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My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

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My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

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Old 04-06-2005, 07:57 PM
  #1  
bruden01
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Default My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Well, I've never belonged to any forum or posted on any, so you'll forgive me if I didn;t even post this in the right place.

I'm a little discouraged right now, I recenlt was doing some work at a software company and one of th eemployees had an RC helipcopter on his dask. A GWS Mini Dragon fly. I said to him. "Cool you've gotta fly it for me" And he did. Right of his desk, down a row of cubes and past a few executive offices. I was sold.

My LHS only had the Kyosho at the time and assured me it was a much better helicopter and I could get parts for it way easier than the GWS. Ok, I didnt; need convincing. I wanted one and wanted one now. Of course I was going to be super smart. Purchased a simulator to. Real Flight G2. And after many hours of practice was ready for a maiden voyage.

Kyosho reccomends adjusting the tracking or at least checking the tracking before each flight. Whatever the heck that means.. Yeah whatever. Its RTF (What ever the heck that means) I shouldn't need to do anything... I cleared a splace in my living room and just had to try. Smack into an arch way. That was stupid. Everything still seemed ok. I barely got an inch off the ground. He he.. Kind a fun though. Lets do it outside and show my brother at his house. Interesting thing.. Taking off against the grass was nothing like a wood floor. Ooops.. Tipped it right into the ground and broke the little motor pinion.. from this point on every crash would be a motor pinion. I won;t even tell you about all of them.

Better put the training gear on. Brought it to a Jr High School to fly it indoors. Could barely get it off the ground. But I was flying. Screw it. I took of the training gear and flew it around the gym. Even got it up past the basketball nets. Of course two minutes later as I discovered so many have posted, the battery was done... Well bummer. What do the forums say. Oh look at all these people putting in lipo batteries. Me too me too... I went out and bought a 11.1v 1200 electrify. Brought it up in the air and its just coming backwards at me. Oh yeah, Someone mentioned needed to weight it. I added a tripple a battery to the front since it was mounted in there with elastics at this point. Oh yeah, figured out how to adjust the tracking and got it in primo. (At this point I;ve left out for your sanity a number fo other crashes, how I figured out how to pulll the linkages apart and a few other things.

Ok, heres where its nearing an end and kind of sad. The 11.1 Lipo wokrs good to good. I takes off.. Uhh.. to far forward. Uhhh to far back.... Uhhh getting to high. Uu getting to low. Oh way to low, better juice it. Oh my gosh this copter that could barely seem to get off the ground went straight up, way over my brothers house. I;m freaking out. Forgetting everything I learned in the simulator about recovering. SMACK into a tree at 3-4 stories...and a long way down. It is a twisted piece of metal.. Although surprising the M24 control unit though almost in half is still spinning the engine. I snap it back togther and start looking at parts to reassemble all the damage, many of which simply arent; availabke. Wait, what did that guy at the Hobby Shop say about m24 parts.

I'm a bit bummed now, very impressed with the battery, but a little wary about outdoor flight. Look like I need allot more practice.

Hope this helps someone from rushing into things the way I did.

Down.... but not out, but squinting in anguish. Damn this hobby is expensive. What was I thinking. Oh well off to order parts.

Ohhh a question. My new 50 dollar lipo battery seems to have picked up a dent. Though it apears to still be working, is there a danger of having a dented lipo?


-brett

Old 04-07-2005, 04:11 AM
  #2  
Cyberfyn
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Yeah, the M24 isn't the best micro heli out there. With hindsight you'd have been better off with a Dragonfly, Hummingbird or even one of the bigger Zoom or T-rex heli's. BUT there is no way better to learn than to learn from you're mistakes!

I started the other way. Got a second hand 30 size Kyosho Concept, joined a flying club, got 100s of hour in on the sim. Two years later I have a souped up Caliber 30, Brushless T-rex & a few planes. I spend almost every Sunday down at the patch learning new moves & can now hover inverted and do most easy aerobatics.

