I am not really a beginner Heli-pilot, I currently fly a Nexus 30 with an RD 6000 radio and Futaba GY401 gyro. My question is I am interested in learning acrobatics and would like to know any recomendations as to a good acrobatic heli. Also any recomendations on equipment such as gyros, servos and things of that nature for acrobatics. Thanks in advance for the input.

Any heli out their will perform aerobatics , just invest in a good radio,servo's and gyro. The rest is practice.

What about my current Nexus, Is it capable of any aerobatics? How about my radio, an Airtronics RD6000, is it capable of the necessary functions for performing aerobatics?

The Nexus is not my first choise but will work , the RD6000 is not really fexable enough . I would go with the Futaba 9CHP radio and a Futaba GY-401 w/9253 servo.

In doing some checking into my next radio I found that the 9CHP does not have an invert mode or invert offset, what does this mean and is it a big concern? Thanks.

That is a feature that no one uses anymore all 3-D flyers use a switchless approach to doing inverted flying etc..

How then do you get the blades to change the direction of lift so you can fly inverted? Do you use one of the flight modes on the Tx? Thank you for the great information so far, Really appreciate it.

For example, what you do is use your radio to set up your pitch curve to go from about -10 to +10 degrees on your collective. You then set up your throttle curve to go from +100 to +100. It ends up a little like this:


3 pitch curve

Pitch.......-10.....0.....+10
Throttle....95....25....100


5 pitch curve.


Pitch.......-10.....-5.....0.....+5.....+10
Throttle...95.....70....23....75.....100


This makes it so you hover at 3/4 stick upright and hover at 1/4 stick inverted. The more pitch curves you have the easier it is to fin tune your engine and head speed.


A normal pitch curve while hovering at half stick looks like this.


3 pitch curves

Pitch.......-4.....+6.....+10
Throttle....0.....50.....100


5 pitch curve.


Pitch.......-4.....+1.....+6.....+8.....+10
Throttle...0.......25....50......75.....100




Don't get a radio that has less than 5 pitch curves. 3 pitch curves make aerobatics very tough unless you have a governor... then again if the radio is good enough to use a governor it's also going to have 5 pitch curves. What a governor does on the heli is keep the head speed the same by adjusting the throttle.

Oh yes, one other thing. You change the curves by switching the idle up switch. The first possition gives you Normal mode, the second one gives you Idle up 1 for aerobatics and the 3rd one gives you Idle up two for faster head speed aerobatics.

My current RD6000 has the capability of 5 curve points. Will this radio work to do acrobatics? Is it at least capable of providing me with a good start into acrobatics? It is in my opinion a good radio and I like the interface and operation and would like to continue to use it or should I start looking for a new radio? What type of heli do you recommend? Thanks.

As long as it has 5 pitch curves it will last you a long while. You only really need 8 channels when you get a governer. I'm using a Futaba FP-T7UAFS and I just started loops and rolls. I also just found out I could use also use a governer and gyro at the same time so I may be keeping it for longer than I thought. The only real real bad things about my radio is that it does not have digital trims, it only has one P-mix, and it cannot do CCPM.


Is your radio the RD6000 or the RD6000 SUPER? How many P-mixs does it have? If you don't have a governer then P-mixs can really help you out. It takes 3 p-mixs to make 3D flying easier but they aren't needed for normal aerobatics. Those p-mixs are Rudder to throttle (the more you use the rudder the more your engine either bogs or speeds up), elevator to throttle (the more cyclic you add the more drag you get so this counteracts it), and aileron to throttle (just like elevator to throttle.

My RD6000 is what is now the equivalent of the Sport, I think. When I bought it the Super and Sport models were not being offered only the one model. It has 2 p-mixers. It also has fully digital trims but it is only a 6 channel and the sixth channel is occupied by the GY-401 gyro. Would I be able to start out with manuevers such as rolls with the current set up? I currently do not use any of the mixer functions, so they are both available as needed.

