ikuzus

Hi Guys,

My name is Will, I work as an IT admin in Sydney Australia for several years now. Anyways most of the techie guys I work with seem to have some kind of hobby(most of it is RC cars). So I thought I might as well get my self into a hobby, and I have done several research, and it seems flying helicopters would be for me??? So I'm thinking of dabbling in this rc heli hobby and see how I go with it. I don't want to spend too much money, as I may not like it and just in case I want to pull out of it. It seems people here like the HK450 helis, from what I read in the forums here. So I will try that and see how it suites my cup of tea. Hobbyking seems to be a popular place to buy stuff, so I will post here the stuff I buy from HK, ebay, LHS and give you guys some feed back about their products and service, and hopefully I will get some feedback from you guys that has some experience on this kinda of stuff. So stay tuned guys, I will post more on this thread, on how my new adventure on rc helis is going and what I am doing with it.

Thank you

Will

ikuzus

I'm still researching, I'm not too sure which 450 heli to get. So far these are my choices:

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...pat_Ver_2.html


http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...x_Compat_.html



There are sooo many to choose from.

ikuzus

Looking into this heli it seems I need a lot of other electrical equipment to get a complete flying heli. I just signed up with hobby king which was fairly easy to do. I noticed they sell rtf helicopters, I really am not sure now what to get. I might go to my local hobby shop tomorrow and ask for advice and see what they recommend for someone starting out in the hobby with a tight budget in mind. I'll let you guys know tomorrow on what I will get!

ikuzus

Here's another one I found!

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...x_Compat_.html


I pulled the trigger on this one, I like the red cover on it.

RMB677

The trend seems to be flybarless helis (only the main blades, no paddles). I still have the older style heli with paddles which appears to be the way you've gone. From what I read it seems that the flybarless helis can be more difficult to set up the gyro but can be more stable when set properly.

Be prepared to be purchasing a lot of replacement parts, its not if you crash but when. It also seem that when replacing parts most go with the Align T-rex parts. Many recommend getting a decent simulator setup for your computor to practice on.

Personnaly, I have a Blade 450 and a T-Rex 450.

ikuzus

hmm. Flybarless heli more stable, seems like I made the wrong choice in buying a 450. I'll have to research this a bit more, by the looks of things I'll be spending more than what I initially thought. I can't afford to make too much mistakes. I'm going to the hobbyshop tomo and I'll see what the guy there says about helis and what I need. I'll also ask him about a simulator. Thanks for the advice.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

These 450s seem like an inexpensive way to get started. They are rather hard to fly and imo not good for a beginner.
I have been flying 30 and 50 size glow powered helicopters for a few years before I got a HK 450.

The first and cheapest step would be a computer simulator, I used Real Flight and had no problem flying the 'real' model, no broken parts other then a few blades...

ikuzus

Well I just been to the hobby shop (30mins drive). As I walked in the shop all the guy sells is planes, boats, and rc cars and trucks, no helis. I told the guy at the shop I wanted to learn how to fly helicopters, and he said the same thing as you guys have said, that I would need a simulator. He gave me a demo of the simulator and I was impressed with his flying skills. Eventually I bought a spectrum radio(with 2x batteries) and the phoenix simulator. He told me I need to practice on the simulator 30 mins a day. Cost wise too much, all on the Credit Card. My wife is not going to be happy. Anyways I'm trying to connect it all up now for the last hour and it's not the same as it was in the shop. I'm not connecting it right, I think. I'll call the hobby shop now for some advice.

ikuzus

Finally got the sim working nicely and I practiced a bit, I had a lot of crashes, hopefully I should be ready to fly when summer arrives here in oz. Now I'm shopping around for a motor and other electronics. Been doing more research into flybarless and it seems I need a special gyro, it's bigger than the Assan gyro. I also notice HK provides a DFC swash upgrade, so I think I'll get that. Need to read up more on what I need for my heli

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

The flybarless system is mechanically simpler and has less parts then a flybar system.
But you will need a 3 axis gyro for this and there is more load on your servos, they need to be able to handle to greater forces.
The initial costs are higher with this setup and there is little gain for a beginner.
I think a flybar system is great to get started, save your money for the next helicopter...

ikuzus

I already pulled the pin and bought the flybarless head and swash from HK,since RMB says flybarless is more stable, I taken your advice Oliver and search on ebay.com for a 3 axis gyro, there seems to be a lot of them and come in a variety of colors, the blue one seems to be the best looking out of all of them, so I bought one.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40



$49 dollars free shipping, it's a bit more expensive than the assan gyro, I'm thinking flybarless systems might be more stable, but it seems to be a bit more of an expensive route to go on. Now I need to look for more electronics parts that I may need for my heli when it arrives. What are some good servos to use with the 3 axis gyro?

ikuzus

I just did a search on youtube for a 450 flybarless build and I found this guy, I think I might follow some of his electronic choices for the 450.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBry...u0aPU5D8gg0Iw3

ikuzus

After watching several vids from cp0 on youtube I'll be getting the 306g servos and the yep esc. I'm slowly getting there. I've been practicing on the simulator and no improvement yet

Rob2160

Hi Will,

Just read through this thread. Welcome to the addiction.

I am in Sydney and have built over a dozen Hobbyking Helicopters. They are all still flying perfectly. Mine are not flybarless as they were built 3-4 years ago.

Happy to help out if you need some advice for your build (I have built them also for other people on RCU) C

Check out the Mikey's RC youtube channel which takes you step by step through building one.

Here is the first vid and each one links to the next https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4zJ...C3065DA3A05A3C

I found these vids invaluable when I built my first one.

The model you bought (the Pro) is a nice helicopter, If had seen your first post earlier I would have recommended the GT as your first build because it is much easier to install the Radio / Servos / ESC etc.

The Pro is awesome but space is very limited (as you will discover) I have built 5 of them and after the first one just decided to mount everything externally like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smcf_i3iqjQ Anyway, feel free to PM me if you have any questions, I have tried numerous different servos, motor combinations etc and have a ton of spares you are welcome to including numerous canopies and rotor blades.

All the best,

Rob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcERRUpZSfc

rojohnso

Personally, as far as the 450,s go, I think the Trex is still the best. If you really are on a budget I would definately consider getting a Tarot or CopterX as a second best as the build quality is very good on both these brands. Most parts are interchangable with aligns so you shouldnt struggle finding parts. I would try and spend a bit of money on the electronics if you are going to get a cheaper kit as it will save you money in the future