The leson is...... Don't give up (well maybe on the M24) Make sure you are confident with each stage of flying ie. Hovering tail in for hours until you can take off move around a little and land back on the same spot. Then move onto hovering at slight angles, then 90,120/180 Nose in. THEN start on basic circuits! You CAN NOT rush these things!

Ian F.

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Old 04-07-2005, 08:56 AM
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bruden01
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Yeah, I can't give up on it just yet. I'll try and rebuild again.

By the way, on th e LiPo battery, a dented battery is pretty much dead. Though it still works, I hear it can be very dangerous.

Sheesh I feel worse about this than losing a few hundred down the casino. At least my flight time at the casino usually lasts several hours.

Thanks Ian, I'll stick with it.

-brett
Old 04-07-2005, 10:16 AM
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Cyberfyn
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Li-poly batteries can take quite a a beating and still work well. Li-ion batteries tend to puff up explode and burn your house down. [X(]

If it has a dent but still works well and takes a full charge I think it'll be ok. But I would always err on the side of caution & keep in a metal box or even outside! I have an old steel army surplus 303cal Ammo box I keep all my lithium battery packs in



Ian F.
Old 04-13-2005, 06:59 AM
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aerocharger
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Hello,

I have an M24 that I learned on, and yes, there's no doubt that it is a handful. It is very twitchy which I can live with, but what I don't like is the unpredictable responses to the controls that seem to come out of nowhere, mostly having to do with yaw. The helicopter will be flying fine in a hover, then all of a sudden will turn right or left. I've flown it indoors mostly because the one time I took it outside, a light breeze swept it away, up and over the house, and it was a miracle that it wasn't completely destroyed. Now that I am flying my Caliber .30, I don't think I am going to bother with the M24 anymore. I was never really comfortable with it. The Caliber 30 is a piece of cake in comparison.

A.C.
Old 04-13-2005, 02:56 PM
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Lazaro
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Well I also jump in the water without knowing how to swim[sm=drowning.gif] , using a M24 as a life saver.[:@]. All I can say is that the M24 is a good looking heli , but is too fragil. I wont give up on it, unless I get bored or totaly destroy it. I bought a 200mah li-po for it , just waiting for a good day and the replcement gears to get here. FYI southeast rc.com has all parts for the KYOSHO. I was also told that the motor pinion gear breaks , so other expensive parts wont. I also have a Slo-v , minizila, and a mini inferno that keeps me going on this RC hobby. GOOD luck!! and keep them update reports coming. I will too.
Old 04-21-2005, 02:22 PM
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Stealth Racing
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Yes I also have an M24 and it's sitting collecting dust. I was told it was a far superior unit to the competitors but after flying it and it crashing many times for the same reasons everone elses has crashed I called Kyosho directly. They informed me that all the parts that broke on me are suspose to break so other things more expensive don't. To my dismay I really dont like it expecially the battery life. I've been told that the 11.1 litio is a bad battery and will burn out the motors in it very quickly? as For me I'm still waiting for my replacement gear for the motor =( for being such a poor made part and kyosho knowing about it you think they would have an ample supply of replacements in stock. So my 2 cents is dont get one if you have one just the croud of us that dump way too much into it just to keep it flying.
Old 04-24-2005, 02:43 AM
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Lazaro
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Well I was thinking [sm=rolleyes.gif] would it be possible to gut the bad parts out and replace them with cheaper and un expensive part from another well known heli???? I mean the frame looks good , does it have potential?? any ideas are welcom.Thanks.
Old 06-01-2005, 12:08 PM
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misimon
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

learning to fly the m24 is like learning to rollerblade at 40 slow and carefully ,i can hover, fly around my den without crashing , this is how i learned u need a large indoor area with a slick floor wood,vinly or a indoor basketball court which is perfect ,i attached some balsa rods 1/8 x 36 then trim so they where a couple inches longer then my blades then i just practice moving around the floor sideways, forward, backward then a box style flight the rods kept me from tipping over or hitting the wall, the next step i attached a 3 inch string to bottom and anchor it down , then practice hovering if i started to tip over the rods protected the copter and gave me time to react, i have only broke my training landing gear and that was the first time i flew and a easy way to fix that is to go to walmart over to the electrical section get a wire connector pull the metal piece out and u have a little sleeve u can patch with and some super glue that little copter is a fun to fly made sure its tracking is balance and have fun
Old 06-03-2005, 07:40 AM
  #10  
vikram
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

