az.dsrt

In a previous thread, I noted soloboss is looking for a fixed pitch heli. Am doing the same, I have a CP and it's just a bit beyond my ability (somewhat like my golf game). I just want to enjoy the hobby, not drive myself crazy. Got my CX flying great, looking for something that I can do a bit more with. Any suggestions?

mrasmm

look into the honeybee fp from hobby lobby, it's 109 plus shipping and comes with lipo's, or if you want to use the cx2's packs, look at that heli or the falcon 40 or the other look alike helis. I would recommend those two over the other ones though, even they are all pretty much the same.

jmhh

There's allot of chatter on the board about the new Honey Bee
King V2 recently out....sounds like a great Heli for about $150.00
with cheap parts and upgrades....Jag Hobbies has been mentioned as
a cheap place to get one...me, still stuck learning to master the BCX2,
but anticipating the next step..John H., Houston

FMB42

I agree with the HB FP advice. And as far as your CP goes, I'd double check the setup and "bladecprepair.com" is a good place to start. You also have lots of people here that would be willing to offer help with the setup of your CP, if you'd like. Anyway, back to the HB FP. These are a good heli to step up to from the CX due to the relative simplicity and durability that they offer. Just be sure to go over the setup for the best results. The HB FP thread at http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4020645/tm.htm will have lots of info on this.

Good luck and good flying!


Edit: Found a DF FP heli site with setup info, etc that should apply to the HB FP as well; http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/wal...elicopter.html

soloboss

A fellow rcuniverse member named ndoren (who used to be on this forum a lot) has moved to a fixed pitch heli on his way to a T-Rex. As he and I have agreed, you have to make the transition to a single rotor sometime. He went with the EF Sabre and is quite happy with it. Living at an altitude of 5200 feet he did have to upgrade it to Lipo power just to get it off the ground. But at my altitude of 840 feet I expect no problems. He flies in a hall or gym or something as part of a group. He and the others with the Sabres fly while the eflight guys with CP / CPP helis adjust their collectives and fight radio glitches.

I was about to go with the Sabre when he showed me this link [link=http://Falcon 40]http://www.nitroplanes.com/20newdefa40r.html[/link]
He says that judging by the photos it is a Sabre in every detail shown right down to the Made In China sticker placement on the 4 in 1. And at $85 with about $15 shipping it's hard to beat.

How's that for information. I'm thinking it looks pretty cool. And at $85 plus shipping, how bad can it be if it uses Sabre parts.

Soloboss

ndoren

Soloboss, thanks for that kind re-introduction. As both he and Mrasmm stated, most of the FP helis are nearly identical, including the Falcon 40 mentioned above, Esky Honeybee, Century Hummingbird, Walkera #4, Venom Night Ranger II, and the list goes on and on. As Mrasmm stated, there can be favorites (I like the Sabre because the tailboom bolts on and there is no CA), but yes, they're pretty much all the same. Many have 100% identical parts, such as the Falcon 40, Sabre and Venom, and some others have many parts that are identical. However, as far as initial choice, it's pretty much six of one, half dozen of the other in my opinion.

The FP heli is a nice transition machine for a CX pilot who wants a more capable, "CP-Like" flying experience, without the adjustment hassles of blade tracking, pitch adjustment, CCPM mixing, etc. Nor the sometimes jumpy behavior (and better piloting skills required) of the CP models. The FP models are no brainers... you bolt on the blades (balancing is suggested) and go. I have a lot of experience flying and rebuilding my CX, and I actually think the FP helis are mechanically simpler and easier to set up. No TBE, no hassles with flybars, no inner and outer shafts, and no cramped space where the twin main motors reside.

Of course, the FPs won't hover like a CX, nor are they supposed to. The whole point is that you must deal with them as with any other single-rotor heli with a tail rotor... you MUST FLY THEM. AS a reward, you improve your piloting skills, all of which can be transferred down the road to a CP heli. You also get great forward flight with no "blade clack of death," and a very challenging flying experience. On the downside, you don't get 3D acrobatics or inverted flight, and you don't get the responsiveness of the CP helis. I think my FP heli is more stable in flight and hover than a Blade CP, but obivously less responsive, too. Also, the FP heli is about as good (I should say as bad) on breezy days as the CX/2 models.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. For around $100 RTF for the Falcon 40, how can you go wrong? I've been overjoyed with my FP heli. As Soloboss said, the guys in my club wiil beg for the controls of my FP Sabre, just for a break from flying their CPs. In no way is this meant to criticize the CPs... they're fantastic on their own. The FP is a different kind of fantastic, though. A simpler fantastic. Neall

az.dsrt

Thanks for all the great comments! I spent time looking at the Esky forum and discovered my same question has been asked over and over again. Anyways, I spent the last couple of days doing a ton of research on these -

