moto masher

Hello to everyone. Moto Masher here.
Without boring the pants off you all, a quick resume' of my efforts of flying model helis [electric]
My favourite and only heli was a Walkera Lama, the simple one to fly with twin rotor blades. Flew it off and on
for 5/6 years until recently when the pc board decided to fry it self whilst at a considerable height. That went into the
bin courtesy of her indoors, didnt miss it until a week or so ago..
At the same time I bought the lame,I invested in a new Esky Belt CP. Mmmmm, not sure about this one. Crashed twice,
bought plenty of spares so far, and now its down again. Bit more serious this time.
Ever since I have taken this thing out of the box when new, it will not take off without the tail spinning round and round.
Tell a lie, I have managed to stabilize the spinning effect by setting the tail rotor at max blade pitch to counteract this problem.
But it still has a tendency to turn to the left [viewed from the rear] It has had this problem from new....as I mentioned earlier.
Appreciate any comments, good or indifferent.
This last crash occurred when the darn thing took off on its own accord. I have been practising my hovering skills [thats a laugh
in itself]. But getting there. So, after it decided to launch itself to 10 ft without my consent, it was brought down swiftly to earth by
wrestling with the transmitter controls. Any ideas to that one would help too.

Good job these parts are in expensive, otherwise I will go back to zooming round on my motorcycle instead

rem0.061

My Feedback: (30)

Find an RC club with heli flyers to help you and get the Phoenix simulator from horizonhobby.com if you have a fast enough computer. It took me 3 weeks of flying on the simulator to be able to fly a cp heli well.

jester_s1

I'll second the simulator, and will offer my condolences to you having to deal with a stock Belt CP. I have a few hours on one, having given up on it after it threw a blade last week and broke nearly everything. I'll tell you mine never gave even the impression of being controllable until I replaced the servos and gyro and did the DTS mod to the frame. It wasn't bad after that, but it always had vibrations that caused the tail to dance around even with a HH gyro, and had a sloppy head that would never keep the blades tracked right. If you'll let a stranger give you advice, Ebay the Belt CP and get an all metal Trex clone with decent gyro and servos in it. If you can spend the money, get a real Trex and be amazed at the difference in how easy they are to fly.

moto masher

Thanks guys for the advice, I thought it strange that I was forever having to trim the copter to make it more stable. I did intend to invest in another one and keep the mashed one as spares.
Anyone out there who wants a heli with a few damaged parts, let me know, before it gets the ebay treatmernt.

I am going to check out a Trex one as you suggest Jester.
Flying one isnt the problem, its trying to fight the controls which ought to give the right input. I am sure that when I bought this thing way back....off ebay, it had this fault from the start

Having had 10 hrs in a Robinson r22..till it got too expensive, doin the hover and forward and sideways lessons etc., I found that relatively easy, but model heli's, especially this one, mmmmm.
its a way cheaper alternative, but frustrating. As I said earlier, going to have a look at a Trex as suggested. Off to see whats about

ATVAlliance

The thing about flying a real heli (not that I have ever done it) is you are sitting inside of the thing...which should never really lead you to disorientation like can happen very quickly while standing on the ground trying to fly one.

Also, in a real helicopter you get to use both feet to help you fly...whereas the RC one you only have the 2 gimbles.  Just makes for more busy control inputs.

Its all muscle memory though in the end.  Once you "get it"...its pretty much like riding a bike.  Although disorientation can and will cause you a crash at some point, no matter how good you think you are.

goodluck.

moto masher

Thanks ATV for your comments. Well, been thinking about my next heli,I think the Trex as suggested is too nice a machine to trash. Seeing as I have the wrecked Belt cp and a pile of bits,
was thinking of getting a belt cp v2. At least I have a spare machine I can rob bits off if the enevitable re occurs. Any valued comments on my idea please.
Or is the V2 just as hopeless as the CP.

TakeshiSkunk

I can vouch for this. After not having touched a Tx in 3 months or so I fired up my sim and went straight into backwards upright and inverted circuits like I'd never stopped flying. Even improved my high speed funnels from the last time I'd been working on them.

It'll seem impossible at first but once stuff starts to fall into place and click you'll have it forever.

jester_s1

Mine was a V2 and I wasn't impressed. Mine had the plastic head and tail so I suppose it's possible the metal version would be a little tighter and more consistent, but probably still not great. That bellcrank setup for swash control is so sloppy the swashplate never responds to your control inputs consistently. I suppose an experienced pilot could still do ok with one, but a beginner will have a tough time learning because of the inconsistent response. There are some decent Trex clones on the market with all metal heads and tails that are simply a better design. If you get a good flying heli, it will reduce or eliminate your crashes which of course will mean that keeping an inventory of parts on hand is a moot point.

ATVAlliance

Yeah...the EXI 450 v2 clone is a very nice heli.  Ive had both the carbon fiber, all metal head/tail as well as the regular frame plastic head/tail.  Both flew about the same.

However, for the small price difference, you would always be better to buy the CF edition...simply because it costs more to upgrade it to that, than to just start out with it.

Here is a link...

nevermind...xheli.com is all out of all of their EXI 450's

But here is the real deal anyway...if you dont mind to move up to a 500.

http://www.xheli.com/exi500.html

At 110 bucks...it will be hard to find a better deal anywhere.

moto masher

Ok, fellow fliers, [or not so in my case] Opinions please on a Trex 450 xl. Any good for a learner/improver ???

TakeshiSkunk

I'd recommend a 500 over a 450, especially for a new pilot. It's only a bit more expensive and it's much easier to fly. As far as size as concerned, at your level you'd need just as much space to fly the 450.

450s can be tricky to control, they're twitchy and skittish. Even though you can mellow them out with radio settings they won't have the same locked in feeling and stability you get with a larger heli. The larger a heli gets the easier it gets to fly, so get the biggest thing you can afford to repair. If it has to be a 450 it'll be alright, but it's really not that much more to get your hands on a 500 and I can tell you first hand that the difference in stability and general feel between them is astronomical. I started out on a Blade 400 and it was more or less retired after my first flight on a 500. Granted the Trex 450 is a big step up from the B400, but I do have a bit of flight time with them as well and can still say that there's no contest between it and a 500.

The 500 really hits that sweet spot for performance vs cost, I feel it's the absolute best bang for your buck. I've been flying one for a year and while I'd really like to get my hands on a Logo 600SX I honestly have no problems with my FBL Trex 500ESP, it's not holding me back in any way.

moto masher

Thanks for the reply Takeshi, well, the whole reason for asking the question is that it is going cheap with spares etc. Didnt want to
shell out loads of bucks and end up with another pile of bits.......................