Marius' learning to fly - "video diary"

stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
Some of you may know who I am, but for you who don't:

I started out with the RC-hobby May, 2012.
First heli was a Nine Eagles fixed pitch Solo Pro 228P.
Started flying Phoenix RC-simulator in June, 2012.
Bought and built an Align T-Rex 450 PRO 3GX in July, 2012. (More details here).
Started flying my 450 25th of July 2012.

I'm all for posts being as beginner-friendly as possible, this thread being no exception. I will document my flights as often as possible, so those starting out can see the progression when starting to fly "bigger" helicopters. I can not stress this enough: These videos are shot AFTER flying a smaller helicopter for some months - it's not possible for most people to start out on such a helicopter! One must master a smaller helicopter first, or master flying the equivalent size in a simulator program. When this is stated, of course the thread is for entertainment and/or "show-off" purposes (you'll probably get to see me crash sooner or later too).

My VERY first hover and maiden flight with the 450 can be found here.


Today I rocked that bird as much as I dared, and was feeling pretty good about myself at the end :D
The jogger back there is my GF. LOL.

Battery 1/2
http://youtu.be/vvM2f7h0hGk

Battery 2/2
http://youtu.be/v85GTNAPA4M
 
Adam

Adam

Active Member
Very nice and thank you for all your help this weekend it was awesome to have some solutions to my problems and i actually used alot of the today and now i have hh and i can control the gain on mine Yay. Out of curiousity how much flying time are you getting on a bat?
 
murankar

murankar

Staff member
Running out of time so I will have to watch the other video later. For someone who just started flying your looking great. It looked like you were trying to go inverted there for a minute. Keep up the flying.

What is your camera setup?
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
Dude, for just getting into CCPM helicopters, you are doing amazing bro. That heli looks to be just about as stable as they come and it sounds and looks great in the air. Great job! One thing that will make it a little more stable is to kick it into IU1 at about 85% throttle.

I do think it's time to petition the girl friend if you can get a better camera now though lol. That flashing is a little hard on the eyes. Oh yeah, you may want to tell her that running makes you tired lol.
 
stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
Adam said:
Very nice and thank you for all your help this weekend it was awesome to have some solutions to my problems and i actually used alot of the today and now i have hh and i can control the gain on mine Yay. Out of curiousity how much flying time are you getting on a bat?
Click to expand...

I try to help out where I can (not that I had your solution). But your problem turned out to be the satellites combined with a DX6i? Regarding battery consumption, well, your seeing it on the vids. Fly around 7-8 minutes on one battery (2200mah).

murankar said:
Running out of time so I will have to watch the other video later. For someone who just started flying your looking great. It looked like you were trying to go inverted there for a minute. Keep up the flying.

What is your camera setup?
Click to expand...

I've stated this around the forum a few times, but I'll say it again; the training I lay down on sim, is almost directly applicable in real life. As you can see in the first vid, while doing nose-in, I have trained in a move in the simulator where I half-flip while getting back to tail-in. The move was NOT intended, but it's trained in, and just happened - it's the part where I talk to myself...

I'm currently using a head-strapped cheapo cam, which I bought off eBay for $20.00. I have ordered a "hat-clipper" which enables me to mount a camera to a hat/cap/helmet. When this gets in, I will try to mount my Panasonic compact to it.

When watching the videos I see I'm getting a bit too bold. I'll try to restrain myself in the future, or a crash may be imminent :(

Tony said:
Dude, for just getting into CCPM helicopters, you are doing amazing bro. That heli looks to be just about as stable as they come and it sounds and looks great in the air. Great job! One thing that will make it a little more stable is to kick it into IU1 at about 85% throttle.

I do think it's time to petition the girl friend if you can get a better camera now though lol. That flashing is a little hard on the eyes. Oh yeah, you may want to tell her that running makes you tired lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm still impressed with how stable it is too. At one point (think it's the 2nd vid), I have the bird hovering in one place so long, I'm starting to think there's something wrong with the vid, but you can see a car moving in the background. LOL

I've set up a smooth pitch curve in my NORMAL mode, and think I'll stay there for now. But will surely tweak this as I progress.

The camera is obviously having some trouble with the white-balancing... It's so cheap that this should be expected :D

For the first time while on this forum, my English has come short! I cannot understand the phrase "it's time to petition the girlfriend"... I don't want to draw any conclusions on my own, so I'll have to ask you re-phrase (dumb it down) LOL.




