blove3

My Feedback: (1)

Christmas is coming and my sister needs some advice on what heli to get the brother-in-law. I am a plane guy, so not much help. I suggested a simulator and now need some advice on what would be a good beginner helicopter and radio. The brother-in-law has played around with the small indoor helicopters and is hooked. My guess is that he will want to go electric to start with and he has access to a flying feild.
Thanks for the advice.
Bruce

lje553

My Feedback: (1)

Um what is the price range. The Blade 400 is ok at the bottom end or a dx8 with a trex 450 pro would be higher end. But if he wants the best electric full size to learn on I would say trex 600 due to size and parts availability. But that is a heck of an investment. I would say certainly get a phoenix simulator.

blove3

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the advice. I would estimate a budget of $500 or less to get him started. This doesn't include the cost of the simulator.

lje553

My Feedback: (1)

Blade 400 is Around $430 I think and that leaves some room to buy some battery packs from Hobby King. They have good packs for 13 bucks! Cheap. And a sim for sure. But the learning curve is a high one from indoor helis to CP helis. Just so he knows.

Moontan13

If his indoor heli was a coaxial, it might be better to graduate to a fixed pitch of a moderate size, like a honey bee or Blade 120 SR.
I'm in that spot myself, having started with a coxial indoor copter, FP is a little more of a challenge. I got a new Blade 120 but I wasafraid of really messing it up, so I got a couple used but serviceable FPs, a Honey Bee and a Venom Night Ranger for about $50 each. The HB is big enough for outdoor, and so far is fairly forgiving with incidentalrotor strikes and heavy landings.The Ranger came in almost new condition so I may end up selling it to buy a trex clone when I feel ready.

Flyguy-3D

Hi Bruce,

I still consider myself a newbie after 3 yrs, I started with a Blade 400 3D, but there are certain pieces of components that really need to be up graded straight away IMO. The stock servos gears strip VERY easy and led to me having 3 crashes only minutes after spooling up:-( but I changed them for Hitec 65 MG and after 3 yrs depite a few more crashes have still held up. I would also suggest some spare woodie blades, feathering shafts and main shaft, these are the usual parts need to to get flying after a crash. The B400 can be tamed down to a good trainer if you have the Spectrum DX6i Tx or any computerised Tx.

Hope this helps :-)

Terry

lje553

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah the stock servos suck. hitec 65mg would be best for a beginner. That is what I ran before the raptors in my trex 450 and my Blade 400.

Rob2160

Go with something like a 120 SR..

If you really want the Blade 400 though I agree completely with Flyguy-3D and lje553above... don't even risk flying it with the stock servos.. put HS65MGs in it and it should be reasonably good..

My Blade 400 crashed twice before I realised I had a faulty servo because it would work fine for the first 3 minutes. then go haywire.....

I use the HS65MGs in my TREX 450 clones now and they work flawlessly...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgoztDiEZ7k[/youtube]

NickMcEnjoy

Or get the DX6i and the Blade mSR BNF plus some batteries. It is so light that it is almost unbreakable.
Put the the leftover money in a bank, then when the time comes, it can be used to build an EXI 450 (ask Rob2160)

Happy flying!

Rob2160

Yes, that is a very good option... I love my EXI.... I only had about 20 flights on the blade 400 before it died and I gave up on it, but the 450 clones fly MUCH better anyway!

NickMcEnjoy

I spent the whole night eyeing the EXI 450 frame currently on sales for $29-ish at xheli.com. And the gyro is only 12 bucks!!! And the whole metal head and tail assemblies are only 29 bucks!!!

Man, 29 bucks for a flyable heli frame? Even cheaper than some display models! Can't beat that.

I saw some (youtube) people use the HK King 2 electronics to mount to the EXI 400 and they flew quite well.

However, I must refrain myself since I know it's not the time yet

Happy flying!

Flyguy-3D

Thanks for an excellent demo Rob2160,   I'm sure it proves that the eflite servo's are TOTALLY unreliable IMO !

Terry

Rob2160

Go on Nick.. Just buy one.. the $29 Heli is great.. I fly it exactly as it came from the box.. No need to upgrade it to a metal head at all.. mine now just clocked over 80 flights and is solid as a rock..