As far as what kind of heli I recomend I really like the 50 sizes. Not to bad on cash but big on performance. I have a Raptor 50, It's a VERY aerobatic machine and is more forgiving than the Raptor 30 because it has a larger rotor disc. Very cheap and very powerful. A crash with an R50 costs just about the same as a crash with an R30. I'm sure there are better helis out there but in my opinion the R50 is the best trainer to 3D ship out there. It is also VERY tough and I personally think the canopy looks great!

Yes, your radio is just fine for rolls and loops.

How about the Raptor 60, I have seen quite a few of those in the hobby shops around where I live, What are the differences in the 50 and 60? Is there a grat number of appreciable differences or mainly just in engine size? Thanks for your help.

There is a big difference. The 50 is a 30 with a longer tail boom and longer blades. The 60 is a much larger heli, it is all metal where as the 30/50 is plastic. The 60 is going to auto better and fly a little more stable because of the larger size but the power to weight ratio is not as good as a 50. A 50 is meant to be a 3D power house and the 60 is meant to do 3D and normal flying. The 60 is bigger and cost more to fly and to crash than the 30/50. Nothing wrong with going to a 60 as your first machine but it does cost more. A crash kit for the 60 is about twice as much I belive. And it drinks MUCH more fuel than either the R30 or the R50.


A 30 to a 50 is the same as a 60 is to a 90.

Well said I concur ,I own the Raptor 50 and /90 with a YS80 and that makes the power to weight just right but it's not a beginner heli like stated above.

You mean the Raptor 50 is not a beginer heli? Or the Raptor 60? I personally think the Raptor 50 is a GREAT beginer heli Good on the pcket book but still does a good auto VS a 30 and it's hard to outgrow a 50. I dont know about starting with a Raptor 60 unless you just want a bigger machine and a lighter wallet.

I meant the 60 but the 50 I would not recommend if money is a issue the blades are a little more and uses more fuel. Otherwise it's a good heli you won't out grow fast.

Crash kit from heliproz is $39.99 where as the crash kit for the 30 is $34.99. V-blades cost the same for a 30 as the do for a 50. But fiberglass blades do cost a bit more for 50s. $50 instead of $35 for SABs. It does drink about 50% more fuel but it also has 50% more power. I like the design on the OS 50 carb better than the OS32 or TT66. The 50 als has a ring in it. I like ringed engines!

So in your opinion a R50 would provide me with a good heli for beginning into acrobatic flying as well as being a heli that I can grow with? I guess I got kind of confused between the last couple of replies but all in all excellent information. Thanks.

Yes, the R50 makes a GREAT trainer as long as you don't mind the 50% extra fuel cost. It will aslo do EVERY trick in the book. It may not do them as well as an Xcell Fury Extreme 90 but it will do them with power to spare. Then again a Fury extreme costs 4 times more.

Oh yes, I might want to ad that 30% nitro costs about 75% more than 15% nitro and the OS50 is still MUCH MUCH more powerful on 15% than the OS32 is on 30%.

I just bought a RD 6000 Super for my brother to fly with us when ever he wishes to. The RD 6000 is a lot of radio for very little cash, I think it will do fine and carry you a long way as you progress in your skill levels.
The 94322Z servos are a good choice in AT's servos these come with the Super as a heli version. They are decent servos but surely not the best they make, but BB with transit time of .19 or .20 I believe. They hold the tail fairly well on my wifes heli too.

I prefer a faster servo so I use JR & Futabas for a gyro like the HH of Futaba. As FF said, the Futaba GY 240 is a great gyro with the right servo.

The OS 50 has a lot of advantages over the OS 46. The OS 50 has a more dependable carb (MHO) only here. The older OS 46 with the original carb ran a bit sluggish and the transistion is great on the OS 50 as well as a great idle. Power is another dept. the 50 excels in too over the 46.

I use 15% Cool Power green heli fuels works fine. Its a lot less expensive than 30% as said above..

Thanks for the info. Everything that has been said is certainly making my decisions for acrobatic flight and the necessary equipment pretty straight forward. I thank you all for the information that you have provided me. It is the people like you guys that make this sport even more fun for the beginners like me. I greatly appreciate it. If you come up with any more ideas please send them my way.