LDGILLS

Hm, I think they fly darn close to the real thing. I am dying for a cyclic stick with a twisty throttle for the trex...LOL

RussWisc

I taught myself back a few years ago like 1983. I started with a GMP Cobra 50 size nitro, i was able to hover ..fwd flight ..and do loops and rolls. now the chopper is on a shelf for the past 20 years with a broken main gear. NO PARTS TO BE FOUND LOL ... now i am getting a T Rex 450se V2. should be ezer now to relearn with SIMs and online blogs like this. were I live there is not alot of flighers and the clubs are small and mainly all airplanes but i like a chopper so i can fly at home when i have time.

Russ
AMA # 149681

LDGILLS

Russ look into the diablo, nice chopper and less money than the trex. I personally think the quality is better.

juneebear

I basically started this hobby not knowing anything about it. I basically taught myself how to fly and hoover. Up to this point I am still on the learning curve of knowing everything. I fly my Trex and 2 of the Falcon 3D's. Just like anybody on this thread I don't know anybody around my place who flies rc heli.

mammothmayham

i also taught my self with the trex 450 i got it about 4 months ago i also got the g3.5 about 3months ago witch really helped i can now do flips rolls loops inverted hover inverted piros flip roll combos and other low level 3d tricks more than anything it was the sim iwent from a hover to circits in a day with it

ezveedub

Count me in on this post. I'm still learning to fly, but can't get anyone else to join with me. Anyone I do know, I never seen them fly. Finally got G2 & now G3.5 with a lot of addons and been working the FF flight with correctly learning to turn. The sim helps a lot. Can't see trying this for the first time on the real thing now. First time was on a Blade CP. Talk about baptism by fire. Made learn me how & what is what on a helicopter. Now assembling and building a Trex 450 SE. Can't wait to fly it, but I ain't rushing it either. I had/have my experience with the 2 current helis I have now. At least from the posts, I can somewhat timeline myself on how far most take to learn. I been at for about 2-3 months now. More into right now then a few weeks ago.

shadowflyer101

i got my first heli at Christmas time. i got a blade cp pro but had NO idea how to fly any type of Rc thing[&:]

Coast me about $200 in parts before i got the concept, Sims where too much money for me (i am only 14).

Now i am pushing a honey bee king 2 with the B/L upgrade to its limits.

My next investment will be a trex 600[>:][>:][>:].

That’s my story and im sticken to it.

shadowflyer101

hay russ, check this out

http://www.1017.org/competitor/cobra.html

e28m30

I saw a cx2 being flown around my LHS. Purchase one for my dad for x-mass, then got one for my self a few weeks later. I taught my self to fly the cx2 & taught my dad as well. He gets a little overzellous at times & a tree has been cut down to get his back(wish I had that one on video). The cx2 is a great trainer in my opinion & other than an early 4 in 1 failure, It's been a great bird & still get a blast flying it around,over,under. So I got the bug, My ground based RC's just set on the shelf collecting dust. I went straight to the T-rex 450 sa w/ a dx6. Based on the advise of others. WOW, what a learning curve. A 3d heli is a different world, ccpm/pitch/etc. I sware my brain hurt for three days just trying to get a grasp of what does what. FINLESS & his video's were a great help to me. (heli freaks is a great web site to check out & join. I have not had an idle-up flight yet, but I am getting their. Every flight I learn something new about my self & the bird, with a smile on my face. Even when the ground gets in my way. Just gives me a chance to drink a beer in peace & not have to think about all the other crap the world has to offer.

God give me the strenght to accept the things I can not change.
The courage to change the things I can.
The wisdom to know the difference between the two.

ken1.8t

For me it's been two years self taught, three helis and dozens of crashes and rebuilds!

theDonDon

I am self taught as well, been in this for about one and a half years. I have a friend a few blocks away who fly's helis but we don't go out much, everyones busy with kids and work. He is the only person I have met that flys helis. My sim aerofly pro is priceless, it seems that once you nail the basics your away. I started on DF4, then walkera E22, now the Trex XL upgraded to all SE components over the last year. Things at this point are getting really cool, I just got inverted hover nailed and am doing quite a bit of FF inverted. It's bizarre that after about 60 hrs sim time you start recovering the heli by instinct. I mean completely bent out of shape, lost your orientation, its upside down spinning on two axis and you move the sticks and there she is in hover-- for me this is when flying really became "fun", where before I was always a nervous wreck. Last week I had the REX in inverted hover 20 feet away and started a fast piro then nailed the collective and off she went sraight up spinning inverted, I think thats when a person says"I can't believe I just did that and didn't crash", a year ago I could barely manage FF. So it's all about time and patience, do what you feel comfortable doing and if you want to push it keep it high.
best of luck

RJO

Self taught, started with a coax, went to a fixed pitch, about two months I wanted bigger. I can hover and minimal controled forward flight. Bought a Belt CP ,and contrary to many reports it is awesome, crashed and rebuilit with fairly little swearing, Im building a Swift 16 for my X-Mas present. The batteries are a pain in the A#$ though. I really cant compare to nitro since I have no experience but this charging balancing stuff is driving me crazy!

