Anyone do RC helicopters? (2 Viewers)

[Sam Posten]

I was always fascinated by these guys but the idea of running nitro fueled toys was a put off. With the modernization of battery powered copters tho I've been slowly taking steps into this hobby.
Last year my nephews got me an Air Hog which I quickly beat up but replaced with a Syma which ROCKED indoors for under $20:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TVTPS0/ref=wms_ohs_product
I've been thinking about getting something a bit more complex. I'm not quite ready to buy a 450/700/700 sized craft but man am I fascinated by the intricate 3d work that guys like Alan Szabo are able to do:

So in the meantime I've jumped up to a Blade MCPx:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006H3DK7Y/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details
This is an RTF, a "Ready to Fly" kit that comes bundled with a moderate quality radio transmitter that can be bound to other RC devices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEIVQwlGO0A&feature=fvwrel



And am also trying a V911 clone:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006FT2FVC/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details
Which comes bundled with a cheesy looking radio transmitter. Will see how that pans out, but I wanted a cheap one for the office for breaks.
I really want a 450, but that will have to wait a bit I think.

 

[Stan]

I used to fly RC planes many years ago, but the noise and the propellors turned me off after a while.
I actually had a real pilot's licence at the time, but standing 10 feet from your propellor as compared to having that dangeous little motor right near your fingers made me nervous.
And for anyone who hasn't heard the noise, it's awful. Sounds like a thousand tiny little chainsaws running at one time.
Didn't even know they came battery operated, just a bit behind the times. Might give it a try.

 

[Sam Posten]

Check out the 700e 600e and 450e videos on youtube for the bigboys and check out the mCPx2 for the little guys. The mCPx is a Micro Collective Pitch heli which lets it do the 3d flips and inverted flight. I'm thinking about trying out both CP and fixed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swashplate_(helicopter)

 

[Sam Posten]

Welp my MCPX made it airborne exactly 45 seconds before crashing and burning. Either I reaaaaly don't get the controls, the trim was way out of spec, or I had a defective unit. The servos all seem to work but it couldn't stay aloft t all....

 

[Jay H]

Hey, you're on the cheasapeake, you should get into RC subs...
Jay

 

[Patrick_S]

When I was in college I took a seasonal job at the UPS distribution hub for the East Bay and right next to the facility was an area where a RC club would meet to fly. I must say the craftsmanship that went into some of the planes was impressive.
My favorite memory of the club happened one morning after work. I went over to watch them fly a little and got to see firsthand what happens when you accidently fly outside the range of the RC controller. To this day I still get a smile on face when I think of the expression of dread that came over the pilot when he realized what was happening.

 

[Edwin-S]

Check out the 700e 600e and 450e videos on youtube for the bigboys and check out the mCPx2 for the little guys. The mCPx is a Micro Collective Pitch heli which lets it do the 3d flips and inverted flight. I'm thinking about trying out both CP and fixed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swashplate_(helicopter)

What do you mean by fixed? Fixed wing or fixed pitch? I wouldn't waste time with a fixed pitch helicopter. They are next to useless. Good only for those little indoor toys that people buy. Are you learning to fly R/C on a helicopter or do you already fly fixed wing planes? I'd learn to fly a fixed wing plane before tackling helicopters.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

The Syma gyro stabilized copters are awesome. I have three of them.

 

[Sam Posten]

What do you mean by fixed? Fixed wing or fixed pitch? I wouldn't waste time with a fixed pitch helicopter. They are next to useless. Good only for those little indoor toys that people buy. Are you learning to fly R/C on a helicopter or do you already fly fixed wing planes? I'd learn to fly a fixed wing plane before tackling helicopters.

Fixed pitch, ya. Trying out a cheapy V911 to see the difference in controls.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FT2FVC/ref=pe_175190_21431760_C1_cs_sce_3p_dp_1

 

[Sam Posten]

The Syma gyro stabilized copters are awesome. I have three of them.

Agreed, some of the most fun $16 can buy! I finally crashed mine so hard it blew out the gears, musta crashed it 20 times before that tho. If I could have that much fun outdoors with about 20' radius of control I'd be happy, but infrared doesn't cut it.

 

[Edwin-S]

Fixed pitch, ya. Trying out a cheapy V911 to see the difference in controls.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FT2FVC/ref=pe_175190_21431760_C1_cs_sce_3p_dp_1

After flying a collective pitch machine, a person will never want to bother with fixed pitch again. The biggest difference is response time. Fixed pitch machines will always lag the control input. A good collective bird, meaning minimum linkage slop, will respond immediately to control inputs. There is no beating collective pitch. Fixed pitch doesn't even come close.

