4 Training gear

[Tony]

Tony submitted a new Article:

4 Training Gear

The most important thing you can purchase besides the Flight Sim is training gear. When you were a kid you had training wheels on your bike. This helicopter is no different. Training gear will keep your helicopter from tipping over. If you panic and chop the throttle, you have a better chance of landing upright, and not having a blade strike. I use the carbon spars as my training gear because they have some give to them and work like shocks. You can use the wooden dowels, but they don't flex. This can cause a harder landing which could damage a feathering shaft if your landing is too hard. It could also cause such a shock if you land hard that the blades flex and you hit the blades on the tail boom. This will rip the boom right off of the helicopter and more than likely break not only the blades and boom, but also the belt and boom supports. So, I highly suggest the carbon spars over wooden dowels. Bottom line, get some training gear. Even if you have to use the wooden dowels, it's better than not having training gear at all.

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[Whirlybird]

Actually wooden dowels (1/4") do flex . . . I used them.
But in a hard landing, them may break . . . mine did

Carbon is the better choice

 

[Tony]

Re: Article: Training gear

I agree, they do flex, just not near as much as the carbon rods. And, you know as well as I do, when you are just starting out, there is a lot of panic and slamming that stick down lol. But like I said, if you want something more rigid and a lot more flat, then wood is the way to go. But, if you want cusion when you come down, and smaller rods, then carbon is the way to go.

 

[Tony]

Video Added.

 

[holiday]

Where do you get the carbon rods?

 

[Tony]

Any LHS will have them. The ones that you saw on the busted up Razor 450 were from hobbypartz though. Just make sure to get the ones for the 450 and not the 250 if you are in fact flying the 450.

 

[llommel]

Another thing that works good for landing gear is the 3/16" bare aluminum welding rod & put the plastic golf balls on the ends. The practice golf balls that have the holes in them.
That's what I used on my 450 Razor. They may bend a little but the won't break & can be straightened out if they bend.

 

[Tony]

I don't know if I would use aluminum welding rod, but maybe steel rod. But, I have not seen the rod you are talking about to compare strength. If it works, sweet.

 

[llommel]

I thing steel would be to heavy. The 3/16" diameter aluminum welding rod is the style used for heliarc welding. It is the bare, uncoated style.
Any welding supply place should have it in stock.
There are 2 stiffness's available, I used the stiffest one.

 

[Tony]

Yeah, after I wrote that, I was thinking of the weight of the steel rod. I actually have some in teh back of my car. Not for welding, but for holding my planes down in the wind lmao. It works.