The Kyosho M24 is my first Helicopter too and I love flying it . Being a regular fixed wing flyer , i always wanted to lay my hands onto a heli . I took a while to get used to the flight characteristics of a helicopter . Now I can comfortably Hover and fly forward . I am really enjoying flying this little beauty .

One problem is the short flying time ( 5 minutes max) . I looked up tower hobbies but couldn't fing the exact match for replacement battery . I contemplate making a few extra NiMh battery packs by soldering AAA cells so that I can continue to fly after the stock battery discharges. I suspect that the 11.1 v li-po pack would drastically reduce motor life but I will definitely try it once I have some spare motors in hand !
Old 06-05-2005, 03:29 AM
  #11  
areef08
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Hi all,

I own Caliber M24 for few months and all I can say is that this chopper is not for beginners...." Beginners stay away from this heli will" and you will thank me for it. This heli is good only if you have some chopper experience either gas or electric but this heli is a eye catcher for beginners because it looks very scale and tempting to fly. Also with stock battery you could only fly for 5-6 min and the spare parts are not so easy to get....like motor pinion, gears, tail rotor etc,etc.

One advise for beginners if you already own this heli, use training skids and fly outside in a bigger area as it is simply impossible to fly indoor if you are a beginner and you will guarantee to damage your pinion & tail rotor blade. If you damage this, replace only with 10t pinion and do not exceed more "t"'s as this will increase the main rotor speed and the tail rotor will not keep the rudder and it will turn 360degrees during takeoff. I have experience flying gas heli and I could fly it very easy , but electric helis like this is very unstable and unpredictable. I am not blaming anyone but this is purely my experience with this heli...\\ I hope this helps to stay away from this heli......

I Recommend this heli to only inter/expert heli pilots... don't trust the hobby shop if he says that this is a beginers heli..he just bullsh?? you......regards to all
Old 07-01-2005, 12:45 PM
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westcoast-rc
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

I am a beginner and have never flown a heli or plane for that matter. I was looking at the M24 as it looked like something for the beginner. After reading these posts im not so sure of that fact now. Any suggestions on a good beginner heli that is rtf?
Old 07-07-2005, 02:06 PM
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areef08
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

I am a beginner and have never flown a heli or plane for that matter. I was looking at the M24 as it looked like something for the beginner. After reading these posts im not so sure of that fact now. Any suggestions on a good beginner heli that is rtf?


Hi there. Get yourself Hirobo lama electric heli and this one is more easier and more stable for beginner and you get 10-15min flying time unlike M24 which gives only 5-6min with standard battery. Also flying a electric heli is more challeging than nitro helis but flying this one, you will love it and have fun.

best of luck,

[email protected]
Old 07-10-2005, 11:22 AM
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-pkh-
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

I can fly my 30 & 50 sized nitro helis pretty well... no inverted flight or 3D, but I've got 170+ flights on them with only one crash. I tried hovering an M24 that a newb brought to the field onces... I crashed the thing 10 times just trying to hover it... it survived unscathed, but no fun at all IMO. A friend of mine loaned me his EFlite Blade CP to try out... that's a handful so far but much more predictable than the M24.

