Thanks for that suggestion. I have been acually thinking about an RTF raptor 30 (or maybe used). Glow engines are not foreign to me from my airplane days. The only thing preventing me is that I think I have a larger backyard where I can practice hovering and several local flying sites, all which are likely not useable with a nitro heli because of the noise factor. I'd have to drive further away to find a local r/c field. It may be all a mute point anyway because I will probably want to find a larger club field anyway if I want to fly something bigger than my 450. (which I am mostly flying in my backyard).

I actually took some lessons 4-5 years ago locally from an instructor (he was pretty young) who taught on raptor 30's as a business. He had two of them in his truck. As I recall, they were much easier to hover than my blade 450 and felt way larger !. I did have to meet him at a remote field (next to a private air strip) to fly - we didn't just fly in a local park/field..
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