RC Helicopters...and Other RC Related Stuff!

This is a topic that talks about Remote Controlled Helicopters (or airplanes, maybe cars...meh.) Feel free to chime in with what you've got, and let's talk RC!

Well, I can't say I'm a pro with RC helis, heck I'm far from it, but ever since I got my first RC heli, I became hooked! It all started some years ago when my older brother gave me one of those miniature remote controlled cars  (Zipzaps)...remember when those were all the rage, and kept selling out at RadioShack? Yeah. Those. Then a year after that, he got me an Air Hogs Picooz Helicopter. I fell inlove!

Skip forward to now, and I got myself hooked with the Syma s107 Metal Series, helicopter. For $25 (Cheaper on Amazon, but meh), it's pretty darn good, and quiet too, for an RC heli, that is! I've had that one for over a year now, and I've asked pbmax back then, what were some other good "entry level" helis that were hobby grade, and not just ones you could easily buy at a department store or big box store.

Enter, the Blade mCX2, by E-flite. Oh man, possibly the best $100 I've spent on a toy before. So good, I ended up getting two! Hahahaha!!! :DLuckily, I found the 2nd one on Craigslist for only $55. And so, my RC Heli collection starts to grow. I kinda wish I still had my older helis that I had before I got my Syma s107... I believe I've had (from chronological order):
- Air Hogs Picooz
- Micro Mosquito Helicopter (SUUUUUCKED)
- Air Hogs Reflex Helicopter (It was okay...)
- Propel Execu-Heli (Really cheap heli...really cheap controls...but it still works!)
- Syma s107 (Really great for its price)
- Blade mCX2 (Awesome heli, kinda pricey, but you get what you pay for!)

I could have sworn I had more before, but I just can't remember the names of them. Hahaha... So, here's my little collection as of now.

(Pictured from left to right: Excecu-Heli, Symma s107G, Blade mCX2 Stock Body, Blade mCX2 [with Carbon Fiber Tail Boom])

Please feel free to share your RC's! :DWould love to get intouch with other fishy peeps that also have an interest in this hobby.

Hey Hey. The blue one you have, I have but its the yellow one..got it from best buy for $30 which is a rip off because online they are much cheaper. But anyways right now I have that, a 4ch FP Hero H995 which is actually a pretty good bird, I have a Walkera CB180D(best that I own), and an Esky Belt CP V2 that I got from a buddy of mine that needs a little work but still flies decent. I'm an ok pilot and a better mechanic after so many crashes and hard landings.

I have one that is capable of inverted flight... extremely hard to fly and fragile. Also have an easy to fly eflight cx2. Have not used them in a long time though. I prefer my nitro monster truck or electric buggy. Used to race them every Saturday at an outdoor track in Woodinville. I would trade airbrushed tops for parts or race fees... thus the name Paintguy.

That's a great start, Poke!

I started out way back in the day with a hummingbird fixed pitch heli knock-off (gws dragonfly).  I went through a Hornet 2 and a humming bird CP before I punted on helis for a long time.  Then I picked up a Blade MSR, then a MCX2, then a MCP.  Of those the MCX2 easily flew the best out of the box.  I still have a hate-hate relationship with the MCP... I did a brushless conversion on it, but I never could get the tail to hold during 3D flight.  I picked up a simulator, Phoenix, before I got my MCP and that helped a lot as far as smooth FFF and 3D practice. I could scream the MCP around the yard all day upright, but the second I got it upside down, the tail would freak and I'd end up on the ground in various states of damage.

After that I built a Turnigy Micro Quad and I was hooked.  Since then I've built a number of multirotors and I've become a pretty decent pilot (flips, rolls, FFF, etc.).  I'm done with helis... too many things can go wrong, too many things to get just right.  Multirotors are easier to build, fix, and generally more stable thanks to the fancy flight controllers they use.

Wow, so glad to see that there are tons more people besides me and pbmax, that enjoy RC things! Very cool!

pbmax, I was so tempted to get a quad-rotor last night, but I just couldn't... I didn't want to over saturate myself with new things and then end up lost between what I wanted to play with. Haha!! I will, at some point, definitely try them out Looooove your hobby room! I can't wait to start displaying my stuff like that!

keeones23, I'm loving the mCX2, and since then, I haven't touched my Syma s107G... mostly because my AA Battery Charger died, and I'm too lazy to buy a new one (whaaaaat?) And the fact that the Syma's remote uses 6 AA batteries just kills me!

paintguy, ahaha, nice! I've never heard of a nitro monster truck before, whoa! Thing must go really fast!

