haasjj

Well if you’re reading this and you’re a newb (and I'm still somewhat new to planes and helis myself) you’re probably going to get mad but oh well. Why do people go out and buy a new heli like a TRex before learning how to fly one on a sim or with an instructor. Just a quick example, a guy I know bought a new heli his second was a MX400 and didn't even know what a swash plate was, and this was after learning how to hover. His third heli was a Raptor50 and could hover pretty good by this time, and do some FF, well I was at the field waiting my turn to fly while he was in the air when his engine quit well it came down like a brick, he was lucky he was only 25ft off the ground. When I asked him why didn't you auto it down (I know it was to close but the damage would have been less) he asked what’s an auto, I said autorotation, he said what’s that.

So my advice is simple GO BUY A SIM, RF G3.5 is a wonderful training tool not a game.

Going back to my example that guy has rebuilt his Raptor 50 3 time from crashes so that’s a total of 4 helis minus the parts that survived, according to him well over $900 after the initial investment.

Before you ask, No I'm not perfect I buried a Nexstar into the ground, Don't ask its embarrassing, and while practicing autos myself I was in a dead spot and did not have enough rotor speed and not high enough 70$ Carbon blades, 15$ new boom, 17$ new belt, and carbon tail control rod.

So as I wrote, buy a sim or find an instructor RF G3.5 $200 compared to my $260 mistakes or $900 mistakes.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Just because people have money doesn't mean they have any sense.

That being said, there's nothing wrong with buying whatever helicopter you can afford to get in the air and starting with it. Unlike a planker (fixed wing pilot) starting with a F4U Corsair, where no matter what you do its still going to land hot and need an experienced pilot, a helicopter can be detuned so that with a lower head speed and conservative pitch setup and a richer needle setting, no matter what you have can be set up to be fairly docile. I tell people to buy what they want to fly (except for a scale ship) so that they dont have to buy 3 new helis as they progress, with a 50 being a great middle ground starting point.

BUT I also reccomend they buy a sim and get with someone to integrate simulator time, with actual flying time in some sort of structured training program, you'd be surprised how many people have success this way, its not enough just to have a sim, you need to know how to effectively train with it.

haasjj

I Agree I was just trying to get my point across that going out and buying a $500- 1000+ electric or glow powered heli with out even doing reserch, contacting an instructor, or at a minium buying a sim, is just strange. I've heard the excuse that the sims are expensive, well isn't a heli expensive, contacting an instructor is free and most clubs offer help for free.

xxgemini

I totaly agree a sim should be first. But you get cought up in the excitement and just want to fly the real thing. If I had to I would pay 600.00 for my copy of XTR. It has helped me that much.

Heli_Harry

I would have to say if I had to do it all over again knowing now what I didn't know then, I would have gone straight to the T-Rex.

It would have probably cost me Less, and it sure would have been a lot less frustrating.

Having said that, I have always wondered why a lot of people just ask so many questions without reading first.
When I first got into this hobby I read everything I could get my hands on, sometimes I think I read more than I fly.

I used to answer a lot of questions, but then I kinda got burned out, as I was getting asked the same questions over and over again.

Have Fun!







.

trouthunterHeliFreak

I do not agree. What's wrong with someone learning to fly on the real thing. If they want to pay for repairs let them. I do both the sim and real life training. My first heli was a blade cp pro and I could hover on the sim but not in real life sims are nothing like real life experience did you use a sim to learn to walk NO! I'm getting a little tired of the people on this forum slamming people for not buying the most expensive heli and buying the cheaper one, and telling people there stupid for trying to fly THEIR helicopter. Just as long as there not flying yours SHUT UP! If someone wants to buy the less expensive helicopter to learn on let them. I''m not saying give them advice but give them tips on how to become better pilots. And yes when I started out in this hobby 4 months ago I bought every book, magazine, and talked to all the people I could. I even Found these forums which have helped immensly. I'mjust tired of hearing no buy the se not the xl. WHATEVER i'll put my xl against your se anyday.

viper79605

I would haft to agree with "trouthunter". There are no rules with this hobby, If you want to buy and fly, hey more power to you , buy whatever kind you want, the whole idea of this hobby is to have fun,, that's why it is call a HOBBY!!!!. so to all you newbies out there just have fun and read everything you can get your hands on about heli's, once you learn what everything is and everything does you will have no problems..

