I got a vigor in a trade and asked one of the heli pilots to give it a try. He was concerned about the wooded blade but decided it was ok for hovering. Got the engine started up perfectly, no problem. Did some reprograming to my radio was and ready to go. about 10 seconds in throttling up got it to hover then BANG. The heli fell back to the ground without the blades. both blades went about 500 feet in separate directions. On close inspection one blade broke away from the screw hole. And the other broke away with the shaft and the swash plate attach to it. Remarkably the rest of the heli have no damage. I guess because it was not too high when it fell. My question is should I repair it or sell it for parts?[&o]

How old is it?? If you are going to carry on flying get it repaired. The parts needed to get it back into the air outway the replacement cost. Even if you are going to sell it you will get more for it as a complete heli than a wreck!!

If the only thing damaged is the blades, why would you sell the rest for parts?

yup, helis do get broken, but they also get fixed. One of mine is on its 5th crash.

Every time it gets fixed it is just about as good as new.

DustOffUH1
Is the vigor sc a good heli for beginner??. One guy say to sell it and buy a cheaper kit.????

The winningest champion aerobatics guy in the world flies the Vigor. it is safe to say it is a capable heli. If you run the head speed down, so you can safely run wooden blades, and make sure the pitch and swashplate settings are reasonably mild, it might make a very good trainer. it all depends on how fast you learn, and what you want. If you run a simulator every day and you have modest expectations for aerobatics, this might work out.

My heli (raptor 50) has been crashed 5 times in my first year. ( I push my limits a littel bit every day ) When i was using wood blades the average crash was 40 to 60$, now that i use carbon blades it is more like 100 - 120$ a bigger heli might cost a little more than twice that, and burns more expensive fuel, so if you are like me it makes sence to buy a smaller one like the raptor 50.

A lot of guys are not into agressive aerobatics. They fly around well within their skill level and they only have a crash or two their first year. if this is you, maybe you are doing fine with what you have?

It sounds to me like you didn't glue the roots. One blade broke off and an left an unbalanced rotor head which flew off with the swash plate and mainshaft. Since you are a beginner it would be likely another couple of mishaps will happen before you learn foward flight. If you really like the vigor then you should repair it and put it on the side until you learn to fly. If not then sell it for parts. 60 size choppers are really nice machines when you know how to fly them.

You should look into a 30-50 size machine. I chose the raptor because that is what most people fly, but there are other good ones that I only heard about. Crash cost for the raptor is really cheap. I went in knife edge New Years day and only broke a spindle, fly bar, boom and a really nice set of blades. It was 10$ to repair the chopper and 70 $ for another set of carbons. I am just glad I left the fury home that day.

I have to agree with Da-man. Helis don't just come apart. If it threw a blade, something was seriously wrong. I would get someone that knows helis to go over the entire machine with you. Check every nut and bolt. Check every linkage for cracks, check every bearing for wear and make sure it is not messed up. You got it used so you don't know what it has been through. Those blades could have been cracked to start with and noone caught it. Get some new blades, get it set up right, and get help to learn it and you will be fine. It is a good heli. Sounds to me like there was a problem before you got it. Could have gotten cracked in shipping and noone caught it, could have been from a previous flight or anything else.

Don't give up on it. Its a good machine.

da_man I'm not sure what cause the blade to come apart but i'm glad no one got hurt. Has for flying skills. i've only flown model airplanes can this help me to fly helis.????? I have already order the replacement part and will be up and running by next week.

FLYBOY The person who try to fly the heli is a good heli instructor he did is best but some problems hide it self very well. when i get all my parts I will try again Is there any thing i need to know before. Like what type blades the vigor helicopter uses.

basimpsn,
I think your RC experience will help you in the transition once you get past hovering, but hovering is the key to flying heli's. If you can't hover you can't land. As I am sure you are aware. Get training gear for it, set up the pitch range -2 to +6 and practice staying in one spot, then nose forward in one spot, then small circles with the tail facing you. All of these manuvers with the training gear on. Then when you feel confident hover one foot off the ground... etc. The only other thing I think would be very important to do is to go over the entire heli. Check for worn bearings that might cause RF interference, I have had that, and make sure that all of the bolts, screws, or nuts that need lock tight have it! This way you are sure that everything is done right and if there are any problems that it won't someone elses fault!

Bill

Did you follow the procedure in this link.

http://www.acehobby.com/manuals/heli...rotorblade.pdf

This is even more important with a 60 because the blades are bigger and will put more stress on the wood toward the bolt. This is usually something you normally don't spot after going over a machine, you usually have to ask them if they did it if you remember.

As stated, your airplane experience will help some, but not all the way. Take it slow, use the methods described with training gear and make sure the heli is set up right and you will be fine. They seem hard at first, but it usually doesn't take long to pick it up. Just don't get it high right away or you will get confused, and then there is nowhere to go but back to the parts store. Take it slow and you won't crash it as much. Most of my students have yet to crash and some are flying forward now. Crashes always happen at some point though, even to the best pilots.

Have fun with it and fly safe. Don't stand too close. We all tend to do that. I think I am the worst offender of that one.

Thanks guys for your support. I hope ever thing goes will from now on. After getting some lesson on hovering the craft. I will copy your advice. I hope its alot easer than the realflight G2 sim, boy thats hard. So is the realflight F86 turbine. but flying the F18 turbine powered jet is a lot easer that the sim . Can the simulator help?? I have the g2 realflight.

The sim helps develope your control of the heli. It teaches you how to move your fingers to make the heli do what you want it to instead of doing what it wants to. Spend a ton of time on the sim flying the helis. It will pay for itself many times over. Better to crash the sim 400 times than the heli one. Keep working with it. I still use it to learn new stuff. It is a nice tool.

Well thanks again guys. I will keep you posted.

Airplanes fly,... Helis do not fly, they beat the air into submission[>:]

What blades were you flying?

Colin

Get a pair of good carbon fiber blades 600 mm i believe they were. Whatever the stock size rap 30 blades i was using. Don't let anyone tell you you don't need the more expensive carbon blades because it is just a load of crap. My raptor was noticably more stable wiht the carbon blades that it was with the cappy wood ones.

Not all wood blades are crap, I run the ones on my R30 up to 1900, never had a problem (4 years) Most wood blades with plastic roots are fine! The reason the carbon ones felt more stable was because of the weight change not the CF. I run FG ones on my 50, because they fly better, but if you have the same weight/ airfoil wood and CF blades and you swap them on a 30 you will notice very little difference!

basimpsn, were you by any chance using the JR pre built wood blades?

Colin