Paintguy wrote:I have one that is capable of inverted flight... extremely hard to fly and fragile. Also have an easy to fly eflight cx2. Have not used them in a long time though. I prefer my nitro monster truck or electric buggy. Used to race them every Saturday at an outdoor track in Woodinville. I would trade airbrushed tops for parts or race fees... thus the name Paintguy.

Hehe, painting bodies is always my least favorite part of a car / truck build. Got any photos of your work?

I got rid of my HPI Savage on account of the noise it made. I'm just a basher and I didn't want my neighbors to hate me

Hirobo Sceadu Evo 50
Hirobo Freya X-Spec 90
T-Rex 450 SE V2
Blade MCX
Blade MSR
Heli-Max Axe 100CP

On the work bench:
Chaos 600 electric, full Agusta 109 fuselage w/retracts, four-blade head in Airlift Northwest scheme.

Previous:
Raptor 60
Kyosho Caliber 30

Nice - that's a spendy collection.  

RC and aviation are sort of my thing. I've lost count of how many Extra 300 variants (RC) I've had.

I had a Trex 450 SE for a bit - got it fixed up and flying, then sold it to a friend. I dumped far more money than I wanted to into helis. I have a few fixed wing rc aircraft, but nothing fancy. My favorite is the kite-like wing you can see in the garage photo.

I have not gotten the airbrush out in a while but here is a sample of my work. When the web started I had the largest r/c gallery in world with step-by-step painting information. I also had a fish tank with convicts in it too .

Whoa, those look nice!

Paintguy wrote:I have not gotten the airbrush out in a while but here is a sample of my work. When the web started I had the largest r/c gallery in world with step-by-step painting information. I also had a fish tank with convicts in it too .

Wow  those are outstanding!  You do very nice work.

I fly large sailplanes and slope gliders. I have been building and flying RC since about 1980. I also have a 100cc ultimate biplane.

Where can you even fly an r/c plane anymore? I used to go down to Redmond to watch.. I think that place is still open if you are a member.

Myself and a bunch of other folks fly over a large, unfinished parking lot at my work. Granted, it's not suitable for large models - nearly all electrics and mostly fairly small. But every once and a while someone brings a nitro heli in.

I would *loooove love love* to see someone fly something like this in person. *swoon*
Yes, has to be a 747.


and

AND THIS. OH MY GOSH. THIS.

I would hate to be a passenger IN that helicopter. Awesome piloting skills though!

Such a beautiful day Sunday I took my 4.5 meter glider out for some slope soaring. Everything was great until a red tail hawk attacked the glider damaging the wing covering. Glider went inverted and spun in from about 100 feet. Anyone need some balsa kindleing? Looks like a new kit for Xmas.

Oh NO!!! So sorry to hear about that...

Well at least I get to build a new one. I like the build almost as much as the flying. It was a ten year old glider so it had a long life. And it was cool to watch the hawk attack it, I just could not dodge him. I have the plans stil so I just need a wood kit and covering. The electronics survived and only the servo gears took a hit.

Oh nice! It's great that you enjoy assembling them as much as flying them. That's what a true hobbyist is all about, in my opinion. LOL. I'm surprised that glider of yours lasted so long. That's really cool, and the fact that you got to witness the hawk do that to your model must be really cool to watch. I just wished that you were able to get it on video. haha

New glider will have a gopro in the nose.

Sweet! Those cameras seem to be getting more and more popular lately.

bassetman wrote:Well at least I get to build a new one. I like the build almost as much as the flying. It was a ten year old glider so it had a long life. And it was cool to watch the hawk attack it, I just could not dodge him. I have the plans stil so I just need a wood kit and covering. The electronics survived and only the servo gears took a hit.

That is pretty epic If you're going to lose a model, it might as well be to a RAPTOR ATTACK!   

I agree - building is a blast.

Bassetman, I hope you can forgive me for this... If you get a gopro on it, I will be hoping for another dinosaur (http://xkcd.com/1211/) attack! I mean, how epic would it be if you caught the hawk coming in for the kill?

My dad loves RC planes but he sucks at flying them    they always end up completely destroyed.

normally the hawks circle with the glider but this guy was not in the mood. funny vid PB. wish i could have throttled up to dodge him.

So, I got this heli as a gift for christmas (yaaaaay!) It's the "Extreme Stunt Heli" I kid you not. That is the name of it. I did some google searching and it turns out that it's just a rebranding of the Syma F3 helis (everything looks similar, the heli, transmitter, and even the li-po batteries/charger that come with it). When I took out the manual, it even says "Manufactured by Syma (logo) a name you can trust." The main body itself even has the "syma" logo imprinted on it! =P

Anywho, out of the box, I already noticed some "iffy" things about this heli.

