jsngnn22

My Feedback: (26)

Hello everyone. Well I did it. I finally got dragged into the world of Heli's. I said I never would but here I am. I've flown planes for the last 10 or so years, and raced every ground vehicle you could name for the last 5 or 6 years. My buddies finally talked me into getting a heli. The only one our LHS had that I could handle was the blade mcx.
I really thought a co-ax was going to be as boring as watching the grass grow, but I'm really having fun with it. I'm like a big goofy kid just trying to land it on a stool in my garage over and over. My question is what is there that I need to be working on with a Co-Ax that will help me for my next heli? And also what is a good suggestion for that next heli? I'm assuming a FP, so I was eyeballing the Msr or the SR120.
That is still a ways down the road though, so in the mean time it's just me and my Mcx and a stool in my garage. I have the Phoenix simulator that has all the blade helis on it, but I sold my Dx6i a while back, and I am immediately regretting that move. I really prefer the actual flying better anyway, and I'm really liking what im seeing from the Blade line of helis. Anyway somewhere amidst all my rambling there are a few questions in there. I appreciate all the answer and tips in advance. Go easy on me though, Im just a plane and car guy coming over to the darkside.

TakeshiSkunk

Welcome aboard!

If you plan to make the jump to CP the simulator is going to be an invaluable resource for you. I don't think any hobby or activity has every benefited from simulated training more than RC Helicopters, it's really pretty unbelievable how much faster and cheaper one can learn with a simulator and some patience.

You can have some fun flying coaxs indoors giving yourself challenges as you've been doing, but I wouldn't bother investing in a larger outdoor one, they have a really hard time coping with wind and there are less interesting obstacles to work with outdoors. A fixed pitch is alright but I don't really agree that they're a step between coax and collective pitch. They don't really teach you any new skills that apply to CP, they just force you to be a little better at the skills associated with a coax.

Really no matter what you do switching to a CP heli is going to be like starting from scratch. If you'd like to fly them down the road I suggest you start putting at least 15-20 minutes a day in on your sim just practicing the basics in order and mastering them. If you can do it flawlessly in the sim then you'll be able to do it in real life. There's a lot of fear and nerves involved in flying a CP and by having the thumb skills totally dialed from the sim you can deal with the fear on its own, rather than having that piled on top of not being confident in your control inputs.

The important thing here is to have fun, so take it at the pace you want to. Don't feel like you have to rush if you just don't have the desire, but at the same time don't let anyone hold you back or tell you to stick with something you don't want to. I practically had people laugh in my face when I told them I was going with a Blade 400 as my first heli ever, but thanks to the sim I was able to fly that thing from my first training gear hovers all the way into inverted hovering and the beginnings of 3D without crashing once. I've basically retired that heli just due to sentimentality and not wanting to smash my trainer, and the only time it was ever damaged was from a hard auto after a tail rotor failure.

At any rate, there are some cool guys around here and we'll be more than happy to help answer any questions you may have. Don't hesitate to ask about anything!

ATVAlliance

I agree!  About 100 hours on the SIM before ever turning on the real thing is the key to success.

I started out just like you with a couple of co-ax toy helis.  Got bored with them inside of a weeks time.

Next heli was a Blade mSR.  I loved flying that thing as it was definitely much more challenging than the co-ax, but once I switched over to my first CP heli (a trex 450 clone), it was almost like starting over again.  So after a couple of crashes on the 450, I decided it was SIM time!

I bought Clear View and put in roughly 50-100 hours and then I was able to handle hovering a CP 450 heli.  But it wasnt until I bought the Blade mCPX that my skills actually improved 10 fold.

So, once you get the SIM and have spent a lot of time on it (I used 100 hours as a general reference, some people may require less, some more time) I would suggest you look for an mCPX.  Its a small micro heli in the 100 size that is CP and can be flown outside with ease.  Its tough as nails and will take a lot of abuse before breaking.  And when you do break it, parts are cheap and readily available.

The mCPX is, to me...a "real life SIM".  Once you can fly circuits with the mCPX...Id suggest moving up to a 500 size CP heli.  The 450 is definitely a nice helicopter...but I prefer the 500 size as its almost twice as large and the cost of crashing isnt that much more than a 450.  Also, it can be flown on a single 5 or 6 cell lipo...thus making it more affordable to power than say a 600 or 700 size which can run 10 to 12 or more cells.  Also the 600 and 700 crash cost is a lot higher too.

So...in short.  A SIM is the first thing.  An mCPX "should" be your first CP heli...then from there...its whatever you want.  As I said.  Once you can fly the rotor off the mCPX...there really wont be a heli out there in the CP world that you cant at least fly confidently.

goodluck. 

TakeshiSkunk

100% agree with everything ATV said, I forgot to mention how great the mCPx is as a trainer. It's especially good if you're getting an itch to fly a real heli rather than just sit in front of your sim.

500 is definitely the best starting point for a full size heli, it hits the sweet spot of cost and performance. There's no comparison between my Blade 450 and my fbl Trex 500esp, the 500 is ten times easier to fly and much more capable.

jsngnn22

My Feedback: (26)

Thanks for the suggestions. I got ahold of another Dx6i and have been logging quite a bit of sim time. I think I'm gonna order me a mcpx this week just to start working on the real thing. Anybody had any luck out of Xheli's EXI's. I really like the Carbon Fiber 500 kit for $110 bucks. I don't see how you could beat that price. Just wondering if it's a get what you pay for type thing or if it's just a great deal?

TakeshiSkunk

As I understand it some of the clone kits are alright but you usually need to do a bit of replacing and upgrading during the initial build to make sure everything works out. The main question with a clone kit is quality control, one person could get a perfect one while the next could have issues. Just consider the potential time and effort investment in getting it together, it definitely is worth considering as you can potentially save quite a bit of money going that route.

I bought mine used from a club member at a great price, Trex 500s can go pretty cheap used. Make sure you explore all your options before committing.

ATVAlliance

I have the CF EXI 500. Its a great heli, at least mine is.

I had a cyclic servo strip mid flight, causing a crash. But that wasnt the helis fault. Other than that...Ive not had any issues.

Here is a pic of mine. Granted, it has some Align parts, not because I felt that it needed them...its just after the crash I found a deal on a good used Align 500 head (complete minus swash) that was cheaper than rebuilding the EXI (although I did buy the EXI parts and rebuilt the head for a spare).