The easiest for a beginner, IMO, is a 30-50 sized nitro chopper... much more stable, especially in some wind, due to their size and weight. Otherwise a T-Rex or Shogun would probably be the next best choices, if you insist on going with small electrics... the variable pitch tail coupled with a HH gyro will keep the tail in line much better that the cheaper CP helis with FP tails driven by tail motors (like the Blade CP).
Old 07-13-2005, 07:26 AM
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Burner850
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

I have been flying model helicopters for years now and doing much 3d stuff which is just too muhc fun and some time ago I tested the M24 as well. It surely flys better than most of the micro helis avaiable, but in my opinion it reacts very slow and breaks out from time to time as many users have already described. This little heli can be fun if the weather is absolutely perfect, no wind and no rain and such stuff, but as a beginner heli its not worth buying it, especially because Kyosho has very expensive replacement parts, believe me I am flying a kyosho caliber 30 and I am lucky I have never crashed it thinking of what I had to pay for some plastic...



Old 07-17-2005, 06:52 PM
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shesha
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Well looks like we all did the same common mistake "Cheap" and "Cute" yes I too fell for the trap in buying the M24, actually I would not really say it is that bad of an experience apart from the fact that you have to wait 10 hours for a charge and 5 minute flying.

Okay yes M24 might be the first common choice to the un initiated, however lets not forget something that our fellow plane pilots say, the bigger the size the better it is to see andthe more stable it be.

In my experience, you best investment as a first time heli pilot is to get hold of a SIM short for Simulator, there is the G2 or G3 and if you want the latest check out reflex I believe, however you do need a decent puter to handle the graphics on that.

The money spent in a sim will pay off in the future, you will gain the basic skills required in left and right hand motion control and a general understading how the heli would react to your inputs.

My advice if your going to be spending into this hobby invest into a sim or if you cannto afford it sign up with a local club and get plenty of sim hours in there.

Now comes the choice, if you have a very small budget the M24 might be a good choice, again I stress out on limited budget, the M24 is not easy to fly, as a complete beginner, it took me 4 days to get 1 inch of the ground before the battery ran out, another 7 days to hover and thats just standing behind it.

On the sim the equivalent would be 100 crashes in 2 hours and 5 hours later a good 360 degree hover.

Now for those that can afford a heli, a good starting point would be the caliber 30 or the ace or shuttle, the choce really comes down to you but any 30 size heli is a good starting point. I suggest you do some research on the internet about this hobby you will come across plenty of articles.

Hell I stil dont know what EMS and MMS do, I may have nearly 20 years of experience in the R/c Car field but flying to me, means back t square one, though what I gained from the R/C car world is a good understanding in building tunning maintenance which is in every way applicable to the plane and Heli side.

If your wondering what am doing right now, I have my G3 Sim and practising until i am confident enough to build the caliber 30 and hover around.

Good luck

Practice

Practice

Practice
Old 08-18-2005, 02:48 PM
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Falcao
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Hi there,
For those who already upgrade fot lipo packs, wich tail motor and tail gear are u using? It's hard fot me to find here in shops so I have to get info from net.
If u change the original packs to lipo u have to add 22 grans at the nose fot balance.
thx all
happy flying!!!!
Old 09-09-2005, 01:44 AM
  #18  
ajohn
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

I was given a M24 as a gift from a friend. I have redesigned most of the plastic parts using carbon fiber. I have also upgraded to a LiPoly battery and replaced all the control arms with machined aluminum. My next upgrade is the main and tail motors. Does anyone know a place that I can buy them? If so please let me know a part number and website.

