Projects Newbie asking - Which heli should I concentrate on to improve my flying please?

Blade 400

Active Member
Hi,
I own a lot of heli`s due to wanting to progress rapidly in this hobby but also due to poor decisions and a few retailers giving me bad advice just to sell me more!

I have just purchased the Clearview flight sim, which I realise I should have bought right from the start and I own the following heli`s:

Big Lama (co-ax), Blade Msr, 120sr, Mcpx, Nano and 400

Which should I concentrate on in order to progress to the Blade 400 please? The weather is poor here currently so I will be practising on the Flight sim but which Heli please?

Thanks a lot

Blade 400
 

Fly-n-Low

Active Member
The best thing you did was to get a sim. Practice makes perfect. Much easier to press the reset button. That was the first thing I did.

I wore out a Blade MSR mostly flying nose in. I think I replaced ever part on it.

I like Align.
 

Blade 400

Active Member
The best thing you did was to get a sim. Practice makes perfect. Much easier to press the reset button. That was the first thing I did.

I wore out a Blade MSR mostly flying nose in. I think I replaced ever part on it.

I like Align.
Thanks for the reply and advice Fly-n-Low :thumbsup:
I really like Align too as I`m pretty sure from what I`ve read on the forums and helicopterfun.com that a bigger heli with better quality Gyro and Servos would have helped me learn to fly easier and quicker, but I didn`t have the budget at the time. As I have so many Blade heli`s, I do want to give them my best shot - I`m looking at Tony`s setup videos and will try to upgrade my Blade 400 Gyro and Servo wise to try and make her more stable. I know that learning more about setup will help tame her down too. I will definitely be practising on the Sim a lot, as I need too Lol
I have flown my Msr mostly but she flies very differently to the 400. I like the Nano as its very stable on the easiest setting which is great for trying nose in etc... I find the Mcpx is the closest flight wise to the 400 so I will be flying her when the weather improves - she`s a bit lively for my small inside space!
I would appreciate your (and other members) thoughts and any further advice on the above :wink:
Cheers
Blade 400
 

drcotts

New Member
Im a newbie too but heres my little bit of advice. I always struggled to make progress with flying. Sims are fine but what really gave me confidence to try maneuvers out in the field was getting a good quality drone. Only for stick co-ordination and muscle memory though not as a replacement for a helicopter as the flight is not exactly the same but they do leave you time to concentrate on the stick movements. I have the mavic pro but had the phantom 3 also. I found i could really improve using this.

I hope this helps a little and good luck
 

Blade 400

Active Member
Im a newbie too but heres my little bit of advice. I always struggled to make progress with flying. Sims are fine but what really gave me confidence to try maneuvers out in the field was getting a good quality drone. Only for stick co-ordination and muscle memory though not as a replacement for a helicopter as the flight is not exactly the same but they do leave you time to concentrate on the stick movements. I have the mavic pro but had the phantom 3 also. I found i could really improve using this.

I hope this helps a little and good luck
Thanks a lot drcotts! I really appreciate the advice and funnily enough, I bought a drone recently - just haven`t been able to fly due to the weather, but I will now :thumbsup:
Best of luck to you too :wink:
Me trying to hover the blade 400! I crashed her badly on my first flight and this was a year later, you can see how scared I am by the look on my face - but I still want to be able to fly her properly someday Lol
John Salt`s rchelicopterfun.com website is really good, especially the learning to fly videos in flight school and Tony`s videos in YouTube are excellent too :D
 

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D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Hey there Blade. If your not crashing...your not learning lol. It doesn't look like your scare more like total concentration to me. If you have the patience, time and knowledge to learn. Practice, practice and more practice. If you don't me asking, is that wooden dowel that your using for your training gear? I'm thinking that extra weight might be making your hovering hard to handle due to the extra weight? Also looks like where the two bar intersect, under the heli, that you teeter-totter on the bar vs sitting on all 4 balls? I'm not dissing you...just asking?
 

