i am new to helis, iam thinking of getting this heli (link: http://modelflight.com.au/rc_model_h...helicopter.htm ) can i get some advise.

Cheers

Hi!

What stage are you at ie: do you fly planes & how well can you fly?

The thing I would do is get one of these a XRB SR Lama by HIROBO it flies brilliantly!

I fly it round my house, garden and at my club indoors and outside. Only fly it outside when it is very calm! and not when its wet!

Greg.

hi there ive got two planes fly ok. got a JR XP662 transmiter and 3 sail boats,
personly the heli in the pic does not look great.
i like helis more or less shaped like the one in my link

no offence i bet your heli is great

Cheers

Hi,

The reason why I suggested the XRB is because it is very stable not because it looks nice. It does look better in real life but I can understand if you do not like it. I do not know if your preference is towards RTF (ready to fly) as the set up on helis if you are a beginner can be quite complex.The Zoom 400 that you referred to is a good heli but I would not recommend to a person new to helis.However if you want to go this way,I would suggest that you get a flight sim such as Aerofly Professional Deluxe or Reflex XTR .Personally I prefer the Aerofly Pro Deluxe.I have also included a picture of the Trex 450X which I would recommend over the Zoom 400.

hi again i prefer ARF or kit models (don't like RTF models, like the building process)
i quite like the Trex 450X why would you go this over the zoom (pros & cons)

also i have a sim but need real heli (sim to fake i react to different to real flying no nervs when usieng sim)

cheers

Hi,

I think the T-Rex is a good build, the parts go together well, it's simple and it flys well. As for the Zoom 400,I have little experience of this so for me the T- Rex is more of a known quantity[8D].Also it is a good all rounder as it is quite stable but as you progress it will also perform 3D manoevers like a 30. or 60. size heli. It's also quite new out which is good as it will stay up to date longer[8D]. I would recommend a brushless & li-poly set up & a heading hold gyro.

Hope this helps.

Greg.

ok i think iam leaning towards the trex, on this link which package would you recomend i get and what else will i need
(link: http://www.wattsuprc.com.au/product_list.asp?cid=8 )


cheers

Hi,

What "Frequency Band" do you use for helis in Australia ie: 36MHz or 72MHz? And do you have a Li-Polymer compatable charger? This is VERY important!

This is what happens if you don't! (Link)>[link=http://www.helihobby.com/videos/LithiumBattery.wmv]http://www.helihobby.com/videos/LithiumBattery.wmv[/link]Don't be scared off by this its very rare if you charge them properly!

36 MHz and i do have a lipo charger and ive just order a t rex thaks for all your advise (could not wait any longer LOL)

cheers

Hi Cole,
I have several Heli's including 2 Shoguns, and one T-rex, I really have to say the Shogun is a better flying heli. The only problem with the shogun is the tail system. In order to get reliable tail, you need to upgrade to the beveled gear system, or the belt drive. One other upgrade is recommended, lower profile wide stance skids. The stock skids allow you to easily tip, and even I fell victim on first spin up of destroying my blades and bending the main shaft. Speaking of which, you might want to upgrade that main shaft too. All in all I'm talking of about $30 dollars worth of upgrades. My T-rex on the other hand was a pain to build. Not because the heli is complicated, but the parts just didn't seem to fit right. I had to mess around with soldering irons on every ball joint, including the swashplate one. The whole thing was so stiff, I actually killed the gears on an hitec hb56. After I got it working smoothly, its flight characteristics were not all that great. In order to get it flying decent, I had to upgrade to an aluminum swash, had to upgrade to the evo style CNC precision flybar control system, mixing arms, washout, and then had to litteraly grind some plastic off one of the blade grip to get rid of some of the shakes. I gave up on the blade grips and went CNC. I have it pretty well broken in, and for the money, I should have bought another Shogun. A nice thing about this heli is that the space between the frame and the rear horizontal stabilizer is a bit longer than the Shogun, allowing for an easy placement of a FMA Co-pilot. Which is great on these smaller heli's. It takes alot of the skittish nature of these smaller heli's out of the equation, and allows for a novice pilot to learn how to hover faster and without incident, and thats on a heli really designed for an intermediate and above pilot. I know first hand, I saw my 13yo son go from never having flown, to having a pretty stable hover. You can use a co-pilot with the shogun as well, it just takes a few times moving it foward and back on the boom to find the proper mounting position. Another advantage of the Shogun is you can get a 2300mAH battery, and it will fit into your canopy. It will give you 25-35 minutes flight time, as opposed to the 1900mAH on the Trex (Its hard to find a larger battery because of its canopy design). Because of its slightly larger blades on the T-rex, the 1900mAH battery seems to only give you about 11-17 minutes flying time. Either way you go, I hope you have fun and I hope my personal experience assists you in some way. Good luck in your decision.

