Barrick My Friend,

We are all sorry that you can't handle the Heli Hobby anymore. I certainly understand your thoughts, you're a little older than myself.
I know my mind is still like a KID, however, at the end of a work day, (I work full time too), I'm just dead tired somedays, and can't get anything else done at home. Ten years ago it wasn't a problem, but like we all do, get older and slow down.

Don't throw in the towel yet, just keep it on the shelf for awhile, stop and smell the roses.

You know, in your heart, that we will always be here for you.

Keep on reading the post and see how us silly guys are doing.

Keep us posted on anything you would like to update us on. It doesn't have to be Heli related.

Love ya Rick,

Dave / Choppersrule
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Rick my friend, don't you go anywhere. We all get strapped for time no and then and the feeling of being overwhelmed can be daunting. Remember your friends here and take a good long break to think before giving up this hobby. You have been an inspiration to many of us here.

Jim

Barrick, sad to hear about your situation,... hang in there. Get that sim time in every chance you get, and get that rex in the air! Be sure to hang around here for the much needed support.

I've been unfortunately way to busy for the last week. I know I have too many hobbies, but I refuse to drop any, so I guess it's really a self-inflicted problem. That, plus raising 2 kids at the same time really cuts into free time.

Anyways, enough whining about that. Time to whine about my CP Pro. Things still are not right from the crash I had a week ago. The spindle was definately the major problem, but I'm still getting a wobble. Tonight I replaced the main shaft with another one that was slightly bent. I straightened it out and it looks perfect when spinning. I re-covered a set of blades with ultracote and re balanced them also. I'm tired of having the covering ripped off perfectly good blades, so I ordered a set of plastic ones tonight. We'll see how those work. Hopefully they are like the corona blades, which barely saw a scratch over several years.

Everything back together and I can see a wobble though. Once things are up to speed it seems smooth enough, and the frame of the heli has no shake, the blades are tracking good, but there is something off just a bit. I'll try some hover tests tomorrow and see how things are in the air.

BARRICK OL' BUDDY -

I don't know what to say, but thank you and I shall give the HBK2 a good home.

However, I have to remind you of your abilities....

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6018471

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6004441

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5932559

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5912080

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5893589

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5830288

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5748536

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5737092

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5714056

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5701461

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5649031


I'm glad to hear you still have your TREX, and it seems your CX2 as well. Those are my two of favorite helis!

2 great helis and the FS One simulator is plenty to keep anyone busy, OLD or YOUNG!

Hey Rick......Pm sent to you and with your permission I would like to tell the thread members what i wrote to you. I will be back online tomorrow morning and also later tomorrow nite.
Love ya like a Brother Rick................ and I believe you were the one that coined the phrase for this forum.........Band Of Brothers


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

Pongo.......did you check for CG of those blades too? maybe look at tracking also. Sounds like everything else is on the money. Finless Bob has a sweet video at helifreaks in the TREX SE build section on Blade Balancing 101. If I could do that on my CX2 blades also, I would..........it has taken all the guesswork out of my blade balancing. If you need the link......let me know


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

Yea, I've seen that vid.

Balance on the blades looks perfect from what I can tell. Tracking looks good too.

It's really a low-speed wobble I guess. There is no shake at all when things are spun up, but I'm a bit confused by this because the bolt on top is definately moving around. (It's a blur, and the hole is not a defined dot if that makes sense. Tonight when I get home I'll get the skids light and see what that does. can't really think of what else could cause this. (Checked and/or replaced blades, main shaft, spindle,... checked balance on blades)

On another note. It looks like I'll have a TREX by this time next week, so I'll be joining the rest of the traitors in this thread. It will take a bit more time to acquire the rest of the heli (new radio gear mostly), so I won't be flying it any time soon, but it's the first step towards moving up.

Yeah...you're a traitor (LOL). My new canopy for the HBKII, and I put the nav lights on it...BLING!

A personal NOTE for ARROWNAUGHTIC :

When you read this, a reminder to send name/address. To ship and re-pack the BLADES I have to do some un-doing, (removing SuperSkids etc) so it will be a little while, not too much, but you will get all the stuff, maybe in a separate box. Once they arrive they are yours to keep or do with as you please. Only my intention was to help YOUR FLYING and improvement, your "personal" use and enjoyment of the helis. I was ALSO hoping to hear that the two HELIS had reached excellent flying conditions.

