w98seeng

I am wondering why I haven't seen a training device like this? It isn't that hard to make actually. A few lengths of copper tubing, a piece of plywood for the base, a pivot and a swivel of sorts and a counter weight.



This seems to be the perfect device to allow one to learn to hover, rotate, fly in a circle, without the fear of crashing.

I guess the hardest part of making this would be to balance the bars perfectly so the helicopter could actually fly on it.

lje553

My Feedback: (1)

My dad has one only we used springs instead of a weight. More of a dampener than a counter balance. It was a glorious pain in the back side! lol. I never could fly with the darn thing. It wasn't till I cracked down on the sim and just accepted that I would crash at some point so I stop worrying about it and just focused on small advances in my skills. That is what seemed to work the best.

Happy flying!

tdmoss61

i bought a stand here on rcu a while ago that works basically the same. it has the pivot and the counter balance. made for electric helis.



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bauerbach

seems like it would be a bit of a crutch? your motion would be relatively hindered, you wouldnt crash, but not for a lack of trying. Ive definitely seen such devices for sale though.

helicub81

this guy on youtube made a trainign stand. Its different, but it probably performs the same function. Here's the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YXNd7SSTN8

However, i think a training stand wouldn't be too useful. You can just get soem trainign gear and scoot around in the garage; that way, you can avoid crashes and still get a feel for the helicopter isntead of a tamed down movement.

Real2You

Just an opinion here....but flying a rc heli is hard to learn....but not impossible....I think the key is taking baby steps and not trying to do to much. Iput training gear that I made on a Raptor 50 and learned to hover without ever crashing once. Ihad a few hard landings but the training gear took care of that. Now that Iam hovering and looking back.....setting up your heli right is a big key to success. Also, Ithink the intimidation factor plays a part also.....once you relax and just "do it"...it comes natural after I while.

w98seeng

I am thinking of getting a 6 channel CP heli for my first real heli (2 channel helis do not count) so I will need a lot of training on hovering, rotating, going up, going down, you know, the basics. With a 6 channel helicopter as my first, I feel a stand like this let me learn these important basics. Now I know that crashing is almost a given with a hobby like this, but I would like to lessen the chances.

And yes, a sim is definitely my first step.

bauerbach

Sim will give you the feel, but put some training gear on, and slide it around your garage/driveway for a while, wont take long. if you keep it like... 3" off the ground, with training gear on, your pretty much invincible, finger only on the throttle to cut it off, dont give it any more throttle. if it gets away from you, chop the throttle, as its a CP, unlike FP or Coax, theres no residual lift, you cut the throttle, your pitch is gone, its not a slow decrease as the blades spin down, its an instant drop. training gear makes sure you land flat, and you can reset. its not nearly as scary as it sounds.

worst thing that happens is you let it slide into a wall. but bigger the area you can find, the less risk of that, and again... just cut that throttle, it will stop moving instantly.

now, eventually.... you have to go higher than 3" but once you get to that level, you would beyond any sort of training device. and still, 2' off the ground, your escape is the same, cut that throttle.

reccomend you getting some nice landing gear, I got gorilla gear for my trex450, and it takes hard landings like a champ. Ive broken 3 blades and bent 2 main shafts. you wont stop all damage, but this is insignificant, 4$ per crash, 10minutes in repairs, Im not concerned with that. Im worried more about taking it into a tree and dropping 30ft onto the ground and breaking important, expensive things lol.

w98seeng

Many thanks bauerbach, very good advice.

DEATHPROOFHELI

I think you would get dependant on something like that... the only way to learn ANYTHING is practice practice practice!!!