Thank You
Old 02-24-2006, 04:25 PM
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birchbaybill
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Many thanks for the many comments. I have 2 questions:
I've flown fixed-wing for 50 years - on mode I!! To learn heli, should one change the Tx over to I, learn II, or just hang it up? Leading to--
I'm on my 3rd Lama (dropped the 1st in a lake, blew up the 2nd w/ a li-poly battery when the charger cutoff failed). Changed the Tx to Mode I and am comfortable doing basic maneuvers with it.
I was recently given an M-24 and a Heli-Max Roto-Fly. I now plan to sell the M-24 but what abt the Roto? and should I switch modes? Thanks all.
Old 03-20-2006, 06:07 PM
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eskiserkan
 
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

Hello . I have from this helicopter like you and I think there is a production mistake on this heli . I'm trying to fly it since 2 years . I broke too many parts and I changed all of the parts except electronic control unit . But I can't hover this vehicle . When I start hovering , there is always loss of control on the tail side which is not resulted from my fault . I want to sell it and purchase a new helicopter . Would you give any suggestions to me ? Thanks
Old 05-08-2006, 12:48 AM
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patzane
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

just purchase one today at a local auction for 25 bucks with everything plus a spare battery. Is that a good buy. I currently have the blade CX which I have a blast with and it that is easy to fly and hover. I tried to fly thing thing tonight and was very unstable. I see I will need lot of practice.
Old 05-30-2006, 01:25 PM
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Wheelish
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

I bought the thing yesterday. She hasn't flown an inch yet - just keeps drifting to the left.
When adjusting the trim slightly to the right, it results in the chopper rolling to much to the right in the moment of takeoff(near crash).
Does anyone know how to fix this?

Mattias
Old 05-30-2006, 06:29 PM
  #23  
birchbaybill
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

wish I could help but haven't seen one fly yet. I fly mode 1, so even at best, I'm afraid my opinion would not be valuable
Old 08-28-2006, 11:32 PM
  #24  
dragontorres
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

HELP!!! I hate the battery on my M24...please let me know what LIPO battery I should get to enjoy it more. Brand? S type? a link if possible....thanks...
Old 09-18-2006, 08:13 PM
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laffern
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Default RE: My Experience with Kyosho Caliber M24

This is targeted mainly at those who is wondering about what the m24 is all about, and those who has just bought it, and those who has tested it for a while and given up the hole thing...

I too have the m24. It's flying time is extremely short, 3-4 minutes after a few times use of the battery. I've been informed by my local shop that the lipo batteries burns out motors (well, they burn out after maybe 50-100 flights anyways, but faster with the lipos), also, the lipos may damage the electronics (the receiver of the heli) and is therefore no longer sold as an original extra from kyosho (or so I'm told)

I crashed a few times when I started (was fresh at helis). First crashes took out the pinion gears ( I recommend you get about 10 when you buy the heli), but nothing else was destroyed. After a bit more serious crash I bent the rods for the smaller rotors/propellers(whatever they are called) and the yellow body of the heli. Not expensive to change.

My experience
DON'T FLY OUTSIDE, it's way too light.
DON'T FLY OUTSIDE with or without the training gear, unless you are extremely skilled and are able to land 100% still, the gear is too short and narrow, so the heli will tip over.
Fly in an area at least 3x3 meters (10x10feet), and even that is scary, even when you have skills, because the heli tends to suddenly wander off in strange directions. It's not a problem, because you may easily recover, but you have to stay extremely alert when flying inside.
DON'T FLY in a room where there is stuff like vcr's, breakable stuff, tv's,lcd screens etc. The heli takes little damage to itself, but once the main rotors smacked into an old vcr chassis and dented it 1cm (2/5 inch) even at reduced speed.
READ ABOUT AND DO ADJUSTMENTS, it comes ready to fly (RTF), and the manual doesn't draw your attention to adjustments. After your first minor crash, you're probably going to need large adjustments. The two main adjustments I do regularly is the angle of those small rotors(they need to be level or the heli will not have enough power to lift off) and the angle of 'rotor blade A', which makes both rotors move at the same height, so when you look at your heli from the side you only see one blurry blade, not two at different heights.

