Helicopters
Oh no ! - not more plastic.........................................................
Progress ?
Having run out of challenges with fixed wing led me to look into Helicopters. Knowing nothing about them, I started with an introduction - Radio Controlled Helicopters by Nick Papillon (published by Special Interest Books) - very good - pity it does not really cover setting up properly from a to z.
I had already played indoors with a Hummingbird but the biggest problem was that you have to get someone to trim it properly prior to you flying it - preferably someone who knows what they are doing !. (Thanks Frank) I found the fixed pitch Heli. is far too difficult for a Beginner to learn easily.
Practise with an electric Century Hummingbird was ok but the duration was too limited (6 minutes) for practise purposes. By the time I got it airborne and under control, the battery had gone. Burning out the tail motor after 4 flights did not impress me either. It therefore had to be a noisy, smelly, oily powered I/C version, .30 size sounded optimum. I'm afraid electric leaves me a lttle cold !
I wanted one that was cheap and if I broke it, it was easilly repairable.
I decided that my requirement parameters were ;
a) Cheap, complete with radio.
b) One that had a good track record and had been around for a long time as this would ensure availability.
c) Parts had to be easily and readily available.
d) Basic only - 30 size - no 3D etc.
I concluded that a Hirobo Shuttle would be ideal, as it could be easily modified to any later requirements, and has been around since 1985. Also, spare and upgrade parts were readily available.
Practise with FMS (Cobra is very stable) was ..................................... interesting but relatively easy. This is important - practise first on a Simulator as Helicopter flying is completely different to fixed wing flying and is harder to accomplish. All 4 axes of the two Tx sticks are in use all of the time, whereas with FW only 1 or 2 axes on the same stick are used most of the time. Do not attempt to fly a Helicopter until you can fly it properly on a Simulator. Nose in hovering is very difficult as everything is reversed.
Simulator and Real Model Helicopter - Learning Manouvers Order
1) Controlled Hover from behind. (On the real model Heli., the hover is the Normal set up on the Tx)
2) Side on Hover left.
3) Side on Hover right.
4) Lazy Eights side-on hover left.
5) Lazy Eights side-on hover right.
6) Nose-in hover.
7) Circuits. (On the real model Heli., this requires a different switch controlled set up (flight mode) on the Tx).
Then events took a turn. Vincent was practising with a Raptor 30 and I was interested in how it was trimmed etc. I found out a lot more when he changed Gyros though !
Fraser wanted a powered I/C version as his Hummingbird was almost extinct, so I kept an eye out for one. Brian's neighbour came to the rescue and a complete Shuttle and Tx were purchased (thanks Brian). See "Fraser's Shuttle" for more info.
Having set this one up with a lot of help from both Neil and Vincent (thanks guys), it flew very well. Fraser also took to it like a duck to water ! However, this one did not need much setting up (Helicopter and Tx were already set up and just needed fine tuning) , so I did not learn very much from it.
So I went looking for another and found a likely candidate on E-Bay (Shuttle Z). This time Vincent and I set this one up (after a struggle). However, this one is also flying reasonably well after a prolonged learning curve and modifications, until I broke it (took off without checking trim and the tail had been changed - broke it trying to put it down ! ). It was too badly damaged to repair, so the parts went to the spares bin.
Shuttlle-2 was purchased on E-Bay and was in a very worn state - the trials and tribulations of getting it to fly properly are documented under "My Shuttle ZTS".
A second machine (the Hawk Pro) in kit form was acquired in case the first was unavailable to maintain the learning process.
In the meantime a Raptor 90SE was purchased for later 3D flying.
A third machine (Shuttle-3) was purchased as a kit and built using engine etc. from "Shuttle Z". Broke this attempting to hold stationary nose-in for 5 minutes ! It has been repaired and is operational again.
A fourth machine (the Nexus) was kindly donated by Mick, duly sorted out and flies well. See "Mick's Nexus".
Another two broken Shuttle chassis were kindly donated by Dave, and combined with the spares left from "Shuttle Z", will be a Winter project - resulting eventually in a Robinson R22 scale model.
An unfinished Schweiser 300 kit was obtained and has been completed. The R22 chassis had some wear problems which have now been sorted out.
Shuttle-3 has been re-built for Aerobatics / 3D and needs testing. Shuttle-4 has been similarly modified and partially tested.
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