wolfman01

Which is better, the flybar head or the nonflybar head? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? I probably won't be doing any 3D flying. I just like to "scale" fly smoothly. Make it look real. I will be recieving my new kit this Thursday. It's the Align 700E f3c.Found a super combo kit w/ everthing but the Tx, Rx, and flight batteries. Comes with servos, gyro, ESC, motorand all. I can't wait!! 62" main rotor DIA.. Many years ago, I had a 53" rotor heli. Thisheli was $900 brand new in the box on E-Bay. I have to assemble it. I hope all of you can put up with me and all of my questions while I'm building it.LOL Thanks for your help. If anyone needs help with a gas RC racing boat, here I am!

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Neither is "better"

FBL use a gyro to electronically do with the FB does, which is impart stability to the rotor head.

FBL is electronic tinkering, FB is mechanical.

One has less parts in the head so its a little cheaper to crash.

FBL is arguably more 3D capable because there's less inertia in the head to overcome for snappy 3D but that doesn't sound like what you're after.

Short version, pick one and enjoy

wolfman01

Thank you. I like mechanical! I'm glad this heli is the FB type. My old one was too. That was back in the early "80s.

ATVAlliance

The only FBL heli I have flown is the mCPX.  So I cant really compare because I havent flown anything in that size that had a flybar.

Based on what Barracuda says...Id think the only real advantage of FBL heli would be if you were building a scale type of helicopter.  It would look more "realistic" without the flybar IMO.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

It's really about personal feel. Like I said, in a FB heli there's more rotational mass in the rotor head to over come so you can setup a FBL machine to be EXTREMELY snappy in 3D, some folks like that.

And as you say, it looks cool for scale and there's a 50 point per flight round penalty for using a FB in scale competition.

TakeshiSkunk

I'm never going to buy another FB heli again unless someone throws an unbelievable deal in front of me on something used, and even then I'd probably convert it eventually. With that said, you can set up a flybar to work great if you want to. It's very much a personal preference thing, though I think if you get down to it FBL does have the edge.

The issue is all in how you fly. For scale flying the only difference you'll feel is that FBL handles wind a little better, you only start to notice the real performance advantages of FBL in aggressive 3D. Really though the things I like the most about FBL are the simpler head (less parts to break in a crash, and a flybar will bend if you so much as look at it too hard) and the fact that your setup is done with a computer rather than a wrench. I usually don't like computer controlled systems on things like this and prefer the mechanical route, but I really don't like setting up flybars at all. I'm sure a lot of people feel the exact opposite however so once again, personal preference.

The main reasons you may want to consider going FBL are the nice scale look (I think FBL looks much nicer than FB regardless of whether the heli is scale or not) and slightly longer flight times. If you have the money to blow on Skookum controller those can actually do a LOT of interesting things as well, everything from auto-hover, self levelling, etc to recording your control inputs so that you can play them back in a simulator and recreate your flight.

wolfman01

They sure have come a long way. Auto pilot, auto hover and all. When I learned to fly my Kobo Kyko 53" rotor gas heli, they didn't have any tail gyros. Hovering took me 6 to 8 months to learn. I never tryed to do any stunts, just stall turns. I used to install floats and land on water! That was fun chasing the ducks around! It took every once of consintration to fly. So much so,, it took some of the fun out of it. I'm really looking foreward to flying again. I'm 62 and want to have as much fun as I can beforemy batteries go DEAD! LOL Heli is going to be here on Thursday and I can start my build.

wolfman01

Another question. On my old gas heli, the throttle and colective pitch were both on the same servo. When you gave it throttle, more pitch came in. How does it work on the electrics?? Thanks.

Goggles

My Feedback: (4)

Sure....you say that now. But some day, you'll be feeling all confident and all and figure, "mehh, what's the worse that can happen" and you'll do your first flip. You'll be excited and do another, and another. Then you'll do some forward flight and do a roll.....or 2...or one after another. Lol, that's how it all starts.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

They aren't on the same servo, they are on the same stick and mixed in the radio.

Same way with electrics, the throttle signal goes to the ESC and the pitch signal goes to the servo or servos(CCPM) on the swash.

wolfman01

Oh. Ok. This is like the mixing on my boat. When I pull the trottle trigger, the motor speeds up. When I push the trigger forward, the Killer Bee kill switch kills the ignition. Thanks. Do the heli instructions tell you how to set it all up?

ATVAlliance

Nope. You should "Google" the term "FinlessBobs setup videos". He has a lot of videos over at helifreak that will show you how to program your radio. Iassume he has one for your heli...Ive only watched his for the 450 and then set my 500 up the same way as they are pretty much identical. Dont know the differences in the 600 and 700's though. I know my Raptor 50 is TOTALLY different than the setup on my 450 and 500.

wolfman01

Thanks. I'll do that. I'm a long way from setup. I won't get the kit till this Thursday.! Thanks again.

3DHELINUT

My Feedback: (3)

The origional Hirobo Shuttle had the pitch and throttle rods on one servo, that is how it was done way back when....




Alan

wolfman01

I have been hovering aroud my driveway!! This bird is WAY different from the one I had back in the early "80s. My tail gyro seems to be working very well. I learned to fly without this, and this is strange! When I go into forward flight at a good speed, does the heli "wheathervane" or do you have to give it tail rotor pitch to get the heli to fly straight? On my old one, you didn't have to touch the tail pitch as long as you were flying ata fair speed.

madmorgan

My Feedback: (2)

there again if your wanting true scale and you get  something like a trex 600 and buy a huey fuse or a black hawk fuse then if you truly want it to look and fly scale you would have to go flybarless as the black hawk has 4 main blades etc.

ATVAlliance

The tail should hold no matter what...forward flight or just hovering IFyou have a decent gyro and the setup of it was done properly. This is what HH(Head Holding) mode does for us these days.

Ive never flown in Rate mode...but assume that you would have to give some rudder correction at times with your gyro set to "rate"mode.

madmorgan

My Feedback: (2)

you acyually have to setup some gyros  and hover in rate mode like the gy401 . i tried it and got this cold feeling all through my body knowing that little black box wasnt watching my back. anymore i just set centers as usual and run em up in hh and they seem to hold very well. my hats are off to all of the pilots that had to learn without gyro's and had to learn how to fly the tail. i think i aged a few years that afternoon when i tried it in rate.

chris6414

My Feedback: (10)

I use a Gy-601 on my Hawk Sport and a JR 770 on my Predator. HH is just for hovering and approaches for me. Rate mode is just so much smoother in FF and scale flying. I still have my G 153 BB, 154 and 155 gyros and love them. Spool up and never ever drift on you. Just preference but for my flying, I use both.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Im showing my age just by knowing what you're talking about

wolfman01

Well,, this morning I unpluged the gyro and pluged the tail servo into the RX. Took it out on my driveway and was suddenly reminded why they invented gyros. As soon as the skids left the ground, I had to rudder it to keep it straight. I trimed it and got it to hover about 4ft. high. It was too much trouble!!! So,, I'll just have to learn how to fly with a gyro. I think I might buy a "simulater" program. It will probably save me some money in the long run. Who makes a good one that isn't a fortune to buy? I have a Futaba 10ch. heli radio. On the front it says
2.4G T10CHG. Thanks!