gscavezze

I am totally new to RC helicopters and haven't purchased rc anything since I was a teenager (I am 35 now). I recently purchased a 2 channel Hawk Superspeed rc toy to just have fun with (it should arrive today) and I know I will quickly want more, but I got it new in box for $37 on ebay and I couldn't pass it up.

[link=http://www.hobbytron.com/HawkElectricRCHelicopter.html]Hawk 252 2ch[/link]

Anyway, March is my bday and I want to get a 4ch that can fly outside and that is durable and stable. Can anyone make any recommendations?

I have been looking at the following:



[link=http://www.hobbytron.com/Dark-Night-RC-Electric-RTR-Helicopter.html]Dark Knight 4 ch[/link]

[link=http://www.hobbytron.com/EF-Helicopters-Sabre-Micro-Helicopter-RTF.html]Sabre 4ch[/link]

[link=http://www.hobbytron.com/RCTypeXRTFElectricHelicopter.html]RC Scope Tech Type X[/link]

[link=http://www.skyartec.com/b2b/products/WASP_v1.php]Wasp v1[/link]

[link=http://www.skyartec.com/b2b/products/WASP_v2.php]Wasp v2[/link]

[link=http://www.skyartec.com/b2b/products/blv2.php]Brushless Wasp v2[/link]

The Wasps can be found all over ebay. The videos I have seen show a pretty neat and stable heli. I have seen them recommended on other forums. Also I postd the brushless even though it is out of my price range because I want to know what brushless means. Does it have to do with the efficiency of the electric motor making for longer flights per charge? Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help. Much appreciated!

Greg

dave314459

brushless refers to the way the motor opperates. a normal or "brushed" motor has brushes that transfer the electricity to the coils on the armature, which is generally inefficent since lots of energy is wasted on friction and arcing (ever seen the sparks from the back end while running at night?). a normal DC motor is basicly a generator running in reverse.

a brushless motor, on the other hand, is an alternator running in reverse. the coils are stationary (stator) and the magnets move on the armature (or motor casing if it is an "outrunner" type motor.). this setup is FAR more powerful and efficent than brushed, since stronger magnets can be used (without a stronger "cogging" effect) and thinner wire in the coils can give stronger magnetic pulses to spin the magnets. plus, only 2 points of friction in the 2 ball bearings that support the shaft. the trade off is that a brushless motor needs a special ESC, and the combined cost of the motor and ESC make it a sizeable investment, equal to a medium sized glow engine (brushless motors are, oddly enough, just as powerful, or more powerful, than most glow engines... in the proper applications).

on to the heli's!

size and weight = stability, so if you want something that will be stable outside, you want either a heavier micro, or a larger (more expensive) model. one trick some people use to make micro-heli's stable in light wind is to make them heavier AND upgrade the main motor/tail motor to give higher head speed (more lift to overcome the weight, and better gyroscopic effect from the spinning rotors)

generally, collective pitch micros are much happier in light breezes than fixed pitch, although i have seen a few FP's in light wind and they did ok... just gotta watch that sudden lift in the wind gusts. symetrical main blades help alot in negating those windgusts, so thats why CP birds are better outside. all that said, a CP heli will be a handfull for a newb. but they can be tuned to be a little gentler, depending on the model you get. if you think you want to someday progress past hovering and forward flight into light aerobatics, you might want to considder a CP. Most people will tell you to get a Blade CP anyway.

the choice dosent really come down to brands and particular models. just look at what you want to do with the heli, and the factors that will effect what you want to do (weight, CP vs FP, etc), and make an educated decision.

good luck!

gscavezze

Thanks for the great advice!

As far as heli's go though, I know that some are more durable than others and less "fussy". I have read that the Sabre is less stable than other helis and difficult to fly and that if you can fly that, you can fly anything.

Is there anybody that has experience with any of the helis I listed that can comment to their value?

imnew4321

What you should try to go with eagle 40? which you can get at [link=http://www.xheli.com]xheli[/link] for 84 dollars and is pretty durable and easy to fly

dave314459

well... my e-sky honeybee FP has been flipped over twice (as in: rotors on the ground, struts in the air), hit the side of my house, a streetsign post, and a bush, and had numerious hard landings, and all i've broken so far is a tiny little strut mounting point on the main frame... a slightly longer screw fixed the problem and it was back up in a matter of minutes. if you want durable... well... heres your sign.

[link=http://www.xheli.com/new20esho4ra.html]xheli[/link]

keep in mind though, what i said about stability. i got this bird only because i already own a .30 size nitro and i wanted a heli i could wreck without paying $200 for repair, and learn on (its amazing how fast you learn when you dont have to wait for parts every 3rd flight!)

no FP heli's can take wind. my HB can take VERY light winds, but the tail control is the main problem. if a gust blows in, your tail turns like a weather vane into it and you cant really get it back with stick inputs. if the wind happens to turn it nose-in... your in for a wild ride! but not to worry, if your over grass, just cut the throttle, worst thing you'll prolly break is the struts, and if you do break something, well... the parts are so cheep that you should have ordered every breakable part when you ordered the heli.

pretty much all the FP heli's with those black plastic blades are clones of each other. dragonfly #4, falcon 40, honeybee FP... there are only a few very differences between them (one factory makes the parts and slaps different branding on the boxes). i've seen videos of the falcon 40 flipping and hitting things and continuing flight with no changes just like my HB, so i think one is as good as the other. just pick the one with the lowest priced parts (*cough* honeybee *cough*) and go with it! if you take it slow and get used to holding the tail with your first few batteries (on the ground... [link=http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html]The Radd Method[/link]), you WILL NOT be dissapointed!

-good luck

edit: on the machines you listed. the saber looks like an exact clone of the falcon 40/honeybee FP. and the wasp v2 is a collective pitch machine. the other 2 are probably similar to each other. id say save some money and order from xheli though. honeybee is bullet proof and the parts are dirt cheep

edit 2: forgot where i had seen that vid of the falcon 40 crashing and continuing flight... it was on xheli [link]http://www.xheli.com/wadr4rarecor.html[/link]
keep in mind that almost all of the FP micro heli's are about that durable (you dont start breaking parts till you get into forward flight). if you see it heading for a crash, cut the power, and the head and tail rotors will stop fast, saving ALOT of damage from minor crashes that would leave a larger nitro heli doing the dead chicken dance and tearing up the grass.

gscavezze

Thanks! That is exactly the info I was looking for. I appreciate the post!

Greg

dave314459

no problem ! post your experiences with which ever model you decide to get, might help a future newb break into the sport.

gscavezze

On the honeybee, how much time are you getting out of a battery charge? Will I see significant improvement if I upgrade to brushless motors? If so, how do I know which motors fit my heli?

Thanks again!

Greg