Honey Bee MK3
Honey Bee 4 (AKA FP)
Falcon 40
Honey Bee King V2 (turns out is a CP, so I moved on)
Century Hummingbird
Walkera #4
Venom Night Ranger II

Seems several of these are very, very similiar (same manfacturer, different reseller?). Ended up ordering a Honey Bee 4, $88 at Xheli.com with $8 shipping (UPS ground). I was hoping to find a LHS here in Phoenix that carried a FP, any FP. All I could find was Blade CX and CP. You'd think the fifth largest city in the US would have a good selection of RC Heli's at the LHS.

http://www.xheli.com/juinye20esho.html

Was a bit of a toss up between the HB 4 and HB Mk3. The Mk3 was $20 more and the only difference I could find was it uses a LIPO battery. When I discovered I can use my CX LIPO's with the HB 4, it sealed the deal. I also have some old super-skids I bought for the BCP a long time ago, seems it will work on the HB 4. Should have it around the end of the week, will post a video.

blade_killer

IMO, you should have got the Honey Bee MK3 from Hobby Lobby, it comes with the LiPo and charger....

soloboss

Blade Killer,
I'm probably gonna catch heck for this, but my head is taking me the opposite direction from your thought. I certainly understand your opinion. In most applications, more power and less weight is the hot setup. I looked at the honey Bee video and that's what I want to do. It's crisp and agile. The response is immediate. I like that. And likely in a few months I'll be thinking that I should have followed your advice.
But that's not where I am now. I gotta get a single rotor heli into the air with a high level of confidence. I want to show friends that I do fly RC helicopters. I want to sit on the porch and bother my neighbors - and know that I can get my heli home again.
Everybody wants power, speed and maneuverability. Here I sit outside the box looking in thinking that these light weight high powered helis will be the death of me yet.
It's hard to admit an age disadvantage. I have no natural athletic skills. I'm OK with RC buggys and electirc airplanes and video games, but I wanna fly a helicopter. OK, so I do fly the britches off my CX and it's got a few mods to make it more air worthy, but it's still coaxial.

I'm thinking that bigger is better. And I'm thinking that a significant belly weight is an advantage for a newbie. It's seldom totally calm here and I don't fly inside. To be realistic I need to fly a tank until I get the skill set to keep up with the heli, and eventually I'll be able to predict what it's going to do and be just a little ahead of it. Ndoren calls it "Predictive flying". I like that.
So for now I'm going with the Falcon 40 at $100 delivered. The NiMH battery pack is only a 650 mAh pack. There are 1000 mAh cells available and I can build a pack with that power with no weight penalty. And the Lipo pack is out there when I'm ready. But first I gotta get ready.

As az.dsrt said, thanks for all the chatter. Chasing these things down is half the fun. Realizing too late that I have once again over-estimated my flying ability is not fun. And when I outgrow this heli, I get to do it again!! I LOVE THIS HOBBY!!!!!

Soloboss

blade_killer

soloboss,
I totally understand what you're saying, I'm no "young gun" I am also a noobie, as a matter of fact I suffer from poor depth perception and slow reflexes so I more enjoy putting around the yard is a semi scale like fashion, no 3d whoppers for me, but heres the cool thing, the HPFP with the 2 cell LiPo isnt really a speed thing, mostly just longer run times. I dont think it's any more faster then the Ni-Mh just last longer.....and man is it robust, I sent mine into the ground about 5 times this morning and all I had to do each time was pop the rotor head back on and off I went again, one time I actually hit the roof of the house, smacked right into the edge of the roof and the heli fell about 7 feet and off came the rotor head, pop it back on, straiten the rotors and poof, there I went again on to my next adventure......very cool.

az.dsrt

Honey Bee FP arrived 3 days after order. Shipping was UPS ground, $9 (heli was $88). Am impressed with quality and fit/finish, comparable to Eflite. The bird is roughly the same size as the BCP and the rear rotor assembly and motor is exactly the same. One glaring problem, there was no way to push the battery far enough forward to balance the bird. While the battery was charging I went ahead and balanced the blades (they were already close from the factory) and made sure the swash was level. Went ahead and added some old super skids to better position the battery. Was somewhat successful, is still kind of clunky (see pix). Is monsoon season here (lots of wind daily), am waiting for a calm day. Considering the cost, am pleased with purchase, though would like to get it in the air.

