in). Start with tail in and get better with that. I'd also like to suggest that for your first several practice sessions on the sim...use a larger helicopter to start with. 600-700 class helicopters are great because they are easier to fly and they are easier to see when you are flying. Once you get better with the larger helicopters on the sim, you can go down to the smaller helicopters if you wish.

In closing, I can promise you that you will find answers to your questions here in the forum. There are so many very friendly and knowledgeable rc'ers here. My experience has grown quite a bit since I joined the forum but there are still people here that I come to when I have questions. They never disappoint!

Take your time and browse through the forum and post any and all questions. We are here to help!

 

[donles]

Thank you Derek for the insight and advice on the size/stability consideration re CP helis. I wasn't aware of it. I assumed the logical progression was small to large.

 

[EyeStation]

Welcome to the Forum Donles.
I can tell you, I moved up from a mCPx to a 450 Flybar heli and it was, (and at times still can be,) an intimidating flight for learning with.
I have since bought a Blade 130x, which is prone to tail vibrations, but still fun and flyable. And still robust enough to make flight mistakes with minimal damage. I later picked up a Blade 300x, and I truly love the stability of this bird. Still small enough to fly in the yard, parking lot, or park, and stable enough to withstand some decent wind speeds. Both of these were purchased within the past 8 months.
I have read enough about the TRex 250 to not want to take the chance with this one at my stage of learning. Not a very forgiving bird at all.

Hope Santa takes care of your flight wishes.

 

[Tony]

Hey Donles, welcome to RCH! As stated above, the DX6i is a great Tx that you can use to fly just about anything out there. From CP helicopters to 50% 3D planes, it will control them. Use that Tx to get your feet wet, then upgrade in the future when you feel the need, or require more channels.

The mSR-X is a great helicopter to start with. I as well have the flight school where you do stationary hovers with some small moves just to get your hands and brain thinking alike. Orientation is the key to flying and once you have that down, it gets a lot easier.

Also as stated, the 250 is not such a great helicopter to start out with. They are very twitchy and IMO, way too hard to fly for a beginner in the CP field. The 450 is perfect. Crashes don't cost much more than a 250, but are substantially less than a 500+ size bird. Mainly due to the cost of the blades. I would suggest the Align 450 Sport for your first CP helicopter. It's a belt drive tail which is much more forgiving when you tag the tail blades to the ground, which you will, we all do. If you get a TT (torque tube) helicopter, once you touch that tail to the ground, you MUST land and inspect the gears. They strip out very easily.

The Phoenix flight sim is a GREAT investment. I have Phoenix and every now and then, we will all get online and fly together. It's a blast and you should join us some time. If you ever see a flight page named "Rc-Help", come on in and join us. The password is always "RCH" without the quotes. Hope to see you there soon.

And cudos to you for sitting through that 50+ minute video lol. Been meaning to redo that one, just don't have a DX6i to do it with.

 

[Lee]

Welcome to the forum donles,
There are many of us here that attempted to get into the RC world many years ago, then gave up and are now returning. I was one of those, with a 23 year gap.
All the help you need is right here. We love to see video and pictures of any thing you have.
All the best
Lee

 

[pvolcko]

Welcome aboard, donles! I tend to agree with the heli size/stablity comments, however I do break from that in one regard, see below.

Personally I went from a Blade 120SR fixed pitch to a Blade Nano CPx to finish out the last winter, and then up to a Blade 550X Pro. It was a major size jump, but I believe it was the best thing for me, instead of trying smaller helis as intermediate steps. I'd recommend 450 size or larger should be your next step for outdoor flying, assuming you can afford it. However, with winter coming up you may not be in a position to fly it much until Spring. This is where I think the micro-size helis make sense.

Nano CPX (nCPX) is collective pitch and will take a large amount of abuse. It is also backed by Horizon Hobby's great warranty and customer service. It is twitchy, but you can use expo settings in the transmitter to dial that back somewhat. Also, because it is so small and light, any damage to yourself or household items due to impact is going to be minimal.

The next step up is a microCPX (mCPX). There is an original form of this with brushed motors and newer one with brushless motors. PErsonally, if you're still learning, I'd go with an brushed motor version of the mCPX, not the mCPX-BL. The brushless version is very high strung. Blades on it can do some real damage when they hit things (I have a healed up fillet cut on my right pinky to prove it). And it does cost more to purchase. For me the mCPX-BL is right on the edge of inside-the-house flyable. The brushed motor version is probably more reasonable for that purpose. Both make good gymnasium size room helis for the winter.

Next step from there is a 130X. This is a small but serious machine. It can be flown indoors in a gymnasium, but it is not for inside a house in the living room or something like that. It will handle outdoors flying reasonably well (mild to even strong breezes are not an issue with this one).

If you want to step out of the blade/spektrum/horizonhobby camp, the AXE 100 is a nice CP heli, cheap, and fits inbetween the mCPX and 130X in size.

After the 130X I'd be hesitant to buy any larger "small size" helis (150, 200, 250). They are twitchy and need a fair amount of space to be flown, at least while still learning.

When the weather gets better again: I may be breaking with some here and straying a bit from the "450 or larger" mantra, but the Blade 300X is a great heli if you do not want to take the step up to a 450 or larger heli. Some people have issues with them, but I've found mine to be a great learning tool. It has the great AR7200BX FBL controller on it, is very stable in the air, and it is cheap to repair. Belt driven tail and the tail boom assembly overall is very robust. If needs the frame stiffener upgrade as a must have upgrade, but otherwise it is quite flyable stock from just learning CP up through beginning 3D maneuvers (and even beyond if you're willing to invest some money in upgrade parts). When you want to move up from it to something larger, you can either keep it as a trainer/basher heli or you can part it out and keep the 7200BX to put into your next step up. I've still got mine and use it as a trainer. I sim new stuff first, then hit the 300X with it, then try it on the larger helis I have.