RC helicopters - for my father

[troypiggo]

I know from previous threads here that there's a few RC helicopter crazy members. I don't know anything about them. Thinking of getting my father one for combo father's day and upcoming birthday. He has, when he was younger, actually flown real light aircraft. I know he'll love this as a "toy".

The previous threads confused me a bit. Talking about "45s" etc. Can someone please put this in lay terms? I hear there's coaxial rotor ones that are easier to fly, but only do 2 axes or directions. Single rotors are harder to fly but more rewarding, and more expensive.

Any of them crash-friendly? :) I know my brother got a "learners" RC plane and it was made so the common parts to impact were cheaply replaceable etc.

What about battery/electric versus petrol motors? Pros/cons? Costs?

Budget I guess under $200 all up? Where to buy etc? Brisbane or Gold Coast.

[Larryp]

Hi Troy-.45 refers to engine capacity in cubic inches. I used to fly model planes many years ago, but can't help you with helicopters. I imagine with your budget, you would have to go electric.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

45 cubic inches?
Blimey. That's some 'toy'.
You could go tank-busting in Iraq with that.
CC's maybe? :)

I don't want to hijack this thread but I too am interested in getting an RC helicopter or floaty thing - but it must have a real-time video camera!
I've just worked out that this would be much easier than walking the fencelines and inspecting every cattle-trough on foot.

[Larryp]

Peter-read my post. It says POINT45 cubic inches-about 7.5 cc

[Nico13]

Hi Troy,
Yep I flew them and crashed them and really had a lot of fun with them.
The twin rotor coaxial are definately a lot easier to fly and cheaper to buy until you get to the larger size and then they become a similar price to some of the single rotor full collective pitch machines.

The single rotor machines have a very steep learning curve to come to grips with but there a some great flight simulators that let you gain a lot of stick time before you throw your money at the ground. :D

I always told the wifey that the ground came up and smacked it really hard :P :lol:

But seriously they are a lot of fun I haven't priced them for a while but the single rotor machine in what is refered to as a 400 or 450 size is fully aerobatic and a kit from a local hobby shop ready to fly with radio gear and batteries, the works $500 for a good one that you can get parts for after any small misshaps.

You would have to check current prices but the Brand names are Blade 450 or TREX 450. there are others but your local hobby shop would have to let you know what brands they deal with.

Another option is the quad copters do a search for them to have a look they are a lot of fun and cheaper and easier to fly, I,ve flown one of them and they're much more crash freindly than the others and easy to fly be a good starting point.

Here is some crap video on an even crappier day of my 600 size TREX Electric ( electric is the way to go )

But have a look around youtube at the ones I mentioned above and also for quad coptersand coaxials, give you a good idea of what they can do and then it's just a matter of how many dollars are involved.

Hope this helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzwmwnAuhuI&feature=channel&list=UL

[acropolite]

Troy, $200 is probably more than you need to spend on a budget heli and way too little for a serious model. For a decent battery heli you would probably want to spend at least $500 or more. Better models have collective and cyclic control and are controllable in all dimensions. The cheaper models basically have 3 channel control, throttle, fixed pitch and tail rotor control, meaning up, down, forward backward and yaw (basically swivelling about the main rotor axis). Models with collective and cyclic control allow banking and turning like a real heli, some will even fly inverted and do stunts.

Syma make some quite good mini helis, suited only for indoor, what ever place you buy from ask if they have spares, i.e. batteries, blades, motors. I have 3 helis, one a fuel powered Hirobo, from memory I paid around $700 second hand. The two others are a radio controlled twin rotor models that cost around $70 with a rotor diameter of around 10 inches, the other infra red and around 6 inch diameter twin rotor, cost around $40. The smaller of the two (made by Syma) flies the best and has the longest flight time, the battery also seems to be of better quality.

Someone else will hopefully fill in the gaps on what's available between the cheapies I have and your budget maximim.

If youre curious here's a link to some reasonable quality electric stuff http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/blade-400.html

[Nico13]

Just re-read your post and spotted the budget, I reckon your in the coaxial or quad copter price range there.
Here is a place to talk to

ZeeJays, very good people to deal with they are online shopping only I think in your area so delivery would be fast, but give them a call on the contact info they are the best to deal with and will talk to you no probs.
This link is one of the quad copters in the brand name I mentioned and spot on for price ready to fly, would be the way to go.

http://www.zeejayhobbies.com.au/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=6765

One other thing that is important, as he has been a pilot before you should get a (Mode 2) transmitter with the kit as it has the throttle and rudder on the left stick and aileron and elevator on the right stick. It will seem more natural for him to fly that way as it's more like a joy stick in a real plane.

[acropolite]

Troy, Blade helis review quite well.

If you want something closer to the high performance end (but harder to fly) end this may be worth a look. You'll note as well that there's a full range of spares available.

http://www.modelflight.com.au/products/Blade_mCP_X_Electric_Helicopter_RTF _Mode_1-8629-60.html

[Nico13]

Phil is right Troy the Blade heli do rate well, I started with a Blade 400 and the other one he has listed is also a good option if you think he would like something that more resembles a real helicopter than the quad does.
Whatever you wind up with he'll have a lot of fun with it.
Good luck in choosing.

By the way ZEEJAYS will let you pickup from their place I think even though they are really an online shop, ask them if you can do that, if they are close enough to you it'd be worth a look.
Would give you a chance to have a look at what they have as well before you made a choice.
I used to get all my spare parts from them as they had the best range and stock. :thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Thanks heaps for the tips, guys. Food for thought, and need to talk to my brother about which direction we head in from here.

They look like fun. Wonder if they'll do a discount for 2 or 3 purchases at same time? :)

[DavidTrap]

I've got a TRex 500 in the garage that is gathering dust - haven't flown heli's since I got into astronomy.

I'd have to pull it out and make sure it works, but I'd be happy to part company with the heli and all of it's electronics (servos & gyro), two batteries (will need to make sure they're still good) and a charger for $250. To this you'd need to add a transmitter (my transmitter is 36Mhz and mode 1).

These sort of heli's aren't for the feint of heart. The coaxial ones that you see flying in the shopping centres are "inherently stable", where as a conventional heli is like a woman - "it's got a mind of it's own and it's always doing something".

DT

[bloodhound31]

I bought one of those $30 micro choppers a while ago. Had a lot of fun with it and crashed it 100 times before I finally broke it. I was hankering for a bigger and more challenging chopper before very long though. After flying some of the realistic sims I feel like the gyro-stabilised choppers are pretty tame and not fulfilling in flight.

WATCH THIS ONE!!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pyYEvg-n58)(Turn your volume all the way up)

Baz.

[Larryp]

Love the video Baz!-doesn't it sound fantastic!

[DavidTrap]

Turbines even smell right - kerosene!!! Pity that price of that heli would rival a high end imaging rig.

DT