P.S. I will team my XL with trouthunter's and we will take on any SE'S...

the dog

anybody who buys and flies has more courage than i do. i spent alot of time on a sim and it was a good thing but, they are not the same cause theres no consequences when yu crash. you just push button and your good to go. thats not very good training. if you had to rebuild it everytime thats good training.
i think if a person wants to do either then more power to them. i wanna watch though on their first flight for the inevitable crash!
they all have a expiration date. you just dont know when it is. most of them are sooner than later.

1080tommy

I bought a Trex for my first heli and I do not think that it is that hard to fly. Now I have hovered tail in and done some ff so far but I have only had the thing for about three weeks. The worst I did was crack a gear strut which cost a total of 5.99 at the lhs. I know that people give helis a reputation for being impossible to fly but my experience with the Trex so far is great. I'm super glad that I got this heli for my first, and it is enough heli I think, so that I will not have to by another one for some time. I have read a lot on setting up the radio portion because this is the most foreign area to me coming from fixed wing, there you just adjust the control throws and go fly. With the Trex after I put it together (according to the manual) it did not fly right at all. I got some help from my lhs owner and he explained throttle curve and pitch curve, and it all kind of makes sense. My advice is that if you are newer to helis definitely get someone who has experience setting these things up, especially the radio. Then make some training gear, and go fly. I made my training gear frome a carbon rod and some ping pong balls for about 10.00. Just keep it low until you are confident enough to bring up the throttle. I have found the Trex to be very responsive even in normal mode. Bottom line is have fun and try your best not to drill your vehicle whatever it is, and if you do rebuild it and continue flying. Good luck.


Tom

trouthunterHeliFreak

The crashes are part of the learning curve to. When you rebuild you learn about your heli to.

1080tommy

I agree. It is also part of the fun for me. I like building as much as flying. Crashes are an unfortunate part of flying, but they do happen to everyone at some point. In fact, I think the more affraid of crashing someone is, the more of a chance they have of crashing. So get out there and fly, and if something bad happens fix it and get back out there. The thing I like about the Trex is that parts are very reasonable in terms of price, so if you break something it is not 2 or 3 hundred dollars every time. I recently had a hard landing and cracked my gear, as I said 5.99 and it was fixed.

Tom

Flytoolow

My Feedback: (17)

I personally like to to do it all. I have started with electric cars in the mid '90s. From there i went to gas cars, to electric boats, to gas boats, to air boats, to gas airplanes, to electric airplanes, to gliders, to gas helis, and finally electric helis...so, the rex, before i could do more than hover was an awesome step up. I have been able to fly forward, backward, left, right, and inverted. now, i am looking at the 600 rex...or maybe a custome Rolbi 60 converted to electric! but, before i spend the money, i PLAN to buy a simulator, just to keep me flying current! I learned without a simulator, why can't anyone else?

red_dwarf

When the weather's bad, I practice using FMS with my Hitec optic 6 plugged into the PC. I realise that FMS is basic, but it is good for practicing orientation and learning not to over-compensate. What it isn't good at is simulating, for instance, less-than-perfect set-up, so-so quality gyro, the odd gust of wind etc, consequently, actually flying my T-Rex is quite a different experience. Do the more expensive simulators give a more realistic experience (and I don't mean model details and scenery), because if not, I would imagine that they are of limited value. I was looking at the Phoenix RC sim, and the £80+ it costs would buy a good few repair parts.

endeavor_635650

When I started out, simulators were non existant. Most of today's best heli pilots did not use a sim either but, it came at a high cost to me and them. Do I think sims are worth the money? Absolutely. Are they better than real world experience? Absolutely NOT! The decision for which route you take is up to you. It doesn't matter as long as you're happy. As far as helis go, I tend to go the more expensive route, getting the model that is fully blinged out. The Trex SE for example, I feel breaks less pieces during a crash. But by no means do I look down on my CDE and HDL brothers!

There is more than one way to skin a cat, so I'll just leave it at that.
Just have fun HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE.

Brian

haasjj

I don't think to many of you understood my original post. MY point was not about the sim, it was about learning something, anything before you go out and buy a heli, or a plane. A sim was the minium, a sim only helps the learning curve on how to fly....
I wrote the original post after reading several post's on this topic from people that did not seem to know anything about rc heli. There is nothing wrong with learning as you go we all do it but I just thought it was strange that someone would go out and spend so much money on a heli and know nothing about them at all. Most of the posts above stated that you did some reading got on message boards and asked questions, in other words you learned something before you went out and spent 500- 1000$ on a heli and radio, but the posts I am refering to are the ones that start out, my trex is in the mail how do i.... Yes I did read something very similar to this and the person knew nothing about a rc heli. I am sorry I didn't explain myself better but I was trying to be indirect for my own reasons.