bacfac

I am a real newbie - have never flown any rc planes or helos. I want to stat with an indoor helo and have done a lot of preliminary reading and have almost decided on buying a Piccolo Fun Kit ($240-$299). The typical start-up kit from Ikarus includes the following:

Radio System: 4 Channel FM Transmitter (It's typically a GWS)
Servos: Two - IK171201 Ikarus Micro Servos
Crystal Set: IK17720 Ikarus Receiver Crystal and IK17729 Ikarus Transmitter Crystal
Piccoboard: IK72572 Ikarus Piccoboard PLUS with Receiver (Includes 6 channel receiver, 2 digital motor controllers, automatic tail-mixing functions, servoless gyro system, upgradeable to Heading Hold.)
Battery Pack:IK67492 Ikarus 8 Cell 600 mAh NiMH Battery
Charger: Ikarus Plug-In 110V/180 mAh Wall Charger
Flight Simulator: IK31009 Ikarus EasySIM Flight Simulator

I know the radio is a $30.00 radio, but if you break-up the kit, the price almost doubles.

Will this set-up get me going? Everything, including the Fun Piccolo is upgradable and the radio could be replaced by a better radio as I go along.

Or

Would you guys recommend a different Piccolo Kit at a reasonable increased price?

Thanks and sorry for being the nth newbie to ask the same type of question!

crashparry

Hi - I hope Bacfac doesn't mind but I would like to add to his post (save forum space).

I am also new to rc helis though have experience flying rc/real aircraft. For my first Heli I have been looking at the Smartech Aerohawk as it seems a competant enough craft yet cheap and cheerful enough for my newbie thumbs.

I have decided on the aerohawk because of the price, it appears to be the cheapest ready to go machine on the market (though i would be happy to build one from a kit of parts if there is a better option available for the price).

I would really like to hear your opinions guys.

Kindest regards

Crash.

iflynething

Well I'm going to just tell you know, you can start out with an "indorr" heli, but they relly aren't that stable....

I know other guys will come in here and tell you to start out with a good 30 sized heli......Oh yeah.....and they will probably tell you about the Raptor 30 Helicopter (made by Thunder Tiger) or maybe even recommend the Venture 30 CCPM Heli (made by JR)........

I'm sure alot will come in, and, I know, there are alot of other opinions to come, but I hope that you have fun with whatever you get......

crashparry

cheers bud.

Thats exactly what I'm after..something for indoors thats electric. Although I would prefer a piccolo heli model, the smartech gear appears to be the best value for money.

....or is the cheap cost of the aerohawk a false economy?

bacfac

I've done some more research and have decided to opt for seperates. The fun piccolo, a HITEC FLASH 5 stripped radio, HITEC HS-56 servos, a piccoboard plus withour RX. The questions now are:

Is this a good configuration?
What receiver should I buy?

Thanks,
Fred

Spaceman Spiff

My Feedback: (1)

Here is an interesting post:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Esca...1565716/tm.htm

Pathogens

My Feedback: (1)

I myself decided to start out with indoor electric helis as well. I had a little back ground in rc cars and some aircraft.

I wish that I had not wasted a cent on worthless electric helis. Such a waste of time and money.

U will get discouraged and quit with electric helis.. Electric helis are cheap plastic junk.

I said the same thing as you are probally saying now.. I wanted something that I could fly around my house.


if you are serious about getting into rc helis. go with .30 size nitro heli.. Will cost ya a little bit more, but will be 1000 TIMES better than some garbage electric heli. and double the fun...

Pathogens

My Feedback: (1)

The directions told me to just "bend the blades" to get them in track on my crappy piece of junk aerohawk. How can you expect something to fly that you have to bend the blades..

Do NOT waste your time with indoor electric helis...

Badger

Hi,

What people are saying is true, electric micro helis are much more unstable than their Nitro big brothers & are not as easy to learn to fly on (IMHO). They do however offer a grear deal of fun when you can master them. They will cost money but they do fly, if you have the patience.

