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thinking about starting w/heli's

Old 11-28-2007, 10:07 PM
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gjeffers
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Default thinking about starting w/heli's

Hi guys, ive been flying 40-120 size planes for 5 years now and am thinking about getting a Heli.

i have a few questions below.

1.will this be a good starter chopper... http://www.nitroplanes.com/rag26ccrarec.html

2.will i have a fighting chance if i practice on my afpd till my fingers are bloody? (there is no chance to get an instructor at all, i learned to fly planes by myself, the reason being ....well let me put it this way,.. the closest wal-mart is 160 miles away[X(])

3. cant think of nothing else

thanks guys

Old 11-28-2007, 10:59 PM
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Druss
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

the g2 and the esky belt cp are very similar (and similarly priced heli's), either would be a good choice for a RTF 400 size electric. As for whether they are a good starter or not, there are a lot of different opinions on that. I think you can do it as long as you put in a lot of sim time and go through radd's school of flight. others will suggest that you start with a co-axial, they are fun little heli's and inherently very stable (I can put my tx on the counter and walk away and it will hover on it's own). if you have a big field where you fly your planes then I don't think you need to go the co-axial route (they are pretty much useless outside without a lot of upgrades). still others will suggest that larger = more stable (true) and that you should learn on a .60 or .90 nitro, this is a $2000 invesment though and you don't even know whether you like them yet.

overall I think you can learn on the G2 as long as you take your time.
Old 11-28-2007, 11:29 PM
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gjeffers
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

Thanks Druss, patience and time i have and along with a dry lakebed to fly on i may give her a try (i just e-mailed the link to my wife, maybe she will get it for me for christmas)

below are some pics of my flying site.
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Old 11-28-2007, 11:32 PM
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Airjunkie82
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

I am going to recommend to you what others will most likely as well.

The cx-2.

This Co-axial heli is a great learner. It comes with everything you need for $189.99. Its easy to fly, and will teach you the basics. You will crash that heli you listed if you have no experince. The cx-2 is kinda bad for outdoors unless calm, but i only fly mine outdoors, and it taught me how to re-act and be responsive with the controller.

Im telling you this as a guy who just bought the cx-2 10 days ago. I have over 20 batteries in it now ( about 3 1/2 hours ). Im am getting pretty comfortable and im working on nose facing me doing circles.

Anyways whatever you get (i hope its the cx-2!) you will learn to fly it through crashing it, or spending 10 days before lifting off. Have fun with your new experince, i too switched over form planes!

Good luck!
Old 11-29-2007, 02:01 AM
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Druss
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

no actually not everyone recommends it. as far as I know from your posts the cx-2 is the only heli you own. if I had to do it over again I would NOT have gotten my co-axial and gone straight to a 450 size electric. seriously I was bored with it in 2-3 weeks, it was collecting dust because I was having more fun flying a sim than flying the co-ax.

sounds like the guy at your hobby shop is a very good sales man.
Old 11-29-2007, 03:02 AM
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Airjunkie82
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

Those are some cool plane gjeffers! If i got into planes, they would have to be very large wingspan or just huge in general, because my eyes are terrible. Thats why i switched to helis!

Let me know what you do and how you like it. I'm interested in what another starter will think. Still, in the end, the best thing you can do is talk to your RC shop. Well trusted RC shop.


Cheers!
Old 11-29-2007, 09:58 AM
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

A place to start would be to finding a local club or heli pilot to coach you thru your learning steps. Your reference to the closest Walmart doesn't mean anything. There are RCers all over, you just have to find them.

Start here:
[link]http://www.modelaircraft.org/clubsearch.aspx[/link]
Continue looking here:
[link]http://pilotlocator.net[/link]
And ultimately, you could search on the members section of RCU, RunRyder, Helifreak, RCGroups, Flying Giants, Rotory, and numerous other forums on the internet.