My skills
I've been using the heli on and off for 1.5 years. You get used to charging for 12 hours and flyting for 5 min. I bought an extra battery of the same type as is in the heli, so I charge 2x12 hours, and just before I fly I charge one battery for 30 minutes just before I start, and while I'm flying I'm topping of the other battery also. I was wery unsteady and would only nearly lift of an inch for many (15?) flights. I then tied down the heli in such a manner (in all 4 corners of the training gear, tied to an oven baking plate, that mesh thing, not a regular plate like the one you bake bread on) that no matter what I did wrong, it could not tip over, and the rotors/tale could not touch the ground. 'Flew' like this just above ground for 20-30 flights, great fun, you learn how the heli acts, just like a simulator. This of course burns out your engines, normally one will not fly at full throttle for more than short times (the heli would go through the roof), but doing it 10 times taking care not to fly full throttle for more than a little while, should work. After this I flew with the training gear, and was able to hover for up to 10 seconds before loosing control and bumping down(and that's why you have the training gear, when you land slightly on your side or while moving, the heli will be less likely to tip over). After 10 flights like this, I was able to take of the training gear, and after 4 fights I could fly extremely well. Extremely well ? Off course I'm only referring to standing behind the heli, hovering, moving back wards, for wards, sideways while controlling the rotation. Now I'm going to start practicing howering while still standing behind the heli, but rotating it 10,20,30 etc degrees, until the heli is finally facing me. This is called 180 hover, frontal hover or something like that, it's hard because off course everything on the controllers will seem back wards.

My Current Issues
1-It's very boring to fly for such a short time. I'm considering buying a slightly more powerfull battery pack. Also, the battery packs that I have may be charged much quicker with a professional charger<EDIT, NOPE, the original batteries that came with the heli, and the original battery that I bought at the same time, are not suited for fast charging, they will get too warm and be destroyed after a few fast charges, according to the parts list in the user manual. However, there are original fast charge batteries and an original fast charger for those fast charge batteries EDIT END>. I'm going to charge it on the charger for my rcplane, it has variable amperage, and I estimate 30-90 minutes charging time, depending on how low I set the amps. I'm even considering the lipo packs, even though I know it will burn motors faster, and may even destroy the electronics eventually. I'm a bit bored with the whole m24, so I don't really care if it burns completely. I will however only use one lipo battery, and allow the heli to spin down and cool the engine now and then.
2-The heli will only lift off about 25cm(10inches) of the ground. It seems there is not enough power. It seems the small rotors and the large rotors are adjusted correctly (according to the manual), because if they are only slightly out of balance/alignment, the heli will not lift of at all, so I'm pretty sure they are correctly adjusted. I recently changed my motors, so I don't think they are burned out. My only guess therefore, is that either the batteries are quite toasted (it's the originals, used maybe 100-150 times or so over 1.5 years).
===========>>>If anyone knows why this heli will only lift of so little, I would really appreciate some input<<<=============
And this brings me to my final point. If you are going to use those lipo batteries, make sure you test your heli with the original type batteries every once and then (and after every crash), so that you may make sure that you will be able to hower with something like 60-80%% throttle. If you need 100% throttle (and maybe not even that is enough with the original bat), your heli is probably poorly adjusted, if you know that isn't the case, the motors are probably quite burned out, in both cases this will make them suck too much power from the lipos, might causing your electronics to be toasted (no, the external fuse will only protect from shorts, it's got too high a rating to protect from slow burn out of electronics). Of course the 'original' battery that you are testing with might be bad too, but that's something you may easily get tested at your store or test with a good charge/discharger. Also, you get pretty used to the sound of the heli, so you pretty much hear what normal rotor speed is.

In conclusion, I would not buy this heli now, because it only flies for 3-5 minuttes and charges 12 hours per battery. If it charged 2 hours for 10-15 minutes depending on flying style, I would be happy. I really enjoy flying it, and think it was a good learning chopper. The landing gear is a bit too narrow for my liking, at least in the beginning, only good for completely flat surfaces with my beginner skills, but with the training gear it's ok. Only fly it on linoleum or similar completely flat surfaces. Buy it if you get it used in ok shape for something like no more than 50-100u$d, and only if you are ok with throwing it away if the lipo battery (yes, no point in having this heli without more power) burns out the receiver. A good first heli in my opinion, but with too many flaws to pay full price. Good for buying cheaply and not worrying about crashing. Want to buy mine

My next heli, maybe the new electric heli from kyosho, costs a bit less, but only because you have to buy trans/receiver/servos/battery, it's supposedly nearly as a real nitro heli, I like the idea.