Thanks you guys.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
A Petition is a "request to do something". Pretty much get on your knees and beg your girlfriend for a new HD camera lol. but, as stated to URI you have another camera that will take care of the issues of this camera. but I agree, I have owned some cameras that are like this, and for $20 you can't expect much.

And I know the exact spot you were talking about when the heli was just sitting there hovering. That is stability right there. As for the idle up settings, Just take your time and give it a go when you are ready. You will be amazed at just how stable it becomes. Keep up the great work, loving the videos.
 
stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
Tony said:
A Petition is a "request to do something". Pretty much get on your knees and beg your girlfriend for a new HD camera lol. but, as stated to URI you have another camera that will take care of the issues of this camera. but I agree, I have owned some cameras that are like this, and for $20 you can't expect much.

And I know the exact spot you were talking about when the heli was just sitting there hovering. That is stability right there. As for the idle up settings, Just take your time and give it a go when you are ready. You will be amazed at just how stable it becomes. Keep up the great work, loving the videos.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tony!

Won't be posting videos in a while, as we're off to Spain tomorrow for our vacation.
 
murankar

murankar

Staff member
If you want to find yourself on the couch take the heli with you and practice. I need to get more sleep since I am going on night shift tonight.
 
stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
Today I executed my first full banked turn! Up till now I've always backed up after going in to forward flight. The banked turn is really scary, and I only dared one. The rest of my flight (including flight 11), I'm just getting a feel for the bird and working on my orientations.

Pretty pleased with progress so far, and will be posting more as I have one more week of vacation - which of course will be spent flyin :D
ALSO; Still waiting for the camera equipment - so still pretty crap video :(

http://youtu.be/QK4MooNhqNY

http://youtu.be/d8wYNVqIYO4
 
stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
TONY;
I hope it's OK if I post some pictures in my thread, just to keep things nice and tidy - and easy to follow. But please tell if I should go about this in another fashion!

Got my new camera gadget today. It's a sort of clip with a camera mount, which the enables the user to mount a camera to any hat, cap, visor etc...
P1000666.jpg


I have posted two new videos on my YT-channel, but flew out of frame a lot, so I'm not going to be posting them here. They are available on YT if you'll want to see them anyway (flight 14, flight 15). I think I adjusted the mount correct now, so hopefully future clips will be more in frame.

Also, I got my new stick-ends today! Really excited! BUT, of course they did not fit :(
Placed a new order, and hopefully I'll get the correct ones this time...
P1000669.jpg
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
No problem bro, fill up this thread with pics and vids! The only time i care about where they are put is if the thread is based on a video, I ask it to be in the video section. However if it will help beginners, then it can go in the beginner section to help others. I'm not as strict as the rules make me out to be, it's just a CYA thing (Cover Your Ass) lol. One of those things you have to do here in america so you don't get sued.

Love the camera mount. Make sure to put your videos up here on the forum for us all to see. You may have already done this, I just now started to catch up for the night.
 
stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
Well, today has been the most exciting day in my RC-career so far!
After finishing my new landing pad (check it out here), I of course had to use it at once.

I'm still training the banked turns and some orientations.
BUT, on my last battery, I pulled off a back-flip! That's right, A BACK-FLIP!

Man, after pulling it off, my heart tried to pound it's way out of my chest. I really had a hard time to land the bird, I was so filled with adrenaline!
Anyways, on the same flight my cam battery dies, so you don't get to see the nervous landing. But I managed to get the back-flip :D

In "flight 20" I am just flying around doing banked turns mostly.
In "flight 21" I continue the same training. The back-flip happens on 4:20.

http://youtu.be/oOxHXkY5024

http://youtu.be/a40hO-Cz2EY
 
stokke

stokke

Well-Known Member
callsign4223 said:
Man, it is pretty there. Gotta start saving my pennies for a trip to Norway.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The location is very pretty with the fjord in the background and everything, especially now when the weather is so nice. But you should know this kind of weather is not normal here. We're used to cloudy grey days mostly in the summer, with random rain-days scattered through the summer. All this topped off with a average temperature of 17°C.

So we're counting ourselves lucky with this weather. But by all means, come visit Norway :D
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
Dude, you are progressing faster than I have ever seen anyone on here progress. Keep up the great work. And I agree, that backdrop is perfect for a video!
 
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