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm with ya. I had gotten a couple of recommendations to give it a try and figured I'd get the cheapy and move it to my nephews when I was done, they only have the toy class birds so far, so this will be a good step up for them,
With my move tho I haven't even opened the outer Amazon box yet, it's a project for this weekend.

 

[Jay H]

How about one of these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ9dSrrBN28&feature=related

Jay

 

[Edwin-S]

A buddy of mine sent me this link a few months ago. Check this out. I have never seen anything to the level that this fellow went in building this bird. What's more is that it is actually a decent flying aircraft, which cannot be said for a lot of scale birds. The model of the Russian bird in this video kicks serious ass on so many different levels.

I watched the video at the link that you posted. It's a nice looking bird, but the guy could use a bit of practice at his landings and takeoffs. First flight......nerves maybe.......but still that was one nasty looking landing with a bird of that level. He could have used some exponential in the ailerons. Looked a little twitchy in the air. Compare the flight at the end of the Russian video to his F-16 flight.......night and day.
Turbine Heli.

Not the most exciting flying, but I think guys have to have balls to put turbines into model helicopters. In my neck of the woods we refer to model helicopters as "gonnas", meaning those that have crashed and those that are gonna. Helicopters have one goal in their existence......to return to the jumble of parts that they were assembled from.
A couple of more from the soaring world. Dynamic soaring. Onboard camera.

Jump to the middle of this one and watch the last half. It gives a good idea of how fast these f**kers go.
[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=m4_yqX4Lx5s[/VIDEO]
One crew posted a video where they supposedly hit 468 miles per hour. Hard to tell though, because the guy filming it could never seem to get it in the frame. All you can hear is the sound of it ripping around the circuit. It's hard to believe that they can get gliders up to speeds like that, but the one in the video I posted is definitely booking.

 

[RobertR]

Edwin, that YAK-130 model is amazing. Incredible attention to detail.

 

[Jay H]

Edwin, yeah, that landing looked kind of rough but then they are tiny wheels from what I could see... Plus the landing gear doesn't appear to retract but then what do I know. I'm not an RC guy. I just happen to find that video on Youtube while I was checking out some real F-16s and stuff and thought it was a cool concept...
The Horror!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCzWuc_xlg8&feature=relmfu
Jay

 

[Sam Posten]

How about one of these:


Jay

That is seriously badass, if I really get into it tho I want one of these:

 

[Sam Posten]

Cool time to be alive indeed:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2012/04/amazing-footage-from-a-tiny-rc-plane.html

 

[Jay H]

hahaha, I guess that was filmed in Germany... I found myself playing "spot the controller" after a bit...
Jay

 

[Edwin-S]

Edwin, that YAK-130 model is amazing. Incredible attention to detail.

Yes. There really is an amazing amount of detail in it. It is interesting that a lot of the actual building is fairly old school. Most guys would make a wing core out of foam and then skin the wing with balsa. He elected to build the wing with a spar and rib structure. It's pretty neat how he actually improved on the building method.
What really impressed me was how well the bird flew. It looks like the full size design translates very well to the aerodynamic moments necessary for a really good flying model. He is a pretty good pilot, as well as being a top notch builder. He flew the bird in a very scale-like manner.

Edwin, yeah, that landing looked kind of rough but then they are tiny wheels from what I could see... Plus the landing gear doesn't appear to retract but then what do I know. I'm not an RC guy. I just happen to find that video on Youtube while I was checking out some real F-16s and stuff and thought it was a cool concept...
The Horror!

Jay

Sorry, it's just that when I see something like that landing I have to wonder if the pilot isn't overreaching his abilities. Normally, it wouldn't bother me with an ordinary model airplane, but turbine powered jet models are a whole different animal than the standard Sunday flier or even precision aerobatic models like I used to fly. Take a look at this.
[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n63lfsXp998[/VIDEO]
All models basically fly like full size birds, but jet models are the first models that fly like, sound like and blow up and throw chunks like the full size thing. The unfortunate fellow in the video basically suffered a battery failure, so there wasn't much he could do about it; however, it did blow me away when he said he elected not to have battery redundancy in a bird of that level. It's hard to believe, but that fireball is basically 16 - 20,000 dollars being annihilated because of a decision not to put in an extra 100 dollar battery.
As a modeler, I think that jet models are the first class of models that should actually require a formal test of pilot competency before a person can qualify to fly them.