And by the way, if you are new and all people say, hey, get a nitro/gas heli, well, consider that they are hooked on helicopters. if you're just a regular guy like me, not really hooked on rc, but you kind of enjoy it a bit, brings back memories from when you were a kid, or you never got that rc toy you wanted as a kid... BUY AN ELECTRIC RC HELI (and an rc airplane, one that costs less than 35$ and only has 2 propellers with no other moving parts, throttle gives lift, throttle on left/right propeller turns plane). It's very entertaining, and you may actually do it inside your home without noise, fumes and extensive repairs, not to mention cost. But, you have to have a room where you can easily move away anything that shouldn't get broken. Also, make sure your heli may fly for at least 10 min and be charged in 30-120 minutes (then you may fly several times at one round of making the room ready)

Good luck, hope you enjoyed this insanely long post !!!

<edited:::
Hi, today, after adjusting the stabilizer blades (the little rotor on top), the main rotor, and the positions of everything on the boom, and properly refreshing the battery, my heli for the first time was able to get up above 20 cm of the ground. Actually, I had to be carefull not to hit the roof when the battery was fresh. NOW I LOVE MY HELI he he. I still think the heli is a bit to lo quality. When hovering about a meter or two of ground, the heli suddenly moves very quickly in a random direction (usually straight down). Maybe this is a characteristic of helis at lo altitude and with noob pilots like me, but it seems more like non optimal quality of components. Anyways, I think it's a decent heli, very easy to maintain, cheap crashes most of the time, quite durable. Ok beginners chopper in my opinion, but if I were to buy it as my first heli, I would buy it a bit banged up and very cheaply However, you need to see someone fly it, at least hover it, so you know it actually works.

The battery, how did I refresh it? I charged it on the original charger (mine says 12 hours charge). Waited an hour. Put it in the heli, and used up most of the battery, until it was no longer able to lift of, THEN when there is little power left, placed the throttle stick in neutral. Neutral means the position right in the middle between max and no throttle (where the spring balanced sticks return by them selves). At this position, this heli should not lift of even with fully charged batteries. Then, leave at this position untill engine cuts of. Disconnect battery, then wait untill it cools down (1 hour maybe, just to be sure) and then charge it fully in the regular way (again, my original charger says 12 hours, but there are probably different versions of the chargers and I suppose a fast charger which charges in about an hour). Now, the battery should be close to as good as it can get. I have heard many tips and tricks, like freezing a fully charged nicad (or was it nimh) battery, to reset it's memoyr effect, but I have only tried that stuff with nearly broken batteries and never had any luck with them. Anyways, the best thing to do, is to buy a charger that has an option to automatically discharge the battery before charging, this will keep your battery chip chape.

Now, I have reconsidered the lipo batteries. I'm not going to get one. I'm rather going to buy a new battery of the original 9.6v (8x1.2v) type, but with more than the original 650mah. If I need more power, I will consider adding one 1.2v cell for a total of 10.4v (opposed to the 11.1v or whatever those lipo cells are)

Anyways, I've read about some more people using lipos. They buy the motor for the rear rotor from a more expensive heli (to stop it from burning out), and under the sticker/decal of the reveiver of the heli, there are some screws to adjust the gain. Don't know what gain means, but it will allow you to increase or decrease the 'default' power output to the rear rotor.

Hope you enjoy your heli, Now I'm off to do some adjustments on my Multiplex Magister airplane, now with floats mounted. Sea planes are fun (flotør, sjøfly, pontong, ponton, pontons)
editing end:::>

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