Wow rob I'm seriously jealous. You went way farther that I have gone, but I'll catch up, you'll see!
The autorotation gear is great, I didn't know about that. Is there enough blade inertia do actually_do_ an autorotation, I wonder? Hmmm---maybe I'll let _you_ try that one first.....
So you got the balls to fit on the inner swash--no clearance problems, I'll have to take another look at mine...

noguy great to hear about your flying experiences! I believe that you are doing it right--there were heli pilots long before there were micro gyros after all. The gyro is a great aid and will help you learn, but if you can stand the slower curve you will be a better pilot if you learn without it. Should you get one? Yes, absolutley. Who can stand the slower curve?

My flight experience is like this: mostly actually sitting in full size fixed-wing aircraft, 2500 hours+ as pic, sailplane flight instructor, tow pilot, jump pilot, aircraft mechanic (with some heli experience), r/c planes since I was a little kid.
But I am very new to r/c helicopters--you will note that almost all of my posts have to do with set-up, maintenance, or crash repair (or crashing!) and very little about flying, except of course where my own experiences as a newbie can be helpful.