electric helicopter for beginner!

[blakeatron]

after getting all my oldish cars and buggies up and running, including buying a re re lunchbox and f350 i need a chopper! 

wanted one for ages!

so am a total newbie to flight, apart from paper planes... it has to be electric, cheapish to buy and fix, and chopper looking!

am i right in thinking i need the 6 channel ones to get full flight options?

 

all help and any pics much appreciated!

[tamiya monkey]

hi there i had a 4 channel electric chopper, which the wife bought me last christmas. i was really looking forward to getting the little baby airborne.  i should have listened to other people and used some training software first, but no not me i was born to fly, as u can guess i crashed it with minutes and would have been cheaper to buy another than repair it. so from now on im sticking to cars. ive seen the heli's with the twin rotor blades that seem really easy to fly and cheap, wish i bought one lol.

[beetlebanger]

try silverlit on ebay. there only bout 30 quid very good value

[Morpheus]

Picollo do them, but for more information try MidlandHelicopters.co.uk

Theres a beginners guide on there.

I fly the larger kits, with a 3 ft wing span. These are extremely hard to fly. I bought an indoor one, never ever got it off the ground !

Sold on ebay 3 weeks later

DOn't under estimate how hard these are to fly, but when you get there they are excellent 

 

[Tipsy]

Someday I'll get my ECO8 electric going. Spent plenty of time setting it up, and using simulators for practice. Now need to try (crash[:$]) the real thing

[tupers]

I would rcomend either a Twister Bell 47 or a Easy Copter v2. they both look prety scale and are twin rotord and are good quality.

On the down side they are both 120 quid. But spares are redily avalible for them and they both have good after sale back-up.

Personaly i would go for one of these as they dont brake easily and altogh they are not the cheapest on the market they are a lot better quality than some internet hellis.

 

[jozza]

A couple of things to consider - do you want to fly outdoors or indoors only, and do you want aerobatic capability? Most of the cheaper options won't fly outdoors unless it is completely calm. The 4 channel copters are fixed pitch, 6 channels gives you collective pitch. What that means is that you can adjust the pitch of the main rotors to control lift, rather than simply adjusting the speed of the motor. With a collective pitch heli, you keep the speed of the motor more or less constant and adjust the pitch to increase or decrease lift. Collective pitch gives you the advantage of being able to do aerobatics, including upside down flight. It also gives you a finer degree of control.

For a beginner the 4 channel fixed pitch helis might be easier to fly, but they still take a little practice. The 6 channels take even more practice. I would recommend that you get a simulator if at all possible, some of the copters on Ebay have this included, and it's well worth while. Also you can add a trainer rig (with the carbon rods and ping pong balls) to help you when you get started.

I think that the most important thing to bear in mind is parts availability. If (when) you crash and break a rotor, you want to be able to get another at a reasonable price and without too much delay. For this reason, I would steer clear of Ebay sellers who don't offer spares.

I've been looking on Nitrotek's site, www.nitrotek.co.uk and they do a range of helis which seem to cover all levels, and they have good spare parts backup. I'm considering one of their Honey Bee helis, but can't yet make up my mind whether to go for the 4 or 6 channel. I've got a couple of indoor twin rotor helicopters, they are fun but I think that the twin rotor ones are a bit limited, and for serious flying you need to go single rotor with a gyro.

[Stickman]

Having had a single and twin rotor heli, I would recommend getting a dual rotor (contra rotating) heli to start with, they are much easier to get the hang of and won't (shouldn't!) put you off learning.  I bought a cheap twin rotor from rc-expert.com its pretty good for the money and he has good spares back up.

 Once you have learned the twin rotor you can always buy a 3D (6 channel, variable pitch) heli for "proper" flying!

Whatever you buy get some spare blades at the same time as the heli (even if it comes with some) as you will need them.

Its great fun when you can start controlling them, just be patient and persevere.

 Have fun

Cheers

Dave

[Bodis]

Hi

It is my understanding that helis with counter rotating rotors are the easiest to fly.

If you are thinking of getting one with a single rotor, do not under estimate how hard they are to fly.

I have a Venom Night Ranger 2 and it took probably 20 charges of the battery to learn how to hover stationary.

I have been very impressed how well it has stood up to heaps of crash landings.

Cheers