TakeshiSkunk

So I grabbed the really highly rated trex600 from the swap pages a while back, and I was wondering how I could go about making a more aggressive setup on it through RF. I'd like to see what's it's like to fly something set up like one of Alan Szabos heli's or something like that. Is this actually close to what he flies in most of his videos, and I just need to figure out the magic touch or whatever to get it to fly meaner? :P It doesn't seem to react near as quickly, and the piro rate isn't anywhere near what I've seen in some of the videos.

Also, if anyone has recommendations for good aggressive 3d models in RealFlight, let me know

mydartswinger

Bear in mind that my recommendations are based on my experiences with G4.5 at the "Advanced" difficulty setting.

The first thing you need to do is check your difficulty level to make sure it's set to "Advanced", as "Beginner" and "Intermediate" are a bit more docile and not quite as responsive.
1. Go to "Simulation"
2. Hover over "Difficulty"
3. Click "Advanced" if there is no check mark next to it.

The next thing you need to do is to create a new heli by doing the following (this will avoid deleting the original model just in case you mess it up):
1. Select the heli you wish to modify (I.E. T-Rex 600)
2. Go to "Airplanes"
3. Select "Edit xxxx", where xxxx is the name of the model you just selected
4. Before changing anything, click "File"
5. Select "Save As"
6. Type in a name that you wish to name the new version of the heli.

Next, you can begin making the changes needed to make it more responsive by:
1. On the left side of the screen, go to "Airframe"
2. Select "Heli Mechanics"
3. Select "Main Rotor"
4. Select "Paddles"
5. On the right side of the screen, scroll down until you see "Paddle Weight"
6. Change that to a lower value (but you may not want to go too low, as that will cause an unstable heli)
7. Click on "File"
8. Click "Save"
9. Close the window and test fly the heli. If it's responsive enough, leave it alone. If it's not responsive enough, go back to the aircraft editor.
10. Click "Electronics"
11. Select one of the servos (either pitch, roll, or elevator)
12. Where it says "Transit Time" or "Servo Speed", decrease that number.
13. Repeat for all 3 of the cyclic servos
14. Repeat steps 7-9 again.

That should give you a much more responsive heli. However, a lot of it will be pilot skill. The pros are the best at what they do. They practice nearly EVERY DAY, running 3+ GALLONS of fuel per day through their helis. It's their job to make it look easy.

If you find the resulting heli a bit too twitchy for you, go back to the aircraft editor and increase the expo on your cyclic controls by drilling into the "Software" menu on the left.

As for models, look for the Mikado Logo 700. That's one of my favorites for practicing 3D, as it's smooth, stable, and responsive. The stock Dominion 90 is also pretty responsive, but can be a bit twitchy in a hover compared to other 90 class. If you have Expansion Pack 6, give the RJX Extreme 90 a shot, I prefer it over the Dominion, as it's just as responsive but a bit more stable. If you want REALLY responsive, go smaller to the MSH Protos. It's a 500 class electric that'll roll 360° in the snap of a finger.

TakeshiSkunk

Thankyou for the help! I can't wait to mess with this when I get home. I'm not expecting the heli to fly itself, I just feel like I could handle something a bit more intense than the stock trex600 I've been using. Gotta keep pushing until I find my limit, right? Everything is free in the sim anyway

Is there any way to significantly increase piro rate or is that kind of just something that just has to do with the design of the airframe?

mydartswinger

To crank up the piro rate, drill down through the aircraft editor to the tail rotor and increase the tail rotor deflection. Bear in mind that in doing that, you may have to go to the gyro settings under "Software Radio" and reduce the gain settings to prevent tail wag. While in the gyro, I believe that there is a setting for piro rate as well, so check it out and see what you can do.

!!!WARNING!!!
Changing tail rotor settings may induce wag, causing an uncontrolable heli. Create a copy of your first upgraded T-Rex to ensure you have a setting to go back to if something goes wrong during your editing. Also change the settings one at a time. That way, you have a higher likelyhood of remembering what you did that caused the problem and learn from it. Don't worry about cluttering up your "Custom Aircraft" list. If you end up creating a model that you don't want to keep, go to "Manage User Files" and delete it. Just be sure that when you delete it, it's not the loaded aircraft.

