RE: Esky Lama V4 Observations & Info
The swash plate moves diagonally. That's due to a phenomenon called "gyroscopic precession" where an applied force is manifested 90 deg later in the direction of rotation. I think the effect is reduced to 45 deg because of the counter-rotating blades. So in this case, your control input is effective 45 deg in the direction of rotation from the input on the swash plate.
On true coaxial helicopters that have cyclic and collective pitch on both rotors, the effect of gyroscopic precession is canceled out. These RC model helis don't have collective pitch, and only have cyclic pitch on the bottom rotor. The top rotor sort of follows the lead of the bottom rotor. I think.