blade_killer

just some info for you....

the superskids have been reported as killing flight times by adding too much weight and hurting performance on the HBFP, most everyone says it flys much better stock.....My HB has the lipo that comes with the Mk3 and I have to attach it to the underside of the 4 in 1 to get a balance, and I also had to move the skids around so the back skid plate was in the front to get the holes around to the front so I can add some CF rod for more adjustability to the battery tray...

az.dsrt

Sounds interesting, can you post some pix? I can easily put the stock skids back on and switch over to the spare BCX LiPo's I have laying around. Thx

blade_killer

if you look at the skid struts that bridge across the two sides you'll see the back one has two holes in it that are horizontal to the heli body. just revers these two skid strut supports back for front and add some cf rod into those holes so they extend out forward under the 4 in 1 and you can attach the LiPo under it, and yes the CX lipo's work great for the HBFP

drphoto

I've been away from heli's for awhile, but back when I was posting I used to say all the time that a FP (I fly the HB3) are the best transition machines from a co-ax bird. Harder to fly than co-ax.....easier than CP....so a good intermediate step. Plus, as others have said, they are cheap to buy (and the stock TX is adequate, though I would remove the throttle ratchet, where as w/ a BCP, for example, a good programmable TX makes a huge difference in flyability) And, again as others have said, FPs are super easy to setup...blade balance being about it, they are really rugged and easy to fix w/ disaster strikes because they are so simple.

Biggest drawback is they need to be flown in nearly dead calm conditions.....at least until you get some experience. If you fly into the wind, they will 'sail' or float upward, then if you cut power, they'll drop like a brick.

I sold my Trex, (and the DX7 TX I was using for my modded BCP) because it was just too expensive and frustrating, but I love my Lama, and my HB3's (2 of them) My job and golf give me enough stress! I want to fly to have fun. Someday, I'll probably pick up a Futaba 7CHP and get the BCP up and running again.

btw: I'm running the superskids on my HB's, but I might put one back to stock and see if it makes much of a difference in performance, now that I'm not slamming them into the ground all the time. I think the SS are great for training. Besides the durabilty....I think they look good.

blade_killer

oh, I forgot the photo....here it is

mr spock

soloboss, you just said everything i wanted to say , just started flying cx2 love it , fly it in warehouse at work , sort of fly at home , one day want to upgrade to next grade, anyway batt charged , off i go

soloboss

Have you been to this site yet? http://www.heli-max.net/mediawiki/in..._and_CX2_Setup

I wrote that for the beginners to explain how these things work, why they do what they do and how to get around some of the frustrations. When the CX is perfectly adjusted it is a wonderful little heli. I'm glad to hear you are having a good time with it - In Australia!!
So when you fly in Australia, are the helicopters inverted?

Have fun- it's only a hobby. And I'm jealous of your warehouse.
Soloboss

Andrew86

Great to see another guy from Perth on here mr spock! I’m in exactly the same boat as a number of you, I’ve been flying my CX2 for a while and eventually I’ll step up to a FP or CP heli, so let everyone know how you go with it, I’ll be interested to see just how much harder it is to get off the ground and hover. Where do you shop for your helis spock? I’ve been going to Stanbridges but they mostly have a limited selection of conventional style helicopters. Good luck with it all!

ViperRR

Probably the best FP heli to start wiyh is the Corona 120. Tough as nails and can be flown in wind. Takes crashes very well. Problem-it's hard to find since the company is focusing on military spy helis'. Parts are still sold all over. It's the kit that is hard to locate.

Balance

Just an interesting note:

In RC-Heli Magazine....June 2007 "Euro Heli's spin counter clockwise".

mr spock

Hi Andrew 86, dont know which suberb you live in but i found a very busy littl shop near where i work , quite well stocked with parts & very helpfull experienced only been there twice but deff going back , tomorrow (Tues) to buy simulator & in very near future to buy belt cp -- getting back to question believe it it called Discount Hobbys or something sim , runs off High road in Williton next to Bunnings om the left on a corner think it might be Augustus street, hope this helps , dont have road guide with me but going there tomorrow so will chekh add for you