RC nerds

[FJ Steve]

I'm considering getting into Helicopters.

I used to be into RC yachts (A Class, R10r, M class)...R10r woudl cost about $7k + radio gear. Carbon fibre EVERYTHING. Competed at numerous Australian and state championships. I was Secretary of Perth Model Yacht Club for a few years.

Dad used to make and fly RC aircraft. He had a beautiful Cessna that took him ages to build....he was continually measuring and re-checking everything...then painted/covered it in the same paint scheme as a full size jobbie at our locla airport. Had many photo's taken of the planes together...

He was a craftsman with balsa wood and tissue paper. A lot of his flight knowledge and skills came from his days a pilot (Lancaster) in WWII.

R.I.P.

*subscribed*

[=Stevo=]

Yeah, I always wanted to get into model yacht racing - but couldn't justify the cost when I could buy a real dinghy and race for less $$$

[Desmo]

Yeah, looking at sims now, my controller has a port in the back so I can connect to one.

Here's something for you to aim for

YouTube - Alan Szabo "crack" stick movements

That is unreal, that's some serious collective he's using too by the noise it's making.

[Desmo]

Anybody else found that Discount hobby supplies in Willetton are slightly less than discount?

[Viper]

some shops have different pricing for different things so check them all out for every part.

do yourself a favour desmo and buy a set of training skids.

Pic attached ... It'll save so much money

[Desmo]

Excuse the crappy pic.

[Viper]

how the fuck did you do a set of blades

edit. I know they say they are indoor heli's but I fly mine out the back as long as no wind around ... they fly well but ANY wind makes em turn to poo.

I have ducted evap so its like having wind inside so have to fly outside.

[Ferris]

Hey Desmo, want a quick bit of advice?

Learn to fly the thing with the tail pointed at you at all times, then you can get used to using the controls to move it about, hover it. Build some muscle memory. Then get on the sim, (fms is a great one for free, and tis tiny) then learn to make your brain compute the vehicle moving in 3D. When you can comfortable control the helo in your sim, doing figure of eights with little effort, you're probably ready to actually fly the thing. Until then, you're probably just going to go through blades like there's no tomorrow.

[Bealz]

here desmo found a duke for you
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSmjz1m0HQw]YouTube - Ducati 999R Thunder Tiger 1:5 RC Motorbike Truck Jump![/ame]

[Viper]

Desmo ... one thing I just thought of then as I was flying is your control configuration.

An old habit I brought over from my plane days was thumb tip operation. Its not the right way and when you become a decent pilot it allows for error ... especially if you start doing 3d. You don't have absolute control over your sticks.

I've changed over to finger control and it took me a couple flights to get use to it but its better in the long run. Make sure if you are just starting out use fingertip. I've got pics to explain. top is thumb ... It feels a bit uncomfortable the first couple flights but well worth sticking to.

[polonY]

Not a heli, but I've been into nitro r/c cars for years, currently have a 1/8th scale savage 4.6x



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66VSKzbOsMY&feature=fvw]YouTube - HPI-Racing Savage X 4.6[/ame]

[Desmo]

Cheers Ferris, I'm trying to keep rudder control and "reversed" (3D?) flight out of the equation for now, it's hard enough as it is, I'm using thumbs though, I'll try finger control.
Any hints on making the chopper more stable? Flybar paddle orientation, gyro etc?
Keep the advice coming, it's invaluable.

how the fuck did you do a set of blades

Chair/table legs, walls, etc etc.

[Viper]

you can adjust your gyro and make sure the head is dead straight, paddles are generally required to be dead straight too but a lot will come down to you ... after a while it becomes "natural" that when the helo creeps left you throw a bit of right aileron in to steady it. This is where fingertip will help immensely because you can do much more precise movements.

oh if you haven't done it yet remove the throttle notch strip. What I mean by that is when you move your throttle up and down can you feel it sliding along notches?? Just take the back of the case off your box and there is a little metal strip held in with a screw. Take it off. Reason for this is hovering could be between 2 of those cogs so you'll never get it to hover without going up and down on the throttle. This gives you more of the precise controls i keep talking about.

You can get down to hands off hovering but that requires a lot of fine tuning and I doubt you'd get that on these lil heli's.

[Viper]

um another thing I just thought of is your trim controls.

how far are you moving them to steady the heli?

start with one say ailerons (left and right control). When you pick the heli up does it move one way or the other. I'm on full right trim which means I need to go back to my rod on my servo and adjust. You want these as close to centre as possible and only need a few adjustments on your trims. They are intended for trimming and not making massive adjustments so if you rod is out by 2 notches on your servo then adjust that then go to trims. That will help.

[FJ Steve]

great advice Viper.......especially the trim issues.

I used thumbs only with RC yachting...but that is a totally different field.

[Viper]

you actually admitting to yachting???

are the boats actually any fun or what? To me they look a little boring.

[Ferris]

+1 on the fingertips not thumbs approach. Makes a huge difference, especially with maintaining throttle control when using roll.

Desmo, trim it up, get it on a tiled/lino floor, point it away from you, and give it just enough throttle to get light enough to skid around on the floor. Drive it around on the floor until you're comfy with it,

then progress to getting it in a controlled hover about a foot from the floor (tail to you at all times, and beware that propwash will affect you)

when you're comfy enough at keeping it a foot off the ground, and in position, get it about a metre off the ground, the characteristics of the hover will change when you give it clear air, removing any ground effects.

The progress to flying it around the room, tail to you at all times. Practise landing it on stuff. Gently.


When you're comfy enough controlling it that way, back to sliding around the floor, doing 2d work, figure of eights, circles, backwards circles, figure of eights "strafing" (using roll). You are getting used to steering it without it pointing its arse at you at all times now. You're unlearning something, but you needed to get familiar with the controls without having to think to hard about it 1st. This is actually a bigger hurdle than you might think, and it's also the initial problem you face when flying a chopper for the 1st time.

This isn't a "do-this-all-in-one-session" thing. It'll take you a while to progress through these steps.

This is the cheapest way I learnt to fly a RC helo. (or the most crash-proof approach I can detail for you, without doing all your training in a sim 1st)

[Viper]

good points ferris ... don't get too ahead of yourself. You may think yeah i've got this mastered and jump too far and fuck up and cost you more money.

I'll trade ya Jim ... teach me to wheelie like a man and I'll teach you how to fly and set up your helo

[Ferris]

Yknow what I just found a great website on how-to-fly rc choppers.

How to fly an electric RC helicopter

Enjoy Desmo. It's basically what I said, but longer winded.

[Viper]

I have G4

if you really wanna get serious about flying you could always save for one of these ... this cost me $1K a couple years ago.

Gives me absolute control over every inch of a plane, helo etc. I can adjust servo travel to get 100% movement, switch between high/low controls so that if I'm learning I move to low and it'll allow me to use a lot of stick and only a minimal amount of movement on the servo. Switch to high and it needs just a little stick for lots of servo movement.

haven't set it up for the electric helos yet ... still contemplating whether its worth it.