R/C Helicopters

[DynamicallyUnstable]

So, I was a school the other day, and this guy brings in this R/C helicopter. It was the coolest toy I have ever seen. Itwas all to scale, EC-135 (fenstron tail and all) and it was around 4 feet from nose to tail! Here's the cool part...it was turbine! I don't know if that's all that common but I've never seen that before. Runs on jet fuel and all. He started it up and it sounded exactly like the astar I am used to hearing! It was way cool. Has all kinds of computer controls. Very impressive and expensive toy! I asked him what something like that costs... he said around $10,000! And it doesn't come assembled! He had a body shop paint it. Man, it was cool and I just thought I'd share.

Happy Flying!:ok:

[footlock]

load of diff model heli manufacturers are now doing turbines ,lovely models.
the turbines have come across form the model jet side......
Def sound like the real thing .
See Vario helis for great turbine models:O

[Hilico]

Saw a Discovery Channel (?) program featuring a chap in Germany who had a turbine-powered model. I agree, it was sex on a stick.

The same program showed various other large-scale models, and it was quite obvious that the control systems used are quite different to what you will find on full-sized aircraft - the models are a lot more advanced. I suppose that's because the models don't have to go through the airworthiness certification procedure and innovation can proceed driven by the technology rather than legislation. I got the impression that if full-scale helos were able to use that technology, they would be a lot easier to fly.

[Capn Notarious]

I have just seen the Vario MD520notar, any chance Father Christmas?

[ShyTorque]

Hilico,

Some of the stuff these r/c models can do is quite incredible.

I can't wait to try the upside down hover! :cool:

[Hilico]

ShyTorque

I already have!

Luckily the instructor was able to get it back.

[ShyTorque]

Hilico,

I was thinking about the fullsized aircraft :E

[Hilico]

ShyTorque

So was I...

[ShyTorque]

Good one! :D

Has the grass grown back yet?

[7balja01]

do you love rc choppers?

If so, feel free to post pics of your fleet here!

jacob.:cool:

looks like i\'m talking to a brick wall.:{

jacob.

[Simon853]

I saw an amazing turbine NH90 at Sandown model exhibition a few years back. It was enormous, about 6' long, and had a rotor brake fitted also for a more accurate shut down. Hearing that thing startup and then seeing it fly to scale was incredible. (I've always been more of a fan of the scale flying that the flitting about like a bumblebee acrobatics, skillful though I know it is.)

What impresses me about those model turbines is the computer controlled startup and shutdown, with automated cooling cycles, etc. What with the real world worries of hot starts, cracking the throttle, etc. why don't thy incorporate such systems in real world small turbine machines?

Si

[JimL]

Simon,

Isn't that what FADEC does? For older turbine engines, isn't that function achieved with Usage Monitoring System?

[R22DRIVER]

Hi Guys,

Being an avid RC helicopter pilot as well as a hummble R22 driver the things these small machines can do is truely unbeleivable!

I find it harder to fly the models than the real thing!!

If you want to see what these things can do take a look at either a guy called Bob Johnson ( British ) or Curtis Youngblood ( American ).
Unfotunalty i cannot find any video links for them just now but ill have a look when i get home!

The things these guys can do will make your jaw hit the floor!!

Ive personally seen Bob hovering inverted so close to the floor, when he landed his blades had scratch marks on them!!!

R22

[and Tompkins]

I recently purchased a "Bade CP" for around $200 US. It's a lot of fun to play with, but it can be expensive at first. M/R blades are balsa and tend to shatter when augered in. Replacement parts are fairly inexpensive and everything is modular.

What's great about this one is that it has M/R collective pitch control and an electric tailrotor (seperate motor, no driveshaft). They say it's aerobatic capable ... I haven't tried (on purpose) yet! Lot's of fun!

Check out Horizon Hobby's website:
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/ByCategory/Product/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLH1100

[goose boy]

I have recently just bought a battery powered R/C helicopter & have not been able to put it down.

It's called the E-sky Honey Bee and I bought it @ Helitech after watching a couple of guys giving demos at there packed out stand.

It’s really cool stuff and they are practically indestructible because the blades are plastic, it’s similar to the picture above but more for a beginner as it is fixed pitch. I have flown mine into walls & most of the furniture around the house, (there designed for indoors) also if you do break anything every part is replaceable & the parts are dirt cheap. I also got a simulator for the pc so I have been practicing with my transmitter on the PC and giving it a go on the real thing and it really does work.

Now I have mastered the fixed pitch I can’t wait to get my first collective pitch to give the aerobatics a go.

If anybody wants the company number that sells this private message me & I will dig it out.

