Anyone here into RC helicopters?

[hotspur]

Well firstly HAPPY NEW YEAR to all IIS members-hope everyone has a fantastic new year.

Over the Xmas holidays our sons played with their RC helicopters I bought them for xmas,one was a small S107 that is mainly for in door use,it works very well,it cost $49,but cheaper price can be had on ebay.

The other is a larger 3C channel single blade model,took a day or so for them to work the trim out,but after that all went well,got some great photos.

I expected either of these helicopters to come to grief,but they have had no serious need to call out the NTSB.

The larger has developed an issue-the tail motor had smoke coming from tail motor and no longer is fly-able.It appears the tiny tail motor could be replaced with a similar motor (see link)

http://www.xheli.com/mibrmohetamo.html

Is there anyone into RC's here that might know somewhere in Australia that parts can be sourced from?I think there was a person here on IIS that was right into these RC helicopters.but forgot who it was.

cheers Chris

[cfranks]

Chris,

I still fly (but very poorly) RC Helis and have been doing so for about 15 years. I don't have any experience with the very small ones but I get my batteries etc from http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/index.rc They might be able to help.

Charles

[acropolite]

Search on ebay for the model, then visit the ebay stores listed, they usually have spares.

[Simon Holmes]

Crashed more then half a dozen of these RCs!
Flown 4 channels models mostly.

[TrevorW]

I've got one I don't use, to bloody hard, just don't have the ability. I purchased spare parts for this overseas no problems

[csb]

So, does the single blade fly good and stable? I suppose it cost a lot more than the smalller chopper.

I can only suggest google for some stores in Australia. My mini chopper has crashed many times but has not sustained any damage.

And this link to a IIS thread on RC choppers:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=83958&highlight=chopper

Good luck pilot!

[steve000]

Parts are easy to get from Ebay and hobbyking.


I also got a S107 knockoff for $25 from Kmart, its damn great fun!.

[Jeremy Parker]

Graduated to nitro model after 3 years and what a fun compared to li-ion battery models.If you want real action, make the switch.
Li-ion can only last 3 mins at the most......

[cfranks]

Jeremy, I used nitro a lot but my big models are now petrol. My Schweitzer (Hughes) 300 has a 26 cc engine and carries 1.5 Litre petrol. Over 30 min flying although I need a nap long before I need to refuel!

Charles

[Jen]

I have a RC buggy (coughs) :lol: well my son has buggy and its so much fun :D man this thing flies :lol::lol:

Anyway i use these guys from Sydney they are great to chat too and very quick with their deliveries :thumbsup:

http://www.rchobbyestore.com.au/RC%20Helicopters/

[hotspur]

Thanks all for the links,the Sydney store looks handy Jen.Will give them a call.

The helicopter is one blade main rotor,quite stable,works well in fight.Great to watch,but I'd certainly not wish to have ago.

It cost $100 but could be bought of Ebay cheaper.I am quit surprised how robust both are,I expect these to go 'splat'
long before a motor burnt out.

[bloodhound31]

I bought the little micro ninja just for fun a few weeks ago and already want a bigger one.

Monaro models in Fyshwick, Canberra sells lots of choppers and all the spare parts for when you crash them.

Baz.

[Peter Ward]

I have a Concept .30 Kyosho with a Jet Ranger shell.

Best thing I ever did was buy a PC based flight similator that plugs directly into my Futaba transmitter.

Crashed the sim *many many* times before I understood tail rotor side-wash.

You need to master hovering.

After that it's a lot of fun :thumbsup:

[hotspur]

Thanks Peter and Baz.

I will pass the information on to the 'pilots'.

I see a HUGE and and I mean huge RC mineral dump truck
on the site 'Jen' suggested in Sydney(thanks Jen:shrug:)

It looks less likely to have major accidents,and at $81 not to bad
a price (thanks Jen:shrug:)

Yes,the hobby shops look like one could really enjoy themselves in!

[Jen]

:thumbsup: i have been having way too much fun with my sons buggy that he has now banned me from using it :shrug: after a major crash into a fence after flipping it a few times it does awsome donuts in the gravel flicking stones everywhere hehehehe I think im going to have to get my own now :lol:

[hotspur]

ha,ha heeee-good to hear you have fun with it!

That site you gave the link too certainly has some great RC items,for the size of some of the itms the prices seem rather reasonable-the large mineral dump truck for $81 is 8 inches wide and almost three foot long!


http://www.rchobbyestore.com.au/Items/3078-1-Dump-truck?&caSKU=3078-1-Dump-truck&caTitle=HUGE%20NEW%20RADIO%20REMOTE %20CONTROL%20RC%20DUMP%20TRUCK%20TI PPER
Thanks Charles for the site you mentioned (I think),I did like the look of that cessena 310 at 1m by 1m I thought that would look great hanging from the ceiling.

BTW Jen post some pics of ya RC buggy when ya get it :lol:

[hotspur]

Here is a couple of images of the larger helicopter,that had a tail motor burn out.I made sure I took some photos ,as I did not think such a thing would last long.Thankfully we have very large open spaces (grazing paddocks) so that helped a lot.Apart from a few scratches it lasted well,and looked like lots of fun.

I had to go to the battery shop today,were it was purchased,and the chap who runs the shop asked how it went-I told him about the blue smoke from tail motor,he told us to bring it back,and we got (or Santa got ) a full refund.He said all four copies he sold had the same fault.A real shame,as I really liked the look of the chopper with one blade system,most have two which looks a bit silly to me.

Apparently,the chap said those S107 (the smaller one we got for other son)were by far the best,but they no longer make them,but the owners are
testing a new one very similar.

Anyhow thanks for all the very useful links,I'm putting my spare change towards that scale model RC mineral dump truck ,at 75cm long and 19 cm
wide-must have! (thanks Jen:shrug:)

images as came out of 50D using 400L lens

[plmedcraft]

I have been flying nitro and electric heli's for over 5 years now and have had a 90 size nitro MD500 scale, a couple of 50 size thunder Tiger Raptors and in recent years have transitioned to 500 and 600 size electrics.
RC heli's are enormous fun but there are a couple of tricks that often get learned the hard way.
First, small is hard not easy, I know, seems ridiculous but the bigger ( and by that I mean 500 size or larger) are more stable, and less impacted by breeze, ground effect etc.
Second, if you start small and love it you will jump to a little larger, then jump again and again. The cost of those jumps are more than buying the large heli up front.
Third, you need to start with a flight sim, no matter what anyone says. It will save you money and stress. Crash in your computer, not on the field.
Lastly, go to a club, learn with people who have done it before because you need to build your heli, it's the only way to learn how they fly and more importantly enable you to rebuild and I promise you will need to.
Have fun, I do whenever I can, flew this afternoon...

[solissydney]

Is the bigger one by any chance a Blade 120.
If so I can be of help
Ken

[hotspur]

Thanks for offer of help Ken.

But the shop owner has said the batch he had in of this model were all faulty.They all had burn out motors in two days.So he refunded all buyers.

Its a real shame,as this chopper looked very good with the one blade,we will buy our son a similar one,hopefully with one main blade design.If you know of such a model,please send links.It will be our son's birthday in a couple of months,so will get one around then.The shop sold every RC helicopter they had!,so we bought him a Bear Grylls survival knife as a secondary Xmas present-he would have like the heli better.But the knife was his second choice-damn good Gerber knife too-it will last a long time.

Would'nt mind a S107 myself,but apparently they no longer are made.