TakeshiSkunk

Mentioning gyro gain got me to thinking. Is there a way to take a heli that has already been created and map gyro gain to the knob? I know I've had at least one model that had gain on the knob but don't know if that has to be done in the initial creation.

Man I've had RF for like 2 years now at least and haven't even dabbled in custom anything, this is gonna be fun

mydartswinger

If you can figure out how to get adjustable gain on the knob, let me know. I've been trying that for the last 2 months with no success. I've had one myself that had adjustable gain. I think it was on my old G3.5, though. I haven't come accross a heli with it in G4.5 yet.

I've played around with it quite a bit, but have never done a full model or even a colorscheme (though I did get user twoeleven to do a CS for me when he was looking for CS projects. Thanks go to him for an AMAZING CS. It's the purple, silver, and white CAP 232 for the default CAP 232.). Just custom editing of existing aircraft. As a matter of fact, I have a few AV's of planks on the swaps. My first one was a pretty good AV of the Yak 54 meant to come close to the flight characteristics of the Seagull Yak 54 .60, but my others were all nearly full scale and didn't get rated to highly. Helicopters are quite a bit different and more difficult to change certain things on than an airplane is. I've even tried changing powerplants in some of the helis, but it always messes them up. It's fun to mess with now and then, regardless of the results. If you wanna check out my AV's just for the heck of it (and have at least G3.5 for the Yak and at least G4.5 for the others), I go by the same SN on KE as I do here.

Enjoy!!

TakeshiSkunk

I think I've seen you here and there on the swap pages, I'll have to check out your yak

You can find a lot of cool stuff on the swap pages, but sometimes I'm surprised at the stuff that ISNT there. I was really surprised noone had done a SPA3D, though I did find a cool Mojo a while back that's a lot of fun. If you ever come across any models in particular that really wow you let me know!

mydartswinger

There's one scale heli in particular that really wow'd me with it's very docile flight characteristics. I mentioned it a while back in the "Heli Stuff and Fellowship" thread. It's a HUGE electric Bell 206 Jet Ranger. If you've ever heard of or seen pictures of Vario scale helis, it's very similar in size to their Jet Ranger (looks from the pictures to be about waist high on me, and I'm 5'9").

If you like extreme speed and altitude, there's a turbine SR-71 Blackbird. Just this evening, a couple of my co-workers and I were messing around with it on the projector screen (very cool to do, 'cept just a bit dark around the trees), and got it up to 120,000 feet and over 800mph.

Another that I enjoy flying on occasion is the Zoom 50. Don't let the name fool you, it's not a .50. It's a large pod and boom turbine, capable of some 3D flight (probably more in the right hands, which mine are not). It's very stable. Unfortunately, it's roll rate isn't that great. You've gotta use collective management to keep it in the sky when doing tricks with it.

If you're into concept aircraft, there's a Sikorsky X2 heli. It flies fine as is, however the rear pusher prop doesn't provide any thrust when activated by the knob. That's an easy fix , just add a bit of pitch to the prop since it comes as a flat pitch prop.

If you can't tell, I've got A LOT of aircraft from the swaps.

TakeshiSkunk

Yeah I remember you mentioning that huge jetranger, that thing is very impressive. My dad actually enjoyed flying that one quite a bit, and he doesn't really like helis :P

TakeshiSkunk

Well I'm pretty happy with the results I have so far! Just wondering if someone can tell me if the modifications I made and resulting performance are realistic at all, I'd like to be working with something I could recreate in real life at some point, especially since I'm hoping to get a trex600 for my next heli.

I increased my collective/pitch/roll servos from .10 to .05, took the paddle weight from 18 to 8, and...crap I can't remember the HH gyro settings I changed, I think I maxed out rate or speed or whatever at 100 and then upped acceleration. Didn't have to mess with gain at all, tail is still solid and no wag

mydartswinger

The paddle weight looks fairly close to real. Maybe slow down the servo to about .07 to make it a bit more realistic with high end servos. It's not much of a difference, so as long as you're happy, it's all good.