Having noticed my FP honey bee had a chunk missing out of the main rotor it got me to thinking.....

Currently I have broken skids, the timing yoke has 1 out of 4 "fingers" left on it, the front part of the main frame is snapped, the flybar is made from cut down training gear bits, the rear rotor is CA'd and bandaged in tape and generally it's held together by bits of wire, zip ties and hot glue. Oh and did I mention the canopy might have a small crack in it

BUT IT STILL FLIES [8D]

I am obviously still learning, and the beating this thing has taken has amazed me, but I think I've learnt to fly around what must be performance/stability killing damage. I am now faced with the choice. I am going to need some new parts (primarily the undercarriadge, as it's getting difficult to land/ takeoff on 2 struts)

A new ATRF Honey bee would just about replace all my damaged parts, but I was hoping to go to a CP next. Thing is do I just carry on with the FP, until I have nose-in hover mastered, or do I get a CP version as a stop gap until I feel confident enough to buy something of a bit more quality.

Si

PS Anyone want to buy a 2nd hand Honey Bee FP?

if you are crashing on a fp you're not yet ready for cp. one crash from a cp means broken parts for sure.

they are not as strong as fp helis mainly because the fp heli blades are made out of thick plastic and the cp some are wood and will not take a beating.. it will break for sure.

if your fp is no longer flyable since it has taken such a beating already then i suggest fixing it. it will not cost that much.

landing skid and main blade will run you anywhere from $15-20.

I think the FP is great in big indoor areas, but I don't have any large clear spaces to practise in. ( My flight area at home is only 5'x5' Though now taking off from a table top has allowed me a lot more freedom)

TBH I am thinking of getting some aluminium rod and making new skids for the FP.

Moneywise it's not an issue. More a wanting to keep my new friend in the air , I HATE waiting for the post, and no LHS round here seem to stock parts. As long as it's still flyable I'll try and fly it


My main reason for wanting to go CP is to be able to get some real space to fly in (eg. outdoors!)


Si

get a simulator

Have FMS working with my PC, but in fairness I sit behind a PC all day @ work, so last thing I want to do is spend more time behind one at home.

I'd much rather smash something real up... call it stress relief

Buy a 90 size heli in a kit form. After several hours of learning how to assemble tune and get the heli in perfect working order...
not to say anything about the big $$$$$$ for the heli. Well go out and crash it i good (bad) crash. This should releive alot of stress...lol

All joking aside, if you want to fly a stable heli outdoors a raptor 30v2 with an os 32 or 37 engine is a great beginner heli. Butt a flight sim is a MUST unless you only want to get in a few second of crash time before you put the heli back on the bench[>:][:@][:'(]