1. When I try to fly it, it tends to lean towards the left (bank towards the left), I tried trimming it, but i have to trim it all the way to the right, in order for it to marginally stop it from banking, but it still does that... I can't figure out what might be doing that. It's still "flyable" but it just kinda bothers me that it would do that when I'm trying to just have it "hover".

2. The skids on the heli are a bit bent out of shape, not too much, but I figure any minute differences might be the difference between "omg this thing flies great!" to "...the heck is this?!"

3. The gear is wobbly when it spins, but only slightly. Kinda hard to tell, but it's definitely not straight... I'm guessing that this might be why the heli tends to bank to the left, although, I'm not all too sure, since I'm no where near being a pro at this... Eh...

Here's a picture of the heli, the gear is shown, and the only way I can show you guys what I meant by the gear being wobbly is by recording a video of it spinning. I can do that, per request... but yeah, I'd definitely like to solve this left banking issue. Thanks!

There are a few things you can check.

Don't worry about bent skids - that wouldn't cause this problem.

Are the main rotors straight? If the tail rotor has to spin more than the heli is designed for you'll get a bank to the left due to increased force of the tail blades. This can be caused by poorly aligned main rotor blades. A tight mesh between the pinion and spur gears can cause an over-torque situation which will also bump up tail speed, thus pushing everything left. Lubing the rotor and motor shafts might help here.

Make sure all control surfaces are moving freely, but not too lose. If they're too loose you can sometimes tighten them up a little with needle-nose over the ball joints. It doesn't hurt to lube these a little if they're too tight. Make sure you're getting full servo movement as well. It may be necessary to adjust control arm length if possible (screwing one of the ball cup swash connections out or in) to change the "center" position for roll.

How is the center of gravity? There may not be much you can do about this, but it's something to be aware of. A bad CG will cause drift.

pbmax wrote:
How is the center of gravity?  There may not be much you can do about this, but it's something to be aware of.  A bad CG will cause drift.

I was pleasently surprised when the crappy RC heli I bought for $20 from Toys R Us had a fully adjustable center of gravity. I can whip that thing all through the house now that I have it dialed in   

bronzefighter wrote:
I was pleasently surprised when the crappy RC heli I bought for $20 from Toys R Us had a fully adjustable center of gravity. I can whip that thing all through the house now that I have it dialed in   

What kind of mechanism do they have for that?

pbmax wrote:

bronzefighter wrote:
I was pleasently surprised when the crappy RC heli I bought for $20 from Toys R Us had a fully adjustable center of gravity. I can whip that thing all through the house now that I have it dialed in   

What kind of mechanism do they have for that?

.

It was a slider attached to the tailboom. Attached to the slider was a small weight. Maybe not the most efficient way to go about it, but it certainly worked!

Ah, nice. 

See if you can adjust the swashplate linkages so the swashplate sits more level with the transmitter trims centered.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I will check out my heli the moment I get home (still on the ferry from work).

Alright, here's a video of the heli. It was so hard to film so I just tried explaining it to the best of my abilities. lol.

I read your suggestions but there were just so many jargons, that I didn't know what was what. LOL...

If you're ever down in the Oly area again you're welcome to bring it by and I'll poke at it. The swash setup is the same as the walkera cb-100 I used to have. Beyond that it's really difficult to trouble-shoot these things w/o having them in hand.   

Thanks pbmax! Yeah, I kinda figured that trying to troubleshoot a heli over the net would be very difficult =P perhaps I will take you up on that offer, the next time I'm in the area. I will let you know ahead of time, for sure!

Really?? Nobody following this thread wants a deal on a nifty little quad copter?? Thought SOMEBODY would jump on this... Well I figured it more apropos to bump my copter thread here. Seeing as how it's not Fish related. If nobody wants it I'll go ahead and throw it on craigslist before the weekend. If somehow you are unsure of what I'm speaking about check the for-sale forum for quad copter.


TFP
2534593665(text Aaron)

Honestly, I read your post, I even researched the heli.  If I lived closer to you I might have gone for it.  

I try to keep up to speed on this stuff, but I didn't know they had one even smaller than the hubsan x4.  It's a neat little heliquad, for sure.

I -WISH- I had the money to buy that quad from ya. Mmmm.. it'd be my first quad ever.
Alas... I don't have the funds, and I live too far. Boo.