You mentioned the "flying two planes at the same time" and you were amazed. Here are two pics.taken of the project in action : there really is no big Magic. The Glider goes up on the back of the motorized plane. I fly it (both) up to considerable altitude; then with a flip of a switch the glider gets released, with trims set to give a slight climb and turn. While the glider floats around, I spin the carrier down, fast, cut the motor and glide it to land at my feet within reach. Flip the switch to OFF, and continue flying the Glider which was "waiting" way up there. Several flights, with perfect conditions have given me more than two hours of thermalling flights. It was really nice, but hard on the neck muscles. Ha ha !

Always your friend, in Houston, RICK ENJOY THE WEEKEND

Well, I guess things are better than I thought. I took it up for a bit tonight and things seem stable. I had to put in some left cyclic trim because it wanted to roll over on take off. Once I got that set it lifted off and hovered good. Maybe that is an indication of what to look at? Hover was pretty stable,... tail jumped around a bit, but I've found that to be normal with this heli.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to go to a large field tomorrow and try things out a bit more.

Barrick: Awesome!

Hey...did it just want to skitter to the left? If so, that's normal on takeoff. Now...if it still wants to go left while in a hover...that would be wrong. Let me know what you got, I'll tell you how to dial out a left drift in hover.

No, it was actually going to the right, and far harder than the usual drift. Without correction it would have rolled right over or had a blade strike (to the right) before lifting off.

I gave the trim an adjustment to the left, about half way and things were good. This was just fine centered before, so something is not right or changed. Once I moved the trim over things seemed normal.

Ok Rick, I sent you an email reply. Address included........ your generousity is just amazing and like I said in the the PM I sent you has touched me deeply. Thanks so much! I will get them assembled when they arrive and take pics of them.
Love ya like a brother my friend............


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

Hard right drift...no apparent reason...check and make sure your servos are all operating full range. My first suspicion is a faulty servo. If you changed nothing and all a sudden it does that...SERVO. Sometimes they will operate, but are stripped at a certan point and don't fully cycle the full range. I was going to tell you to adjust servo ball links...but that is not the problem here. A semi-stripped servo will drive you nuts trying to find it. When you apply throttle and one servo is not pulling the load, this will cause things to shift....seen it. Let me know.

RICK HERE ... Saturday July 7th 11:42am

Started up the FS-ONE simulator about an hour ago, for the first time. I am using the DX-7 TX with the wireless set-up. I selected the CP-BLADE with the training spreader, and after that tried it without the spreader. I flew "outside" and then "inside" in a huge Gym.
Gents...: !!! what can I say ; this is truly a miracle. The CP is actually SO MUCH more responsive than mine in real life and so it makes it harder to fly in this SIM than in real life. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE this is !!!! I would really REALLY recommend this SIM. It is so REAL, and quick, and close to better than perfect. I have read negative reports about SIMS in general but I truly , sincerely believe that this FS-ONE is the best way to go. I remember LOOKYJ said he had returned his and I think it would have been so much better if he had stuck with it. Truly a great way to learn. Combining this FS-1 with the CX-2 that flies so great will probably be a great way to get ready for the TREX I am thinking (?)....................[X(]

RICK, I absolutely cannot agree with you more! My sim is the best money I have spent in heli's PERIOD. I use the pheonixRC sim, It has imo, & many others opinion, the best flight physics for heli's.. It lacks some of the bells and wistles that fsOne and realflight have but hopefully they will continue to add updates and added features for download over time.
I was stuck in hover for months until I bought a sim. Every time I would attempt to go for some FF I would get nevious and/or get disoriented and everyone here knows what happens next. SMASH! So finally I gave in and bought a sim. 1-2 hours on the sim and the next time I went out to fly I was doing circuits all over the place and felt comfy not nervious. I continue to use it all of the time. It s most helpful with orientation. I dont think I would ever be attempting inverted hover or much of any of the advanced flying that I can do with out a sim. Right now I have been working on sustained inverted flight and backwards flight. The sim really really helps train your thumbs without draining your wallet. I was told by an expert flyer, and find it to be true myself, that when using a sim it is important to treat it like a real model. Stay in control at all times. Plan to fly and exact line or manuver and try to fly exactly where you planned. Dont just go crazy and spend all of your time correcting and chasing the heli all over your virtual world.

