Hi all!
I have an Ikarus FUN Piccolo, and am really quite bad with it. I recently saw Hirobo's X.R.B. Mini Lama at Ehobbies.com, and saw some definite advantages to having a coaxial drive shaft with counter-rotating blades. Do you think it would be possible to refit my FUN Piccolo in this manner? If so, would it help at all?

Thanks!

Sparks

That would be a massive challenge and I don't think it would be worth it but you are more than welcome to try. I think it would be really hard to get the stuff really precise because you would have to engineer the whole thing.

What setup are you running in your heli now?

www.helihobby.com has lots of mods for the piccolo and other helis.

Seperates for me are the most important. What transmitter do you have.

cheers
tomflier

The piccolo is entirely flyable. It is twitchy, and you do need practice, patience and persistence, but you can do it. How much reading have you done on it? Have you read the [link=http://www.ikarus-modellbau.de/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=138982&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1]Welcome Page[/link] on the Ikarus board? Have you read [link=http://www.pgoelz.com/piccolo1.html]Paul's site[/link]?
Read those and try to move forward with what you have. Some small upgrades will also help you if you have a completely stock Fun kit.
I have not heard of any coaxial mods for the picc.

Thank you for your input. I agree, and think that it would be very difficult, so I may as well simply practice some more. (I got a heading-lock module, but I think something's wrong with it, unless the heli is supposed to randomly spin, no matter the transmitter input.) By the way, the setup is an analog Futaba Attack 8, with a piccoloboard/Rx in the heli.

Thanks!

Sparks

I am curious about how much research you did before you purchased that model. Did you do any reading before you purchased? Where did you purchase? Second hand? A LHS? Online?

Now, have you gone and read the links I posted above? Pauls site is especially important. I am being VERY literal in this next statement; Read it completely, 3 times. The information Paul presents is just that important to you. There are so many tips and tricks that you will pick up. So many issues that he covers. He talks quite a bit about Piccoboards.

After you have read those pages, try to apply them to your piccolo. If it still does not do what you think it should come here and ask questions.

Let us know how you do.

Also, read Radd's steps for learning to fly. http://www.dream-models.com/h/index.html That got me airborn. I started with a ECO Pic with basically no experience flying R/C helos. (I bought an LMH 100+ 5 or so years ago, but was never successful with it and don't have the room to fly even something that small now!) At first I just hopped around, not really learning anything. Then I found Radd's site. I quickly progressed by using his steps. Now I can hover in a very confined space tail and side in, spot landings, and some limited fwd fliight. Just waiting for some good days to take it outside and learn circuits, etc.

If you follow Radd's advice, you will be successful, with minimum damage to your helo, house, or yourself.

Hi!
I, like ejis, have next to no experience with an R/C heli, and, also like ejis, I used to own a different heli (It was a Litemachines), but it had a tiny norvel engine that would not start very easily. (We had a higher-torque, lower speed starter than what it really needed.) I did my homework, and quickly singled out the Piccolo FUN as a good one. This was really just as these things were really getting started, so there wasn't too much to choose from. I got mine in kit form from www.helihobbies.com, and I had it hovering, but I had problems holding it straight. I got a heading hold module, and was able to hover fairly sucessful after that, but would quickly get disoriented around head height. I also fought ground effect way too much. This idea came out as a thought as to stablize the heli further, after the heading-hold module went, but it has become obvious that I simply need more practice. I will read the sites, and follow its instructions. Thank you for all your input; they have helped me quite a bit.

Sparks

Hi again!
It may be that this post will be aptly named after all. I was messing around with my FUN Piccolo last night, and discovered a strange thing; When throttle under 30% was applied, the tail rotor counteracted the torque as it should, with only minor adjustments by me (I didn't have the headinglock module in). When throttle over 30% was applied, the heli started spinning counter-clockwise uncontrollablly, even with maximum throttle to the tail rotor. I recharged the battery, and low and behold! it stopped, but less than two minutes into flying it, the heli started its spinning again. This action leads me to believe that the headinglock module is fine, and something is wrong with the tail rotor motor, or possibly the battery. My setup is as follows: Futaba Attack 8, stock FUN piccolo kit (built by me) with titanium shaft and screwed-on metal bushings, and a Piccoloboard Plus with a reciever. Speaking of which, the Piccoloboard doesn't seem to recieve signals from my Hitec radio. It's ok, because I can use the futaba, but I like my Hitec better. Can anyone tell me why that is? Can anyone diagnose my problem?

Thanks!!

Sparks

Note: This discussion is being moved. Sorry for the inconveniece.

Sparks