450 Blade 450 3D help, tip and advice

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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Hey guys this is my first post on any tred, lol sorry had to get that out there, this blade 450 3d is my first heli, I've flown those coaxial fixed pitch toys r us, and Walmart type, but for Christmas I wanted to open another door in my rc hobby carrer so I asked for the 450 3d. The guy at my local hobby shop (JCS HOBBY SHOP, in NJ) asked if I was good at video games (callofduty battlefield3...) I said yes superb but I don't know why he asked, but in the long run he recommended the blade 450 3d. My first flight went quick, from a spool up to a quick hover to a nose down blades shredded, the second flight went the same exactly. So after about $50+ I asked if the guy at the hobby shop could give me some lessons, today was the fist day. With the training gear, hovering was a 6 out of 10. 10 being most difficult. Every spool up started getting the heli light then the heli going to the left (nose pointing away from me) their was 2 time when I got it in the air but for maybe 5 to 10 sec at most. The guy at the hobby shop said I did great for my first battery pack. Is this normal, for hovering being difficult? The heli came with the DX6I ( very nice I have to say ) but the menu intimidates me, lol not like I'm sacred of it but it seems to complicated. Now just in general is there any other tips you could give me, or advice.
 
callsign4223

callsign4223

Staff member
That sounds about like the normal learning curve. The normal heli progression is Coax, Fixed Pitch, Collective Pitch. You completely jumped the fixed pitch stage. That's not necessarily bad, I jumped straight to a MCPx, a small collective pitch heli, but it does make the learning curve somewhat steeper. The coax helis you started learning on are very stable and you almost have to try to crash them.

Here is the best analogy I have ever seen to explain it.

Flying a coax is like trying to keep a marble centered in a bowl. It's very easy to keep it centered, but it never goes anywhere fast.
Flying a fixed pitch is like trying to keep a marble centered on a dinner plate. It takes some work, but it's not horribly difficult if you have a little coordination.
Flying a collective pitch is like trying to keep a marble centered on a sheet of glass, it always wants to move around, you are constantly correcting the glass to keep the marble where you want it, and if you take your eyes off of it for a second it is going to go out of control.

Once you get a little more time on the sticks, you will start to get the hang of it. I would suggest buying a simulator. That is basically a computer "game"(but don't treat it like a game, treat it like everytime you crash it's gonna cost real money) that you can hook your dx6i up to that will act exactly like your helicopter. It lets you get the hang of flying while taking some of the fear edge off.

Also, Tony did an excellent "Flight School" youtube series. You should check it out. Here is the link to the index page.
Rc-Help - Rc-Help Flight School

Also, we are a very helpful bunch, so if you have any questions please don't be afraid to type them out. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask that holds you back or makes you crash. We all started right where you are, not knowing anything.
 
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Tony

Tony

Staff member
As stated, it's very hard to fly a CCPM (CP or Collective Pitch) heli. It will take what seems like forever to get it mastered. But give it time, take your time and don't rush things. That is about all I can add. Matt pretty much covered it all.
 
Lee

Lee

Well-Known Member
Welcome Ricky.
Just take your time is the key. Trying to get it up in the air too quickly as you have found leads to disaster. Just skidding it around the floor on the training gear is great for getting to understand the movements. Remember all helis inherently drift left on take off. You will need to compensate for this until you get her higher in the air. And as Matt said, get a Simulator. Its a must have for controlling a heli and the $$$$ coming out of your wallet.
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Alright guy I appreciate these super quick replies, I really want to say thank you so thank you lol. I went back to the hobby shop to learn to hover just my 3rd pack threw it, because like I said the first flight was less than 5 sec. long. But to day went pretty well, my step dad took a quick video of me hovering, I haven't even watched it yet lmao, but I'm goin to upload it to YouTube.
I will be buying and/or downloading a simulator via my computer, because it seems like everyone is recommending one so I might as well listen to more advanced flyers
I did watch the whole entire Flight school video series callsign4223 and I can defiantly see you guys reply fast
Tony thanks for your input, but I have bin taking it slowly all I've done so far is try to get the throttle to a hoverable point, and straighten out the tail, and try my best to keep the heli at a maintainable point in front of me, and for a 16year old teen who plays a ton of video games the collective pitch heli I think is just in my reach for grabbing and mastering
Lee I can see exactly where your coming from these can get expensive, I guess day one of flying the heli was more of hovering on the ground, even it kept going left. But today, day 2 I feel a lot more relaxed and confident in my self

Thanks for all the welcomes, it really shows the quality, niceness, kindness of all you guys here. Thanks again
 
Westy

Westy

LEGEND
If I had my time again ... I would do this .... as I actually did this once I had smashed up all my blades, smashed my van window and sick of repairing my heli... Almost put me off the hobby... Lucky I am a determined Machines don't rule me ... I rule them ... kind of guy! Lol

I thought there must be a better way ..... and there is even if you don't have a sim!

Look Up Radds School of rotary flight ... It is free and it got me snapped out of my fear of crashing and into the realm of "This is .... "TOTALLY WICKED" - google it and read through the screeds of infor ... nad follow hte steps. You will snap out of the crash era in no time
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Alright here's the link the videos like 16 sec. or so... sorry and the quality not good either my step dads phone is horrible, lol tomorrow ill ask him to record it with a better camera


Just let me know if that link works or not because it might be different cause I'm sending this threw a iPad mini
 
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Westy

Westy

LEGEND
I might do an in depth Vid series on the topic .... maybe one day .... see if there is any interest in my preferred method... I do agree with Tony's concept though .... there is no time frame or number of batteries etc to tell you when you are ready for the next stage and have mastered your tail in hover first. it is a matter of when you feel comfortable and are really ready to move on

- - - Updated - - -

and .... get a Decent sim ... My preference is Phoenix you can online fly and get others to help you from all over the world. Patience...... timing and bail out practice.
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Thanks for mentioning RADD SCHOOL I may not do all there step because I feel I'm past those level but I might just go back and to some of them for more practice.
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Your going to have to trust me, before the battery started dying I was actually keeping it up in the air for 40+ sec I had the timer on the transmitter and one of the hover were just under a min.
 
Westy

Westy

LEGEND
Great Job .... I have just been out and burned out 3 batteries at the park ..... practising elevator and aileron hover rolls ... and also elevator rolls with an aileron twist out to get the heli coming back my way .... getting it sussed!
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Cool man I can't wait till I take the training gear off but time will only be able to tell how quick I can get this stuff mastered

Do you guys know of any place where, or website were I can get better sticks for my dx6i. Because my thumbs got sweaty and then they stated to slip off the controls
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Ok another question lol, I know my blade 450 3d is a relatively new, like new on the market, well at least is not really old, but do you think some of the servos should be upgraded
 
murankar

murankar

Staff member
read around and see what other are doing. Then weight the pros and cons of the upgrades based on how you fly. If they still run smooth and are still responsive with any flaws then they should be fine.
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
Alright sounds good, but I'm still at early learning levels so... But what to you think about the gimbal sticks on a transmitter. I would like to upgrade but not a 100% sure what one will work with a dx6i I tried looking around but most are for JR's do you know of any website that sell lots of them
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
JR and Spektrum are the same company. The shafts and threads should be the same on most of them.

What do you do? Pinch or thumb?
 
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Ricky Minaya

New Member
I only use my thumb so I was thinking of a more flat topped stick with some thick spikes

But thanks I didn't know they were the same comp. good to know
 
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