May not apply for anyone around here because I think everyone is into ff but here are a few training demo's on the sim. well explained. [link]http://www.helifreak.com/viewtopic.php?t=13459[/link]

Happy flyin' all, Noah

Well, now that I got hovering (tail in, RS/LS in's), Ive been puttering around the driveway pretty decient. I have flown a short pattern around me etc. The biggest thing is doing it in moderation. Seems like if I really put it up and out...I end up crashing. So I'm progressing thru steps. I've had the heli nose in and flew over or off to the side of myself. It's just a matter of making it click...going in baby steps to the main objective. The biggest thing that gets me in trouble is getting up there, and having wind come up. I always have problems when wind is involved. I can recover if I do stupid stuff but if the wind grabs it....I end up stuffing it. This happened twice, so I learned no wind or NO fly. Hovering is easy, flying is easy, fighting gusts of wind...I loose every time.

Crashcrash, I fly my cpp in some pretty decent winds. There is rarely ever a day around my house with no wind. I have even flown in so much wind that the heli would almost not gain any forward motion into the wind at full throt. Its not very fun but I get desparate to fly sometimes. Anyways the heli will be more resistant to the wind the faster that you get it going. What is in motion wants to stay in motion.
Flying this heli slow and low is more difficult than ripping along at full speed ahead. Also the added lift from wind gusts can be startling at first but just be confident in your left thumb. The bcpp is so light that it is awfully unstable at very low speed. Try to progress into some faster forward flight as soon as you feel more comfy with your orientation.

I started out by flying strait out from me and then flew/hovered backwards twords myself. Then I would just do it faster and faster each time. I also made my very first turns while doing this strait out and back stuff, kinda just zig zagged out away from myself. Next I flew well out to my side and gained some good speed then just would pull back on the cyclic into a good 45 to 60 degree climb. Then whip the tail around when its was slowing to a stop. Then fly right backdown where I came from. Back and forth like this in front of myself. This is a easy way to hang a U-turn (at least was for me). To get used to making normal turns (which is just like a plane except you need to give rudder input) I would fly in a circle around myself and just turn my body around with it. this way tail in is always right there. Just dont get yourself dizzy.

Everyone progress' at their own pace, but I know I was stuck where you are now for a long time. It was frustrating and once I got over the hump it was like.... wow this is so easy what was my problem????

Also a nose in tip that helped me was "just remember to push your cyclic stick twords the low side of the disk when the heli is facing you" If the heli is flying strait at you and the disk looks like it is tilted to the right (right side low) just push a little cyclic twords the "low side". I knew the pricipal of stick being backwords before I was told this, but for some reason having it said that way really helped me.

Ahhhhh just think then you only have to learn to fast backwards circuits. and then upsidedown, and then upsidedown and backwards, and then, and then.......lol This is what I love about this hobby. Always something new and challenging.

Good luck and may there be little wind in your future.

Noah

Thanks for the in depth...never had it explained like that before. I see your point on the speed thing and instability.

VIC......[ crash + crash ] HEY ! ? when did you move from MICHIGAN to MISSOURI........I just now NOTICED you are transmitting from St. Louis...... HOW COME hey ?[&:]

Daily update.

Today was windy,... really windy. I still tried to do a bit, but I was fighting the wind so bad I shut it down before I could try anything really. Just like Noguy, it is always windy here. I have had maybe 2-3 "calm" days in the last month or so. That includes early morning and evenings. I've just started to accept it now and have started flying in stuff I wouldn't have before. Today though was WAY to much though. My neighbors flag was sticking straight out most of the day,... that's kind of my signal to stay out of the sky!

Anyways, all this time on the bench has allowed me to really look at this thing, and tonight I found something else. I'm not sure how I missed it before, but one of the flybar paddles was at a different angle of attack so I adjusted that. I also realized one side of the flybar was about .12" longer than the other so I adjusted that also. Those should help smooth things out a bit.