Rafael
Old 11-29-2007, 10:22 AM
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techrtr
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

My suggestion would be to buy a sim, get good at hovering in all orientations, and then jump directly to a 450 size heli. Take it easy and you'll be fine.
Old 11-29-2007, 10:45 AM
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gjeffers
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

thanks airjunkie, i love my planes and have no intent on getting rid of them,but there are no hobbie shops within 160 miles, i have learned everything here on RC Universe about planes and plan to do so with Heli's also.

i appriciate all your help to Rafael, but the nearest rc club is Fallon Nevada, which is 160 miles away, i am aware of the links you have gave me but i have been through all that with my learning to fly planes, that is why i learned by myself.

techrtr, i have a sim, afpd as stated above, and i will practice alot....and if i crash i crash....but i will learn because i can rebuild, i have the tools and the skills, i am a 54 yr old flying junkie

thanks Druss, i too bore fast, id rather be rebuilding than be bored!!
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Old 11-29-2007, 11:48 AM
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

actually, I agree with you. I've always loved to tinker with things (probably why i ended up as an engineer) and I just found the co-axial ones too easy, regardless of whether it had more to teach me or not (which I really don't believe it did) it just didn't inspire me to get any better with it. so i spent more time on my sim and when I finally when to a CP heli (skipped fp) i was able to hover through a battery on my second try. my first flight went over my backyard fence and i brought it down too quickly.

nice flying site you have there.
Old 11-29-2007, 11:51 AM
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

I also taught myself how to fly both airplanes and helis 25 yrs ago and am still at it and having fun. Go for It ! Just out of interest, what is it you do, so far away from civilization ?
Old 11-29-2007, 12:16 PM
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gjeffers
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

i work in one of the worlds largest gold mines here in round mountain, i drive a haul truck. we produce approx 1000 oz of gold a day.

below is a pic of our haul trucks. a cat 793
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Old 11-29-2007, 12:20 PM
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's


ORIGINAL: techrtr

My suggestion would be to buy a sim, get good at hovering in all orientations, and then jump directly to a 450 size heli. Take it easy and you'll be fine.
I agree with this 100%. I have only been flying since march of this year. I started with a sim and learned how to hover in all orientations. However, I then jumped to a cheap RTF Axe CP. While I was able to sucessfully fly the Axe my skills progressed very slowly. On top of that my cheap $200 heli ended up costing me MUCH more after buying a 4 lipo batteries and overpriced replacement parts. After flying to Axe for about 4 months I stepped up to a T-Rex 450Se V2 and could not be happier. Since I built the Rex my Axe CP has pretty much just sat on the shelf collecting dust. The T-Rex is much more stable and precise. Because of this my flying skills have greatly progressed. I am now planning on building a T-Rex 500 in the next month or two. After the bigger heli is built I will probably fly my 450 less and put the Axe up for sale.

After all that my advice is
1) Get a good sim and Practice, Practice, Practice
2) Get the best CP heli you can afford. Preferably one with a good head holding gyro and a belt driven tail.
3) Fly, Crash, Rebuild, Fly, Crash, Rebuild
4) Have fun!!
Old 11-29-2007, 12:25 PM
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

thanks boystoys, i grew up in Lamont and graduated Arvin High, dont get back much but still have hunting buddies there! keep the fog there, cause i dont miss it
Old 11-29-2007, 12:57 PM
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Default RE: thinking about starting w/heli's

Hi and welcome to the world of R/C Helicopters. I will not tell again what others have explained; instead I will recommend you to buy the helicopter brand of your choice in the 400 size range with good service parts availability. I think that the Nitro Planes brand that you have mentioned is OK as well as they can have parts in stock. Non of us are in the hobby to crash our costly equipment but I can tell you that it happens more often than with our fixed wings R/C Airplanes but the difference here is that you can fix a broken plane with some balsa and parts that not necessarily come from the plane's manufacturer, in the R/C Heli world most brands are different and parts just don't fit equally among other brands, so be specially focused in this issue and you will have a lot of fun with any one of your choice.

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