trickle007

I just Purchased Phoenix Flight Sim and I am so glad i did, it is worth its weight in gold. It made me realize i am not ready to fly a CP helicopter yet. Does anyone else have this( I am sure plenty do)? Just few questions:

1) How realistic are all the models? seems my cx2 flies about the same on the sim as it does irl. Also the Blade 400 is really hard for me to fly I find flying the 600's a little easier.

2) How come some of the models come up on my model list but when i go to select them to fly they tell me i cant?

I was thinking when i get good at the sim I was going to buy a Blade 400 but if the sim is acurate then I think now i am leaning more towards a Trex 600 or something in the 600 size.

I am a few months away I think before i will even consider buying a CP, But I trying to figure out what would be best for me to get? The reason I am asking now is so I can put a price tag on my next heli purchase this way i have a goal to save for the purchase. For me if I know what copter to buy, it will motivate me to get better on the sim. I know alot will tell me its all about personnel preference but i dont have one cause i dont have the knowledge base in this heli field like so many of you guys do. Ijust want the best stable Flying Cp helicopter I can get and RTF if at all possible. IfI have to get a kit and build it myself so be it but prefer RTF atleast for my first CP this way i know it is set up just about right i will only need to make few minor adjustments.

I know i am a few months out before I buy a CP but I am all about research and I will research from today up untill the day i purchase what ever heli I deciede.

Once again I thank everyone who has helped me the past few weeks you guys are like my online mentors now i just need to find someone local to get some face time with a pro pilot.

TakeshiSkunk

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that Phoenix is pretty close to RealFlight G4.5/5. The flight models are very accurate, I hovered out the first pack flown in my Blade 400 with no drama whatsoever, only prior experience was RF.

Yes, you will find that the bigger you go the easier they are to handle. Don't forget though that the bigger they are the more expensive they are to repair when they bite it. The Blade 400 is very inexpensive to buy parts for. Now, with enough experience on the sim you should theoretically be able to jump in with a trex600 safely and not have too many accidents with it. Just make sure you get very comfortable on the sim. The trex600 is only available in kit form as far as I am aware, but this isn't really a bad thing at all. Buildup may seem intimidating but having done it will make you much more comfortable about the idea of repairs in the future, I kind of wish my Blade400 had been a box of parts now lol. There are a lot of other nice big helis out there, I personally have my eye on the trex600 for my next purchase just because of how many people fly them and can offer help on them, and the fact that Align is really badass name for a company.

The reason I say it would probably be safe to jump in on the trex600, even though I have very little actual flight time on helis (ie that one pack I mentioned hovering out lol) is that the first thing I noticed once I got my Blade 400 out of ground effect and up to about eye level....it's actually EASIER to fly! Despite the fact that I have to hold the tail in place with the stick, where I don't on the sim, it's much more stable in real life. I was able to hold it very still and adjust it's position pretty comfortably.

Now this does not negate the fact that it's also a lot scarier to fly in real life! Even though I knew I was in complete control and basically had it on lock, I was really nervous the entire time. I'm guessing the only way to get rid of that is by doing it a whole lot. If you do get a trex600 I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that you meet up with a club or something and spend some time around bigger helis before you fly it. They're really intimidating...just my Blade400 makes a hell of a lot of noise, and seeing all those parts moving together like that...it's beautiful but takes some real getting used to, and I can only imagine it's that much more intense on the 600s.

But yes, I am here to say from experience that if you can fly really comfortably on a sim you will be able to successfully maiden a CP, unless there's something really messed up in the setup. Just be prepared to be humbled by the real thing. I can fly inverted all day, do piro flips and huge stall turns and tailslides and all that on the sim....but I really can't see myself doing anything close to any of that on the real thing for quite some time. If I do some flips before the end of this summer I'll feel really accomplished :P

trickle007

I forgot the new Eflite SR is comming out I was also considering that as well but I think I will wait on that one untill some peeps get some and post some reviews before i go purchase a brand new to the market model.

takeshi Phoenix flight is very similiar to G5 from what I understand. I actually had all intensions of buying RF G5 when I went to my LHS but they talked me into Phoenix cause he said it had alot of Eflites and trex models and since those are models i was considering buying I went with it and took his word for it. G5 cost 200 and Phoenix is 175 and come with an actual5 channel transmitteryou can use on a helicopter irl.

jdphotoguy

I just got into RC and wanted to buy the Phoenix RC sim first to get some stick time, but darn if every place is out of it till March. So in the interim I purchased a Blade CX2, which is a decent heli, but I am surprised at how flimsy it is.

trickle007

JD, Order the Sim online plenty of sites have it in stock.

TakeshiSkunk

I just wonder if Phoenix supports the user created content as much as RealFlight.

Either way, if I were buying a sim today, to fly helis, I would have probably gone with Phoenix. It wasn't around when I picked up RF, and I bought that to learn 3D on fixed wing. Wasn't really thinking about helis at all at the time.

Funny story actually. I would mess with helis occasionally on RF but generally didn't really know what I was doing and just crashed and crashed and crashed. I learned to flip em around and stuff but really couldn't hover or even land lol. I didn't really do much with the sim for quite some time, was flying my Typhoon 2 3D a lot through my last year of college. There was this amazing soccer field and surrouncing area I'd take it out to just a short walk from my apartment on campus.

Anyway, I eventually picked up a copy of Aero Elite/Aero Dancing 4 for PS2. I'd been a big fan of the Aero Dancing series since the dreamcast (it was called Aero Wings in america back then) so I was pretty excited to find out that the most recent version of it somehow got localized without my noticing. One big addition to the game in 4 was helicopters. Aero Dancing was always about really learning to fly the different planes and passing a bunch of tests through flight school type mode, and they had a section dedicated to helis. Well, once I started to understand the mechanics of how the damn things work I was completely hooked, and decided to give the helis in real flight another try. Whaddya know, the skills transferred and after a bit I was all about the idea of getting my hands on a real rc heli

jdphotoguy

Thanks for the advice trickle007, I was hoping to avoid buying it online, don't want the wife to be aware of my purchase until I can sell an item on eBay to afford it.

choppersrule

Jdphotoguy,

LOL! I do the same with the wife.

Anyway, I've got the Phoenix Simulator. I did a lot of research on it and talked to a lot of people about it, and the LHS.. It's the best Simulator for Helicopters on the market today.
The nice thing about the Phoenix is that program updates are Free, and when new models or flying fields are developed they are FREE also, just down load them.

I do have an EXI 450SE helicopter(Trex clone) and a Trex 600 ESP. I have to say that I've very impressed with simulator, the Trex 600 flys almost identical to my real one.

Here's there website, check it out. Over 100 models, helis and planks: http://www.phoenix-sim.com/models.htm

Dave

x5t1j

Hey Trickle007 I live in NJ and was thinking of getting into helis. What hobbie store did you get your sim from? Thanks.

trickle007

X5, Hobby TownUSAon Rt. 206 innewton NJ. They carry all eflite heli's and havePhoenix Flight as well as Real Flight G5