BTW the HRB lamma isnt a helicoptor. It is a toy, and you will get bored of it very fast, it cant really fly outside, and flying inside you will end up paying for alot of blades., dont fall into the mistake of so many people, get a real heli.

this is exactly why i don't believe the t-rex is a great heli for a beginner. the parts quality is so inconsistent that you'll inevitably spend more time fiddling, fixing and tweaking than flying. not fun (unless you're in to that sort of thing.) i also agree that the stock shogun is a much better flying heli than a stock t-rex, but that may be more a matter of opinion.

I once would have said get a Electric to start with but no longer after last Saturday at a Heli flyin in Denver I say get a good glow heli like a Raptor 50 or something comparable there are no electrics that are as easy to fly as a good heavy nitro bird and they are very steady in the wind I even saw a Joker,Micado logo 10 and a mikado logo 24 Bionic fly and none of them handled the wind like the raptor 50 and I saw the 24 drill itself into the ground.I have traded my Trex for a Hirobo Freya Eagle 60 and could not be more happy and my JR Voyager E is going on the sale block to get a HyperRaptor kit from Helipro's my days of wasting my time with electrics and expensive battery's are over and you should consider a good Raptor to learn with also.

I have to mostly agree with moe, a nitro beginner heli is great, but if i were to pick a starter heli, i would pick a Hirobo Evolution 30 to start, much more stable than the raptor, and cheaper than a 50 size, remember the bigger you get the more expensive. and if you havnt really flown heli's, and know this is something you are going to be into for awhile, you might want to spend as little as possible. If you are going to go electric, you can save money and spend about $780 on a shogun plus electronics (including a FMA Co-Pilot!!! as a beginer you dont want to leave that out). Its about $1200 for a nitro, set up plus fuel every time you fly. Electrics dont hold their value, so its going to be one of your fleet, if you buy it first then go to nitro. The nitro heli's are very stable. With a Co-pilot, its downright forgiving. The electric can be flown in wind, just not high wind. anything over 15mph you better know how to handle your heli, nitro or electric, even less when you are a beginner. The nice thing about an electric is, you can practice indoors, in your garage, or living room if you dare (it does have a high head speed so keep it away from furniture). Anyway, this is all up to you, you should decide by what is best for you, your wallet, and the area you have to fly in. Good luck and fly whenever you can.

Hey Moe, did you get to fly one of the nitros? ive been looking at the trex450 but also concidering a nitro. mostly i was going electric because they are quieter. how loud are the nitros? ive got a rc car with a .15 and its really loud and annoying, so are the .30 .50 .60 much louder than a .15? I imagin there is alot of field gear you need. let me know how much that all ends up costing. thanks m8

I have a Hirobo Freya Eagle 60 that I traded my Trex for as for flying it no not yet I have still got to get all of the field gear but I did fly a raptor 30 that belongs to a friend of mine and compared to my Voyager E the raptor is much better.I spent about 2 years with nitro Monster trucks and no the heli's are not as loud as the monster trucks at all.To get a Raptor 50 kit with all that you need to fly it it will cost around $1500.00 to $2000.00 dollars depending on what you need and what you already have.Since I already have a radio and traded for the Freya I will probably be putting out about $500.00 dollars.Well all I am off on Vacation will see you all in a week.[:D]

for anyone looking at a T-rex as a first heli, please visit http://trextuning.com/ to see whats involved in getting a trex to fly right. stock shogun V2s flys out of the box, they have the new styled beveled tail gears which are stronger, and more durable. The only thing i recomend as stated above is changing the landing skids to a lower profile wider stance set. Just remember one thing BOTH the trex and the shogun are intermedeate level helis and above, they are naturally skittish due to their smaller design, and can fall off very quickly. This makes it unsuitable for a begginer pilot. if you do buy either one of these do yourself a favor, buy a FMA co-pilot. It will help you not only learn, but it helps almost eliminate that quick unintentional fall off. You want to fly your heli, not constantly repair the broken parts. plus unless you have someone that is good at troubleshooting heli's, you might not even know what is not right with your heli, and this is the most frustrating part of fixing a downed heli. I had to learn everything the hard way, and i dont wish that expense and aggrivation on anyone. Most of it was thankfully learned on my first Shogun (god rest its soul) and not my nitro's. Good luck again, and have fun.