[Gbarral]

Ive just go myself a Raptor RC helicopter and I think its more difficult than an R22 to fly!

Well I never crashed an R22 but I have bounced the boom through the rotors on the Raptor landing backwards!

[svtcobra66]

I just bought myself an Ark X400, its a great stable electric heli, its larger than the normal micro stuff, has an aluminum tail boom and frame, collective pitch main AND tail rotor, and a belt-drive system for the tail rotor. You can get them on ebay through RC Expert for like 250 with EVERYTHING but the transmitter/reciever. Brushless motor and esc, lithium battery, etc are included. Tower hobbies also carries it now as a Helimax MX400, its really very stable, right now i'm at the hovering and floating around stage : ). Plus, it costs considerably less per hour than full sclae :E

[OFBSLF]

A friend of mine is into RC aircraft, though planks not helis. He did introduce me to the verb "rekit". When you buy one of these things, it comes in a kit that you put together. Periodically you "rekit" them, typically with a botched landing...

My guess is that with RC helis they would get rekitted rather often.

[R22DRIVER]

Its not so much rekit them but more like replace the bent bits!!!

Spares after a crash would normally cost me around £ 100 to get flying again!

Hovering inverted then pushing up instead of down gives a nice explosion of my Thunder Tiger Raptor! Carbon blades at 1800 rpm make a great explosion when you loose the fight with the ground!!!

Ill see if i can dig out some before and after pics!!!

R22

[goose boy]

Thats why the Honey Bee is so cool, the most I have spent after a bad crash is about £20

[Garysim]

Guys have a look at this site in the UK for turbines they produce some lovely scale gas turbine Heli's.

http://www.rcturbinehelicopters.com/

[float test]

Its how i got started. The most common RC helicopters are called Concept 30 and 60 made in japan. I had a sixty, took me 3 months to build it then i had to take it to a specialist to sort it out.

After twenty hours training sort of got the basics but extremely tricky to fly especailly when its coming at you ( all controls reversed ) The power is extreme, vertical climbs to its out of sight in seconds

But at the end of the day its the same as the real thing you just need two arms and legs (quick legs help to get out of the way when its screaming at you).

I stopped after falling out of several trees retrieving it, no joke!!!!

[GS-Alpha]

I got my first RC heli when I was 16 years old. I worked all Summer to pay for it and built it in my free time. I crashed it in about 7 seconds. During that short flight, I nearly put it in three different trees (one of them more than once) and eventually crash landed into a pond. I say eventually because it was the longest 7 seconds of my life! To be fair, it was also more of a crash than a crash landing, although I did kind of decide to let it go in there because it seemed like a better option than the trees.

16 years on, and several thousands of pounds later, I still love the hobby. Eventually crashing becomes a rare event as long as you know your capabilities and the right pace at which to improve them. Patience makes the hobby a lot cheaper.

These days there are commercially available training skids, buddy box leads and computer simulators. It's relatively very cheap and easy to learn.

[glyn thrash]

if you need help on R/C, go to www.helifreak.com great group of guys!! they have scale, turbine, nitro, and electric.. some great vids on there too..

[7balja01]

i fell in love with rc helis when i was fourteen, even though i've never flown one to this day. the micro electric was a mini dragonfly.


piece of S#$T!!


It was a cheap piece of crap. However, this hasn't put me off. Im going to work my ass off all christmas holidays so i can get my hands on a .30.

[Simon853]

When I was seven I used to gaze for hours at r/c helicopter magazines, and I longed for one for many years after that. Back in 1999 I finally bought my first one: An X-Cell 60 Graphite kit (yeah, I had more money than sense!) I built it and set it up entirely on my own as there were no specialist helicopter shops near where I was living in Canada. I had to order everything I needed over the net. I taught myself to fly it, and feel I did surprisingly well considreing I had no help whatsoever. It wasn't until I was on my third gallon of fuel and after I'd learnt circuits and nose-in hovering that I actually had my first crash. That however was expensive enough to convince me that I needed something ceaper. So I bought a Raptor 30. I practiced on that, pushing my boundaries, and saved the X-Cell for stuff I was alread comfortable with. I've not flown my helis now for a couple of years. I've got a Raptor 60, half-built Airwolf with Vario mechanics and an electirc Eco 8 all sat in the garage. One day I'll get back into it, just at the moment all my money's going on real world flying!

Si

[OFBSLF]

Its not so much rekit them but more like replace the bent bits!!! Rekitting is the action that bent those bits that you now have to replace :p

[Skeeter Pilot]

How about this?
http://website.lineone.net/~sarrac/Wren-Pred/
SP
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