Blade 400

Active Member
Hey there Blade. If your not crashing...your not learning lol. It doesn't look like your scare more like total concentration to me. If you have the patience, time and knowledge to learn. Practice, practice and more practice. If you don't me asking, is that wooden dowel that your using for your training gear? I'm thinking that extra weight might be making your hovering hard to handle due to the extra weight? Also looks like where the two bar intersect, under the heli, that you teeter-totter on the bar vs sitting on all 4 balls? I'm not dissing you...just asking?
Thanks again D.O.G. I appreciate everyone`s comments on any of my posts, as I`m here to learn :thumbsup: Your right, it was mainly concentration but also the crash was still in my mind as this pic was shortly after having her repaired! I am over it now and really want to improve with this particular Bird. I do find hovering difficult and appreciate any pointers please. It is wooden dowels and they are just one on top of the other, tied in the centre with two tie-wraps! I used think diameter dowels, as I didn`t want them to break, so there is a lot of weight? Can you please advise? Thanks
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Good day Blade. If you can afford to purchases training gears here's just one site RC Helicopter Training Kit Gear Trex 450 500 Blade 400 450 Esky Walkera Align | eBay

Or if you can get a hold of metal cloth hangar. That will decrease your weight which will help you be more stable in the air vs drifting right, left, forward or backward. Second where they intersect, this will be a lot thinner so your skids can be flat on the ground. I'm thinking when you take off, it's teeter tottering on those dowels. Just passing an idea. If I'm correct, don't quote me but the Admiral made a round training gear or someone did. Good luck and keep us posted :).
 

Blade 400

Active Member
Good day Blade. If you can afford to purchases training gears here's just one site RC Helicopter Training Kit Gear Trex 450 500 Blade 400 450 Esky Walkera Align | eBay

Or if you can get a hold of metal cloth hangar. That will decrease your weight which will help you be more stable in the air vs drifting right, left, forward or backward. Second where they intersect, this will be a lot thinner so your skids can be flat on the ground. I'm thinking when you take off, it's teeter tottering on those dowels. Just passing an idea. If I'm correct, don't quote me but the Admiral made a round training gear or someone did. Good luck and keep us posted :).
Thanks again D.O.G.
When I looked on e-bay (UK) to order a set, I found that the $6 dollar U.S. price is £14.50 here in the UK! There are cheaper ones listed but the seller ratings are poor (They may not arrive). Just by luck there was someone selling 3 sets second hand (they are in great shape) and I got them for £10 :biggrin1:
As they point downwards at an angle when fitted to the Heli, I don`t understand how my skids can be flat on the ground? Is it because they will flex as they are so thin???
Cheers
Blade 400
 
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murankar

Staff member
In my experience the first helicopter I looked at was the Trex 250 style models. Eventually I moved up to a classic Trex 450pro model. I spent the better part of my rc time on that class. Had the Protos mini, Gaui X3, and the clone Trex model. I eventually moved into the 550/570 class and started getting better.

Among all that the 570 flew the best wven under a bad tune. It just handled way better, more responsive and all around nice flying size. If I had to do it all over again I would go 550/580 class hands down all day.

The smaller models just don't have the mass to be stable. You may find yourself chasing the tune just to get it to fly. Not saying that can't be tuned because they can. Just more tedious thats all.
 

Blade 400

Active Member
In my experience the first helicopter I looked at was the Trex 250 style models. Eventually I moved up to a classic Trex 450pro model. I spent the better part of my rc time on that class. Had the Protos mini, Gaui X3, and the clone Trex model. I eventually moved into the 550/570 class and started getting better.

Among all that the 570 flew the best wven under a bad tune. It just handled way better, more responsive and all around nice flying size. If I had to do it all over again I would go 550/580 class hands down all day.

The smaller models just don't have the mass to be stable. You may find yourself chasing the tune just to get it to fly. Not saying that can't be tuned because they can. Just more tedious thats all.
Thanks murankar, I really appreciate you sharing your experience with me :thumbsup: I agree big is best :agree:
I have a fleet of E-flite helicopters so obviously want to stick with them for now. John Salt rchelicopterfun.com shares your view about the mass of a bigger heli helping with stability and control, he even suggests that beginners could learn on a 600 model. You can see what he means by watching his flight school videos, the blade 400 is well controlled in his capable hands but the 600 is so locked in, so smooth!
Other guys on this forum have advised me to fly my Blade 120sr mostly as it will help me progress to the 400
I also think my MCPX is good as it has some characteristics similar to the 400
There`s also the Clearview simulator that has most E-flite models and Align Trex too
I also intend to setup a Blade 400 myself which will give me a better understanding of controls and will enable me to repair her, I read that upgrading the stock Gyro and Servos makes a big difference when learning to fly her too, so I`m going to do that :biggrin1:
 

murankar

Staff member
You can still learn on any heli. Pick your biggest model and learn on that. Add Sim time into your regiment and don't let the mental blocks stop you. Be confident in your skills.
 

