I am looking to get started in helicopters, and would like to know what would be a good Electric Heli to start with, I will probably be learning on my own, and would like something that is going to be inexpensive, and easy to get parts for. My current plan is to get it at the Toledo Show this weekend. I really look forward to your replys on this as I trust the opinions of the board, as everyone seems very knowledgable. I am currently looking at either the Fun Piccolo or the Hummingbird. Since I should be able to get either of these for less than $375.00 I would like something that I can use my current 4 channel aircraft radio with, so that it will save me a little bit of cash for spare parts and batteries.

Thanks for our help.


Jacob

Jacob,
I have had my HB for a week and a half now, and am really pleased with it. Many people said that I should learn on a larger heli first, but I had no major problems with the HB. I bought the base HB and an HLG200 gyro, and everything else I had from my fixed wing flying. If you are just learning helis, I would highly recommend a heading hold gyro like the HLG200. Also, if you can swing it, go with LiPoly batteries. The HB has ball bearings, where the Picolo Fun has plastic bushings. You can upgrade the Fun to ball bearings, but it is about $30 for the bearing kit.

Jeff

Just wondering, how durable is this chopper, I do plan on learning by myself, and Being able to fly it in my yard, and in the field across the street from my house.

Also, where did you get yours, and how hard are parts to get, not sure if you have had to replace anything yet.

I already have a JR Quatro and a GWS pico reciever that I plan on using if I can, but I will need the rest of the electronics, so the LiPoly is probably out for now. The wife is trying to curve my spending on the hobby, since we just bought our first home.

Thanks,

Jacob

Can I be the first to say www.litemachines.com Corona 120 ?!?

(yup, I think I was)

Micro helis like Pic/HB/Feda/Hornet are very small light and unstable which means they aren't great for learning on. Unless you get the collective pitch variant (not wise as a first heli!) then you can't really fly them out doors unless it is DEAD calm!

The Corona on the other hand is quite a bit bigger/heavier so that it's much more stable for a beginner. It's also as tough as old boots, without argument the most durable r/c helicopter there is (see the videos of it crashing and flying agin on that web site!).
It can be flown in some wind.

It's only downside (compared to the micros) is that you can't ever contemplate flying it indoors unless you go to a large sports hall or something.

I've got an HLG200 in mine - it is a good, cheap heading hold gyro. Again HH gyro is better for beginners than a simpler "rate" gyro as you don't need to spend your entire life worrying about tail control (you'll have enough to worry about with cyclic and throttle!).

Before you do ANYTHING else get yourself a PC based heli simulator. FMS is OK and a free download but Preflight (www.prefglightsim.com) is perhaps even better as it's heli simulation is much more realistic. I wouldn't contemplate trying to even statically hover a real model until you can fly around with ease and control to withing a few inches the helis in a simulator (cuts out a LOT of expensive crashes early on).

Cliff

I would agree with everything Cliff said, except for the part about a Hummingbird not being a good heli to learn on. It may be less stable than the Corona, but I have had my HB less than two weeks, and am hovering quite well in my garage, attic, and the lunchroom at work. I have had my share of crashes, and have had to CA some things back together, but have not had to replace any parts yet. The HB seems quite sturdy.

I second what Cliff said about Pre-Flight. I tried FMS, but it was way too easy to fly. Pre-Flight lets you adjust the simulation speed, so you can set it to slower than normal at first, and gradually increase it to normal speed. I found it helpful to set it to 0.5 which is twice normal speed. It is nearly impossible to fly without crashing that way, but after practicing at double speed, backing down to normal, and actual flying seemed easy. Pre-Flight is also freeware.

I haven't flown outside yet, but it stands to reason that a larger more stable heli like the Corona would handle the wind better. There are tuning blades available for the Picolo that handle the wind better than the stock ones, and are reported to work on the HB. The Corona may be very sturdy, but the Hummingbird is pretty sturdy itself, and you can buy two Hummingbirds for the price of one Corona.


Jeff

I looked at using pre-flight, but I would like to be able to use my parallel interface from fms with it since I son't have anymore USB or serial ports on my computer. From what I see Pro-flight can only be used with a serial or USB interface.

Jeffs555:
What parts have you had to CA on your HB. I just want to be prepared.

THanks

Jacob,
I hit the tailrotor on my boat trailer in the garage. It broke one blade off at the root. I didn't have another at the time, so I CA'd it back together and it has been working fine. Also, I have had quite a few boom strikes from cutting the throttle too quickly when landing. This breaks the fittings for the right hand brace on the boom. I have CA'd this back on several times. It also put a 1/4" crack in the main rotor, but did not break it. I CA'd that and the crack hasn't spread any further.

PreFlight also works with a PC joystick. I don't have an interface for my transmitter yet, and am using a logitec rumblepad. PreFlight is an order of magnitude more realistic for helis than FMS. I was flying FMS quit easily, but when I got PreFlight, even the training scenario which starts at 1/3 speed was harder than FMS. I couldn't recommend trying to fly the HB after just practicing on FMS.

Jeff

I got started about 6 weeks ago with a Corona. Before that I practiced with FMS to get the stick directions down (other than for that it's not very realistic as far as handling goes).

I've been very happy with the Corona. If you decide on that I'd recommend putting some foam pipe insulation around the tail boom as I bent mine up pretty bad from the blades hitting it on hard landings. The foam really helped.

Good luck!

Corona all the way. It's much easier to learn on than a micro and you can fly it outdoors in wind. Indoors also if you have a big enough area, probably not the smartest thing, haha but I hover mine in my small 12x12' living room all the time.

Very durable and way more stable than the micro. Sure you can learn on a micro and a lot of people do, but your chances of succeeding are much better on a Corona, it's a lot more lenient on set up, micros have to be set up right on to have a chance at flying.

I consider myself a pretty fast learner all around and I got a micro for my first, after about a week, I could hover maybe 5-6 seconds at a time, this is with practicing 2 -3 packs a day and a lot of frutration witn tweaking with the heli to set it up right. I then got my Corona in and no joke, with the gy 240 hh gyro, I could hover for the entire charge (about 6 minutes) within 2 packs. It really accellerated my learning bigtime. soon after a bunch of packs with the Corona, I could hover the micro for the whole charge.

I gotta admit though, micros are cool because they're small and you can mess around with them in the house without really worrying, but not really the best to learn on.