gixxernoob

I started a year ago w/a Blade CX2 then after 2 weeks I bought the CPpro then after spending a lot from upgrades, and crashes. My .02 kick in and got the Trex 450SE and V2's and after that I finally sold all of them except for the Cx2. Now I have the Trex600e which is in my opinion is a bit slower than my 450's. It took a while from me to learn but I'm still learning. I'm not planning on doing 3d since I know it will cost a lot of $$$.. for now I'm happy with sport flying...

sfaust

My Feedback: (11)

Probably a typical story. Spent all winter on the CSM flight simulator while at the same time rebuilding a used X-Cell 60 helicopter I bought. When spring rolled around, I did some hovering and setup for the first 6 flights, then transitioned to forward flight and circuits on the 7th flight. I only had two incidents in the first 70 flights. One an auto rotation and the other a botched attempt at a loop with insufficient head speed.

wings 540

i taught myself to fly a plane, but I got realflight G2 then learned to fly a heli.

hoverqueen

started with esky lama 3 then FP and now plan to get a CP heli, maybe a 400 or 450 size.

PaulG-RC

Started to fly airplanes alone 35 years ago and now started Heli in june 07 PicooZ, Lama v4,Honey Bee King2 and now T-Rex 450 Se V2.
Now I love heli's

stevennh

I flew electric 3 channel planes for a couple of years before getting a Blade-CP. I picked up a Blade-CP and just kept practicing. Later I got Real-Flight 3.5. After about a year on the Blade, I got a Falcon-3d and flew it until the head wore out (about a year). I have a T-Rex 450SA now and love it. After about two and a half years I can do flips and fly circuits. I've always taken it slow. I have only crashed my T-Rex three times (once was due to a broken part after a repair). I can do some inverted flight in the simulator but have not built up the nerve to try it live yet. For learning on your own, the best bet is a simulator.

Steve

PaulG-RC

I agree that a simulator can help in the learning process but its important to still take it slow if you have no RC previous experience.
For myself having flown fix wing for 35 years the transition from hover to foward circuit flights was very fast.
I logged 1 hour of hovering before my first circuit and exactly 1 month before removing the training gear but during that month I was reducing the training gear size to get use to the heli's profile. During that month I had 1 auto-rotation landing after the motor shaft snapped on take-off,no damage.
After installing the new motor I logged 70 flights before it happen again but this time on a low flyby ,still keep going and landed again in auto-rotation but flipped at the end damaging 1 servo and 1 blade.
I decided to install an Align 430L 3550kv and now I have logged 125 flights and can now do mild aerobatics like pirouettes, stall turns, candles and so far 1 loop.
This is were I like the simulator ,its to try the aerobatics before I actually do it on the real heli.
Now its winter and as I'm writting this message its a snowstorm outside so its simulator time but I have to admit I get bored very fast on that.
My learning process was on the Honey Bee King2 and now I have the T-Rex 450 Se V2 and only hovered 5 min indoors and outdoors, but this heli will be for scale flying with scale fuselages, on the way an Align Agusta A-109 and a Heli Artist blue Airwolf bell 222.
I am now hooked on heli for good

cheuett

I started when i was 11. I had the bade CX. then a lot of good hook ps with friends and families. i toughtmy self with simulators. now i am the proud owner of a spankin new trex 600 cf. you can learn, although it may be pricy! Im only 14 though so i can do it, you can too!

jdoug

Taught myself on a used Blade CP that I bought from a co-worker. I have an MX450 now that flies way better, but still learning the nose-in hover. I want to get the hover down in all directions before I really start to "fly" it.

One guy at work just started with helis and my brother and I just started with helis, but I don't know anyone who has more experience beyond the controlled hovers. I would love to see one of these things do some 3D in person.

soop7667

I just had to chime in to this post again because it amazing how fast you can progress in this hobby in just a short time. The last time I posted on this, on Page #2, I was just about to enter the realm of Inverted stuff. Today I can do loops, rolls, tic-tocs, backwards loops, low to the ground bouncing maneuvers, tornadoes, inverted hovering, backwards flight and more. You CAN teach yourself to fly, in fact, if you really think about it, you can get tips from others, but what's really teaching you is your own practice.

BryFlyGuy67

Excellent! I hope that I can follow your example one of these days!

Video????????

JLITZ3

Well I don't know if it's only child sindrome or what but I taught myself to fly as well. No training gear or buddy box just me by myself after tenthousand hours of forums and flight sims. Three funky chickens later and WA LA.. I can fly em, smash em, fix em.. all by myself. What little band width I do have saw me through this helis hobby, I would like to thank all of the people on at leaste this forum that listen to all of my redundant questions and had the patients to aswer me. Thanks again and after two years of going through this learning curve I am still learning hopefully enough to help someone else get started.
Thanks again.