Way harder than I thought

First, a history of my choppers:

1- Airhog Havoc: Little 2 channel foam copter. Went thru about 4 of them becasue they are cheap. Either wore out the motor or the battery. This i before I knew there were quality 2 channels, as I had never heard of xheli.

2- Airhog Reflex: A coax that I GUESS is supposed to be 3 channel. The forward/back motion is achieved by a hovercraft like fan on the back. Foam around plastic. Had fun with it.

Took about a one year break, as I didn't know there was anywhere else to go with the hobby, until I found xheli. Then:

3 - Syma S-001 3 channel coax: Man have I got my $40 out of this. An it's still flying. At first all I could get it to do was hover and it kept spinning around. At one point, I hovered it up to about 100 feet, and then I dunno what happened, it dropped like a rock to the pavement. Here is the video of that.



Anyway, I got lucky and found a local hobby shop that has spare parts for this chopper, and now I can fly figure 8's and stuff.

4 - Syma S-018 3 channel coax Airwolf mini: Cute but mean little guy that I have pretty good control of now and fly it around the house, terrorizing the cats.

AND FINALLY:

5 - ESKY Honey Bee FP V2: I think I screwed up. I just got the Clearview Sim (because that stupid FMS won't work on my computer) and I can't fly it worth a damn. I won't even attempt to fly the real one with the training gear on it for fear of destruction. SO, a couple of questions...

Will it get easier and what is the typical learning curve time frame? I don't want to get discouraged and have a $100 chopper collecting dust while I get bored of my 3 channel.

Should I get a 4 channel coax to help "bridge the gap"? Do the controls on a 4 channel coax translate at all to a FP?

Speaking of controls, which mode should I use on the Honey Bee? I have been using mode 2 on the sim, but have the throttle reversed becasue I am used to pulling down on the left stick to throttle up.

I guess that is about it. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

It will get easier.

Get used to Mode 2 with the throttle the right way. How did you end up learning it backwards?

My advice is, after setting up your new heli and verifying that everything is correct,put the training gear on, spool it up on a smooth surface (parking lot, gym floor) get it light on the skids and start to get a feel for how an rc heli handles in the 'real world.' The simulator can give you a false sense of security. If you can find someone local who flies helis, having them there the first time you try yours can be extremely helpful.


Also definitely go through Radd's School of rotary flight. It's tedious, but you won't regret it.

Since you already have learned to control your other heli in different orientations, you can probably breeze through the Radd drills that are easy for you, but spend the time on the skills that are difficult.


Here's the link:
http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html


I use the sim mostly for flying box patterns about 6 feet off the ground in all orientations. That is where the sim has REALLY helped me. (It's REALLY hard at first, but the payoff is huge.)

Nobody else is going to chime in here? I need some advice from across the board.

Hey, how did that cool signature get created? It even has my helicopter on it, same color and everything!

Nuttcaze makes them! He does a little 'forum detective work' and makes one with your heli (or one close).

4n6Days wrote:

Nuttcaze makes them! He does a little 'forum detective work' and makes one with your heli (or one close).

How did he know I got the red one? lol

Nuttcaze knows ALL.

Donnie D

lonstar70 wrote:

Nobody else is going to chime in here? I need some advice from across the board.

Love your Heli free fall vid!

Maybe i can help, i'm kind of a beginner but i have had tons of heli's for my short period of time getting into this fun hobby, and spent alot of money in that time.
I started with the 3 channel toys like you. Then saw that awesome you tube video of the 3d heli and got myself a falcon 3d. Destroyed that thing out of the box in a bout 10 seconds. Had no idea how anything worked. Sent in for warranty, got it back, sold it!

Then i got a mini spark. That was super hard to fly, again no experience or anybody to teach me and so i broke it.
I then got a HB fp v1 like you. Super easy to fix and troubleshoot. Teaches you the basics of flying and setting up your heli, i don't think it gets much easier than that heli for the FP 4ch series.
I then fixed up my mini spark and could fly and set it with ease thanks to the HoneyBee.
So stay with the 4ch fp HB. IMO its the next level up from where you are. JUST PRACTICE AND READ A LOT ! It does get more fun!

Thanks for the advice Willy. I can have arsed hover on the sim now.

Thanks for watching the video too!

You know our experiences with helis are very similar. My first heli was those Airhog Havocs and the Reflex/Helix. Then I got cocky and bought myself a Walkera 22e. That was a mistake. I crashed my Walkera 22e beyond repair (too many parts to replace). I took a 3 year break.

I'm back again but this time, I'm going to do it right. One thing that really helped was the flight sims and a coaxial heli. I can fly/hover and land them decently. Unfortunately I did some impulse buying and got myself a trex 450 clone. I have yet to build it but I want to build it right so I'll take my time. In the mean time I'm ordered a honey bee fp v2 to learn on the field.