On another note, since I've been benched lately I've been doing lots of sim time. I'm getting more and more dissapointed by the sim though, so I'd like to hear what you guys have for an opinion. I have G2, and it just feels so slow lately. This is not a computer issue,...my frame rate is solid and smooth. It's just that everything in the sim is so slow, easy and unresponsive feeling. I would say that this feeling has been with me since I've been flying the blade, which handles far faster than anything in the sim. I've even turned up the physics speed to 120-150% speed to help this out a bit. In the sim I am 100% hovering in any orientation (right side up) Any forward flight, stall turns, loops, rolls,...backwards flight is kicking my !@# right now, but I'm trying to learn it. I know that the sim will let anybody do some crazy flying pretty easily, but I feel I am doing this all in a very controlled manner. In real life, however, I can hover easily tail-in, side-in, little shaky with nose in still, and forward flight is not a problem. What I really want is a sim that will help me bridge the gap a little bit better. Am I asking too much? I'm really interested in a new sim, but what I want to know is if the newer generation sims feel that much better than G2? I like what I have heard about Phoenix, but I really hate the fact that you have to use your own transmitter. I would much prefer a dummy box so I don't have to kill my Tx batteries when I'm simming. Any suggestions?

Yeah...been windy here too. I cant fly till last light when the wind drops to ZERO lately. Bent flybar eh? Had that prob tonight too. Had a vibration I couldn't figure out and then after I took off the main blades, it stared at me and I caught it...much better. What about the right pull? figure that out? I'm guessin you found the servos to be OK then? BTW...YOU are doing fine if you got nose in even if it's shakey. Read up a few posts where a guy explained it to me in terms I could understand...maybe it'll help.

OK...so here is the bottom line of how I think the HELI learning progress will happen best for me. [[[[ HA HA HA ROFL .... what a DUNCE ! ]]]]]]] but with the SIM, and the CX-2 it should keep me busy.
Obviously, down to the bare minimums here.
NOTE FOR ARROW : I am taking my Mother's advice here : she is of the opinion that sending a gift of the Helis ( NOT IN OPERATIONAL CONDITION ) is not a rightful and fair thing to do... so now I will try to set them up that they are working properly before they go out. It will take me a bit of time but I agree with her, "Old British Ladies" always have the right approach to everything. The CP only needs a BRUSHLESS motor replacing the original one, and the PRO needs to have the new BRUSHLESS set up correctly and the GYRO set up. Shouldn't take long.
Everything about this hobby requires so much PATIENCE !
RICK........

Rick...Just take it easy and go at your pace...I'm talking about everything including life in general. It's like paperwork...it'll be there tomorrow. Give that dog a hug and a milk bone, chase the cats with the HAVOC heli and then throw them a catnip bag to work on, then grill yourself a nice NewYork Strip outside with a nice cold BEER in your hand....but don't give the dog any of the good steak (LOL).[8D]

HI ! I am responding to your Post # 3696 of 7/8/07 and with an EMail, just in case I am REPEATING myself too much in public. I have just now installed the Sim : FS-ONE.....
For YEARS I had the G-2 and it worked well for me. This month I heavily updated this PC and now sit at the TopEnd of the required/suggested settings availability; in other words, very fast, very efficient.

I haven't been able to REALLY set up the DX-7 fully, still : I just set it up with a 4channel Heli. It works WIRELESS and that much I was able to set up correctly. Additionally the DX-7 is in itself extremely efficient and responsive. The sticks hardly move. The experts report this as a TELEKINETIC experience and now I realize that this is TRUE.

The CP -BLADE (yellow) is one of the Helis available. As you operate it, in this SIM, it is MUCH FASTER and 10times (guess) more responsive that my own in real life. I feel that as a result, this SIM is a much better way to learn (no breaks)... having "learned" the SIM fully, I imagine that I will apply all of the rest of the goodies : exponential, dual rates, etc.....but that is all Xtra stuff. One disadvantage/setback is that in using this TX you consume the battery. Still, one can SIM for only so much time, and being inside the house it is easy enough to re-charge.

BASICALLY, this FS-one is in my opinion A VERY EXCELLENT TOOL