Cheers,

Nick

iflynething

What I would personally do is get the nitro heli (Raptor 30 V prefferably) and then learn on that, and then if you have the money go to a electric like the Piccolo....

That's what I'm probably going to do when I get my Rappy after this summer, learn it and then go to an electric......and just fly around in the ol' house[8D]

SDsniper

Option 2 would be to go electric but start with a Mikada Logo 10 or an E Voyager. These are LARGE .30 class E Helis the heads are the same as the nitro birds and are about as stable. Yes the Logo 10 is a 300+dollar heli but it uses standard sub C cells. Electics are not cheap like most who are new think. The learning curve is HIGH but they are great to fly inside. I taught myself to fly on a Century Hummingbird. It was a pain. Fixed Pitch heli's are a demanding lot. Rotor speed is lift. Where as on a Nitro heli rotor speed is constant. Hover power is fine till you need to ad cyclic to hold the bird stationary. it puts more load on the rotor disk so you have to increase motor speed to correct for the loss of lift. Nitro helis hold rotor rpm better as the engine is at preset throtle points called curves. With fixed pitch its the nature of the beast. I now fly nitro and Electric. I preffer the nitro heli. If you are looking for an inexpensive Heli check out the Century HAWK SPORT 159.00 the kit has major assembly done. ITS A BEGINNER Heli. Not a 3D machine. I bought a hawk just to see what nitro was about. I used the gyro out of my HB and had a Futaba 9CHP from airplanes I Fly.

I Love Nitro Heli's. Easier to see more stable they can handle wind better. A Pain in the *&%&$ to set the radio up but the payoff is stability and adjustability.

melandsurveys

I agree with sniperboy before me. I am new to the hobby but started with the Hawk Sport. It is very easy to assemble with the kit. Many of the hard to do assemblies are already done. It says 3 hours out of the box, but it is closer to 6. The heli is really stable and fun to fly. I have almost a gallon through it and can't wait till next flight. Make sure you start off with the G2 flight sim, or this will all be pointless.

Without learning on a sim, you will burn your $$$ faster than you can think about it! Good luck, it is a blast!

pcliftonjr

IMHO Electric Helicopters are best indoors in a "Large room". I speak from Hummingbird experience, if you take it outside while your still learning it will be a very frustrating.

raabid

Ok, obviously you picked the wrong forum to drop that bomb! Most of the guys replying in the beginner section are gassers. You should have posted in the electric forum. But you didn't realize that because you are a beginner. Gas guys like gas helis, and electric guys like electrics. They don't usually cross over. But electrics are better!

Having said that, I'll give you an objective opinion. I have two hummingbirds. I bought the first one because it had a scale Airwolf body and I always wanted an Airwolf helicopter. Plus it was only 110 dollars. I already had a Hitec Flash5x Transmitter, and a Feather pack with 2 Hs-55 servos, and two lithium-polymer batteries and a charger. So I had to get the Hummingboard(mixer) and gyro, so all together I had $220 in the heli plus my radio stuff and batteries. The radio is great because you can fly most airplanes with it, and these little helis. I broke my tail rotor after about four flights, and was going to get some replacements. I opted to just buy another Hummingbird, the basic one, because Century had just put it on sale for $70.00. That way I'd have one replacement part for each thing, except the main blades, on the Airwolf they are longer. I wound up just taking the electrics off the Airwolf and using the cheaper one as my main heli. This was due to the skids on the cheaper version were easier to take off from initially than the scale trike landing gear on the Airwolf.

Onto learning to fly these. Not knowing anything about helis, I had to sort out a few problems on the electric heli forum. I had been flying airplanes for about a year before getting into these little helis, so I had most of the hand eye coordination with the radio down. I spent a lot of my training on FMS, which is a freeware rc simulator. Don't bother wasting your money on RealflightG2, it's a nice program but not any better. In saying that I mean, you still don't have the adrenaline rush of potentially cracking up, several hundred dollars of your money. I don't have the Transmitter(TX)interface for FMS, but I did find a cheap copy of Ikarus' Easyfly which has 4 planes and two helis.
It helped me the most I'd say, as FMS was fun but wasn't the same as flying with the TX. After the electrics swap off, and lots of reading, and crashing, I finally have the hang of it.

