Remote control heli copters

jaydee · 06-11-2007, 10:56 PM

Anyone here into remote contol helicopters?
Recently on a trip to Hong Kong I got a couple of little foam ones that me and the young bloke flew around in the hotel room.

They were about as big as a cigarette packet and flew for about 5 mins and took about 15 mins to charge. Great fun but they've packed it in now.

Well I've got the bug and been surfing ebay for bigger and better ones.
Problem is do I got battery or petrol powered, does anyone have any advice.

I'm leaning to battery but they only last 5 minutes from what some of the ads say and petrol is a bit of mucking around.
I dont won't to be spending big bucks either, about $200 max.
Cheers.

GORDZ · 07-11-2007, 09:47 AM

lol, i'm in EXACTLY the same boat. had a blast with them. electric is a waste. go petrol.. but they do cost alot. the alternative is that $50 battery one, has no body or anything but is fully 3D, so instead of just controlling height and steering with the foam ones, this one you controll pitch as well =)

winkle · 07-11-2007, 10:06 AM

Have a look on www.graysonline.com.au. It's an online auction website with specialist sellers and various categories. On the home page, click on Home and Entertainment, then scroll down to the Toys and Games category. We've bought a few things off them - its very professionally run, and everything is paid for and despatched by the auction house.

hrdcor · 07-11-2007, 11:54 AM

Stick to battery until you get flight down, otherwise repairs will hurt the back pocket. Myself and the old man now have an 80% balsawood chopper and we are still crashing it

. Petrol is alot of fun, but once you get outdoors, its a whole new ballgame.

kremmen · 07-11-2007, 01:07 PM

some cheap battery ones here

http://www.oo.com.au/RC_Helicopters_C764.cfm

bob^ · 07-11-2007, 05:27 PM

You get what you pay for with the choppers. Unfortunately the cheap ones just don't cut it. I had a 4 chan. dragonfly and it really wasn't that good. I gave up on it but my brother got bitten by the bug and is a chopper guru now. He flies a T-rex.

I'd recommend you get a good second hand one as it will be easier to fly.

tim2x · 07-11-2007, 05:29 PM

I would like to get into the petrol ones, same with the rc cars.

I bought a little helicopter from jaycar for $40. Difficult to fly :P

**M&Ms** · 07-11-2007, 09:14 PM

My friend bought one of these, and I had a play with it, was pretty cool. Just don't take it outside when there's even the slightest hint of wind.

Lama Helicopter

I dunno how serious you want to get with this hobby, but if its for nothing more than fooling around indoors, then this one should do you good.

jaydee · 07-11-2007, 09:12 PM

Thanks people, given me some good ideas.
Sorry winkle, I went to graysonline but couldn't see any choppers, I'll keep checking.
Thanks too kremen, they look like what I should be practicing with so I dont smash up a petrol one while still learning.

bob^ · 07-11-2007, 09:16 PM

Jaydee check out this site. He's an importer of a lot of chopper related stuff.

http://www.wattsuprc.com.au/

For a cheap one, these aren't meant to be bad
http://www.wattsuprc.com.au/product_...=EK1H-E012A-M1

And this is a great heli forum - Your questions would be best answered by these blokes
http://www.archeli.com.au/cobra/

crusher · 07-11-2007, 10:11 PM

Nitro Chopper for 200 bucks? Good luck buddy. Pretty much add another zero on the end!

If you seriously wanna fly go something like Venom Ocean Rescue, any number of the twister helis or the Blade Heli (My fave as you wont get radio interference.) All around 200 dollars and have counter rotating blades. Pretty easy to fly. Indoors only. Can get all spare parts and are a lot of fun. You control everything. Up, down, side to side, spin blah blah.

Just for fun you can stay with the little foam or plastic ones that just creep forward and you control spin and up/down.

From the counter rotating next step is say a Venom Night Ranger 2 or most other single blade helis. Harder than twin blade but a good step up. Should get used to them pretty quickly if you get good on the cheaper ones.

From there you then have all your 3D helis which can go upside down and do tricks and stuff and are A LOT harder then pretty much anything else youll fly.

THEN you can move upto Nitro. From what I know the nitros are actually pretty good as the extra weight etc makes it very stable but you need no know what your doing cos if you crash one well your gonna pay.

Hope some of that info helped. Whatever you get good luck. I dont have enough patience for the bloody things haha.

Another bit, It may help alot if you go and visit a local hobby shop as they SHOULD be able to help you and set you up.

Duke · 07-11-2007, 10:44 PM

Yeah, I got the E-Sky Lama V4 off ebay for a bit of fun. It's a coaxial rotation chopper - the ones with 2 blades that rotate in opposite direction and they have no tail rotor.