Tony

Staff member
don't let the mental blocks stop you. Be confident in your skills.
Best advise you can get right there. I held myself back so much the first two years of flying because I was afraid to crash. Sometimes, if you have practiced it, you just have to push through the fear and do it.
 

Blade 400

Active Member
Thanks again Guys. I have been too tentative after the crash, I will practise flying big Heli`s in Clearview and then I will fit the lighter training gear to the Blade 400 and will go for it :agree: I got some good tamer Tx settings from John Salt helicopterfun.com - I bought his setup pdf book and have been working through his flight school training videos :thumbsup:

Happy Flying
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Ok... First about using a Sim ... No model in the sim will be like the actual RC model in real life. The main point of a sim is to learn the muscle memory you'll need once you are flying for real. Find a model in the sim that is as finicky or squirrely as you can and practice using that... or use several different ones. Then practice over and over your standards, ie doing nothing but a hover and staying in one place, then nose out, nose in, flying in a circle and doing a figure 8 etc.

When I was learning to fly on my own ( airplanes )... that is what I did for about 3-4 months straight and without flying my actual RC airplane in real life. My primary focus during my practices were taking off and landing but I also did other maneuvers to keep it interesting. When I did finally go out to the flying field, I went several times but there was never anyone there when I had time. I finally just jumped in and took it on myself to go ahead and fly. I took off and landed without a problem because of the time I'd spent practicing. On my second flight, just as I was about to land on our clubs short runway ( because of the wind direction and speed ), a club member finally showed up to see me complete the landing which came in a little hot but without any incident. The member was impressed by the fact that I landed on the short runway and when they found out it was my second flight... he was pretty surprised as well. All of this was done using a 58" P51D Mustang which is by no means a beginners airplane.

TIP: If you are having some problems flying nose in.... Turn around and look over your shoulder at the aircraft. This orients the radio sticks in the same direction as when you are flying/practicing nose out and helps keep your mind from trying to use reverse sticks. After a little practice, you can turn back around once you've got the muscle memory set for the orientation you are flying in.

Why practice on a sim for a long time before actually flying? The analogy for flying a helicopter is that it is a little like trying to control a spinning marble on a glass surface much like the tilt mazes that used to be popular long ago. Any small movement on your sticks can result in a big movement on the heli.
 

Blade 400

Active Member
Ok... First about using a Sim ... No model in the sim will be like the actual RC model in real life. The main point of a sim is to learn the muscle memory you'll need once you are flying for real. Find a model in the sim that is as finicky or squirrely as you can and practice using that... or use several different ones. Then practice over and over your standards, ie doing nothing but a hover and staying in one place, then nose out, nose in, flying in a circle and doing a figure 8 etc.

When I was learning to fly on my own ( airplanes )... that is what I did for about 3-4 months straight and without flying my actual RC airplane in real life. My primary focus during my practices were taking off and landing but I also did other maneuvers to keep it interesting. When I did finally go out to the flying field, I went several times but there was never anyone there when I had time. I finally just jumped in and took it on myself to go ahead and fly. I took off and landed without a problem because of the time I'd spent practicing. On my second flight, just as I was about to land on our clubs short runway ( because of the wind direction and speed ), a club member finally showed up to see me complete the landing which came in a little hot but without any incident. The member was impressed by the fact that I landed on the short runway and when they found out it was my second flight... he was pretty surprised as well. All of this was done using a 58" P51D Mustang which is by no means a beginners airplane.

TIP: If you are having some problems flying nose in.... Turn around and look over your shoulder at the aircraft. This orients the radio sticks in the same direction as when you are flying/practicing nose out and helps keep your mind from trying to use reverse sticks. After a little practice, you can turn back around once you've got the muscle memory set for the orientation you are flying in.

Why practice on a sim for a long time before actually flying? The analogy for flying a helicopter is that it is a little like trying to control a spinning marble on a glass surface much like the tilt mazes that used to be popular long ago. Any small movement on your sticks can result in a big movement on the heli.
Thanks RandyDSok,
I really appreciate your and others advice and will incorporate it into my practise regime :thumbsup: i will be practising with the Clearview Sim to nail all manoeuvres I intend to try for real :biggrin1:
 
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