Never having flown a helicopter before, it took me ~15 flights to get the hang of it. I went from flying it it my living room(870sqft) with the furniture pushed back, to now flying it at close range in my kitchen(80 sqft). I've flown it outside several times, mostly close in, but one time it let it loose at my flying field just to see how it'd do. Not very well by the way. Cheap plastic junk, I don't think anyone argues that point, BUT...and I mean a BIG BUT!, I have crashed this thing 50+ times, some from heights of 10 ft. and I'm still flying, 15-20 minutes per battery. I think my saving grace has been, that I've been programmed(flying planes) to shut off the throttle when things look like they're going bad.

Broken items so far include: 2 Tail rotors(still flying the cracked one)
One main blade
One tail boom support bracket
Two landing skid supports

In conclusion, if you just want to fly inside your house, and sometimes outside on non windy days, I would highly recommend it. It is by no means a stable heli. If I'm lucky, I can go two to five seconds without touching a control. The one time I let it loose at my flying field, it wasn't much fun. It was windy, and as was said before in the post, the fixed pitch requires the rotor head to slow down for you to descend, which destabilizes the heli even more. Also the gyro is really only good for compensating for rapid jumps in throttle. I will say that I can fly planes really well which has helped me greatly, so I can't say how easy it would be for someone never having flown anything, to learn.

So if you decide to jump in and buy one, or two, feel free to email me and I'll guide through the rough spots.
[email protected]

raabid

Anyone that wants to fly extreme 3d, electric are still better.

kevcapone

hey everyone if you want to get any smartech cars or parts email [email protected] and you can also leave them some feedback on what needs improving or what you would like to be improved. They are the new distributor for smartech.

hadis

IMHO,the cheapest way to learn to fly heli is to get chinese made indoor electric helis. You can have a RTF E-sky for less than USD 160. this heli will withstand small crashes, and the spare parts are inexpensive.
You can buy the main motor,main blades, tail motor / blades for less than USD 15.
Once you get the "feeling" of controlling this small rc heli, you can easily learn to fly the big ones.

FHHuber

Reviewing what you get in assorted e-power mini/micro heli packages... I've been looking at buying an e-heli for quite a while. I want to practice in my living room. (and to fly the thing at the club's mall show next year. Actually flying something should help draw more RC beginners. )

If you want 4 channel control (no collective) you will be spending about $230 to $270 for a good beginner's package deal.

I've found the e-Sky... and its on the cheesy end. Youcould possibly learn something from it... but its not going to be one of the better choices if you plan to stick with the hobby. Its available n E-Bay for $150... but then they want $30 to $50 shipping depending on which seller. (you end up so close to the price of Century's Hummingbird... might as well get the Hummingbird since Centrury will give free shipping.)

WHICH model you get is going to determine if you are happy with the electric heli. If you get a cheesy model, expect cheesy performance.

I'll give a report on the new CP Hummingbird when they are available (after mine arrives)... I expect it to be one of the better deals in beginner electric helis.

doc-b

I started out with a picolo, never could fly it. I then bought a nexus 30, I found that the plastic links and balls would wear out very fast. I am now flying a Raptor.
However a friend of mine bought a picolo recently, He has added many upgrades, and also a 7 channel radio, and he cant hover or fly it. I have tried to hover and I am unable to hover it. He is now gonna sell it and buy a 30 size heli.
I think you be be dicouraged , trying to hover or fly it. Hav THIS IS JUST MY OPINION

astvga

I have the mini dragon, and cannot keep the hover, it walks in all directions.. any ideas?

dan

raabid

When I have mine trimmed out, and well balanced, it will sit fairly still, but not more than a few seconds. The guy at my LHS told me if I could become proficient with the little heli, I could fly any heli. I took that as a challenge. Now I can walk all around my house with it. I'm still working on nose in.