Of course if you do want the metal head, just get the hobbyking 450 GT... its cheaper than buying the exi and the upgrades...

Go on.. just buy it and build it slowly.....

Rob2160

No worries, I know some people have zero issues with the E-Flire servos, but I'd never trust them again... Once bitten twice shy..

Just to follow up, I had a few small glitches in a Blade SR with the same servos (didn't crash though) and ended up swapping them out for the HS65s also.. With over 100 flights on the SR they have been flawless..

NickMcEnjoy

Thanks, Rob.

Is it possible to check the quality and detect any defect of the kit witthout any electronics at all?
Last night I saw on youtube one guy had a slightly bent main shaft. We would not know it until we power the heli, right?

Ihave a plan. I plan to build one 450 with the Maryland State Police Trooper scale fuselage to honor the MSP Trooper 2. She was down in an evac mission two years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVr53...eature=related

Best,
Nick

Moontan13

I wish I'd gotten a trex clone instead of a Blade 120. The 120 is pretty nice, but overpriced compared to a rex clone. I have an HK600GT kit on the way. HK's prices are sick.

NickMcEnjoy

Which T-rex clone?

A bit confused here. You said "HK's prices are sick" but you ordered an HK600GT???

Regards,
Nick

Rob2160

Yes it is possible to detect problems, but you would have to know what you are looking for...

I just watched the video of the heli crash. Such a tragedy... did you know any of them?

That isa great idea to do yours up in memory of the downed Tropperi.. I'd love to see one done up in Police colours..

Rob2160

I think he meant "sick" as in "Fully sick mate!"

.. that means good....

Like the teenage boys who put overboosted turbos in small 4 cylinder cars and drag race each other from traffic lights and then sit around having frappucinos in the local cafe comparing notes and bragging about how "Fully Sick my car is now wiv duh new Mag wheels bro...."

...not that there is anything wrong with that...

Moontan13

Sick is good! Just got the kit a couple hours ago. An HK 600 GT kit. Much of it comes assembled, head, body and tail rotor assembly are all put together. Doing some spot checksit appears they used threadlock throughout. I'll probably re-do all of them to be sure. Several of the ball links seem stiff, and I may have selected a battery pack that is too big. I'm very impressed with the apparent quality of the parts. I have a date tonight so I'll get started in the AM.

NickMcEnjoy

I guess Imust check everything?

No I did not know any of them. I simply want to honor these heroes. I'm proud of them
Very beautiful pictures! Thanks!
What made you stop flying for the force?

Best,
Nick

NickMcEnjoy

So date is sick, right? LOL
Iguess Ineed to go out more

Keep us updated with the HK600GT!

Best,
Nick

Rob2160

I loved that job but I was made a fantastic offer in the corporate world and my best friend (also a Police pilot) told me he would SHOOTme if I didn't accept the job.. So now I'm flying a corporate jet...

Its not as exciting as the Police job, but pays much better.. (its how I pay for all my toys...)

Moontan13

The date ended early so I put the kit under bright lights, so to speak. I'm putting togethera model work bench, which in a previous life was a LAN workstation. That should be finished tomorrow.
I did a closer look and found some oddities while printing the manual. The tail tube is very thin. I think I could crush it with my fingers. I saw some metal fittings that were drilled off center, and machine marks were fairly rampant. The bar stock used to make the rotor head was lightly pitted. I fully expected to recieve a box of parts, not a set of subassemblies. It's sort of a mixed blessing as the drawings for how things go inside the body are a little confusing; seeing it together makes it a lot easier. I did find some loose screws, and I don't trust the asembly job so I will be taking it apart and re-doing it to my satisfaction. More than a few ball joints seemed tight so I may upgrade those.

Now i'd like to examine an Align and compare manufacturing quality.

nick4622

Im a first time builder as well and I went right for the trex 450 pro . Ihave not seen any of the clones in person, but everything in this kitwent toghter flawlessley.

I think it was a good decision on my part, all of the electronics seem to be high quality.( Igot the combo with servos, gyro, ESC, and motor all align)

This kit flies great the tail is rock solid, build is very easy and the manual is easy to understand.

I say go for quality and and pay a little more in the long run, you won't be sorry.

Kit combo450 pro $345.00

Tx and Rx Dx6i $200.00

Battery NRG 40 C $50.00