They are very easy to fly and a load of fun for about $150 - $200.
My tips
- buy a spare battery
- buy unbreakable landing skids (they're cheap)
- buy the upgrade blades that are harder to break, you'll need them.
- and DON'T turn on the chopper before the control unit... you MUST turn on the control unit first.... trust me!

you'd need a space about as big as a double garage to fly without too many drama's or go outside on a VERY calm day...
good luck with it.

jaydee · 07-11-2007, 11:00 PM

That lama sounds like the go.
Good tips OpTrader, I'll probably go the extra battery, I hate waiting for charge up.

XR6-VCT-2000 · 07-11-2007, 11:13 PM

Sorta related.... and you might be interested.... I came across a free program on the web a few months back, totaly free. It allowed you to somehow plug you controller into your pc usb port ( i think a certian wire was required from a hobby shop ) and use your controller to fly a chopped in a 3d simulator program, thus teaching you how to use the controls and control a chopper before spending a fortune and crashing it on its first run !. Google it and im sure you will find the program , it was totaly free.

fmc351 · 07-11-2007, 11:30 PM

If youre going to get one, make sure you can fly it.

Some of these cant be classed as toys, I recall a picture of a guy who was hit by one, and the stitches ran from forehead to chin. His face was a mess.

Duke · 08-11-2007, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmc351

If youre going to get one, make sure you can fly it.

Some of these cant be classed as toys, I recall a picture of a guy who was hit by one, and the stitches ran from forehead to chin. His face was a mess.

Exactly! Hence my stressing that you turn on the controller BEFORE the chopper is switched on. Turnng on the chopper first leads to uncontrolled and sudden bursts of power.
It seems harmless enough for a "toy" but I was hit by the baldes when I turned on the chopper on it's maiden flight, picked it up to place it on the ground and and it suddenly came alive and the blades struck my cheek, deep gashes about 1" long... Merely a bit of a shock and a bit of blood, no drama's... but 1" higher and the blade would've gone through my eyeball... not so innocent once I realised that!

Pedro · 08-11-2007, 01:41 AM

I had a mate spend countless hours building a big remote petrol helicopter only to loose control on it's maiden flight. Unfortunately it went full tilt into the chook shed and decapitated Foghorn-Leghorn the Rhode Island rooster as he tried to protect his flock from the incoming.

XCSEDAN · 08-11-2007, 02:24 AM

with $200 your limiting yourself to a lot...

your only going to be able to get something simple, but it will be a bit of fun none the less

i fly radio controlled planes, never tried heli (to damn expensive)

dads got an electric lipo powered one in the shed, i cant remember what it's called, ill check sometime later today

mark180227 · 08-11-2007, 07:54 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61sHE6ZULF8

chopp · 08-11-2007, 07:56 AM

Heres a good one to start on , you will be able to fly this pretty easily.
http://takeoffandland.com.au/product...e04ccb450d538a

Then if you decide to get a bigger petrol or electric with all controls you will need something like this so you can get a hover going so you don't total the heli on the first flight.
http://takeoffandland.com.au/product...e04ccb450d538a

here are a few of the bigger ones .

http://takeoffandland.com.au/index.p...e04ccb450d538a

its a great hobby , but if you only want to have a bit of a play around , and keep the budget low $200-$300 stick with the first link . when you get into the bigger helis , nitro or electric , you go into the $1500-$3000 when you get all your starting gear , batteries , goo transmitter ect.

chopp · 08-11-2007, 08:07 AM

chopp · 08-11-2007, 08:10 AM

Duke · 08-11-2007, 08:14 AM

Chopp, (is that why your name is Chopp?) is the single rotor copter (as pictured) a LOT harder to fly than the coaxial in your opinion. Hovering etc is easy with the coaxial but I find the "toilet bowl effect" is a bit of a problem and any sort of wind wreaks havoc because it's so light and small...

Zed7fiddy · 08-11-2007, 08:33 AM

Me and a mate are addicted to the foam ones from toyworld!

Not sure if the funds can support a growing 4x4 habit and a chopper lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdkasDO1Dt8

dallasv8 · 08-11-2007, 09:09 AM

my mate sells choppers and cars at Herc Hobbies in townsville.

ive done displays with the chopper and car club at school fetes and the brushless choppers with lipo batterys get long run times and do all sorts of amazing stuff.
i personally run cars as i suck at the planes and choppers

it was fun doing backflips with my truck as the choppers flew underneath but

chopp · 08-11-2007, 10:02 AM

yes the ones with the single rotor are alot harder to fly. thats why its a good idea to start on a simulator before the real thing . u can usually buy a second hand sim and then if you are not too keen on them , you can sell the sim and not loose much money.

winkle · 09-11-2007, 04:06 PM

New toys auction just opened on graysonline. Helicopters, dragonflys, planes etc. Prolly worth a captain cook.