Esky RC helicopters
Discussion
Three years ago they were diabolical, both in terms of design and quality. Check the forums, there were never-ending threads on mods to improve them or incorporate Align parts. I put every e-sky upgrade on my CP and it was a much improved machine, but I kept getting parts arriving that just weren't up to scratch. E.g. In a bag of three uprated flybar shafts only one was serviceable. Same story with blades and tail belts.
In the end I moved away from them to Align T-Rex's. Would never go back. Yes they're expensive, but you do get what you pay for! The Align stuff never wears out, it's more accurate and responsive, I've not had a single part fail in flight and it has survived crashes without needing a single spare part.
In the end I moved away from them to Align T-Rex's. Would never go back. Yes they're expensive, but you do get what you pay for! The Align stuff never wears out, it's more accurate and responsive, I've not had a single part fail in flight and it has survived crashes without needing a single spare part.
Edited by _Al_ on Thursday 1st March 19:27
I have a CP3 (with all of the upgrade bits fitted) and for the money I think it is very good, I have used it to get back into the hobby and it is ideal for flying about in the garden, here is a picture of it next to one of my other machines.
And it it's little box
Ok, I did strip it down and re-build it before I fist tried to fly it. But I would never trust any "out of the box flyer", there were a few lose screws but as I said it is not bad for the money.
And it it's little box
Ok, I did strip it down and re-build it before I fist tried to fly it. But I would never trust any "out of the box flyer", there were a few lose screws but as I said it is not bad for the money.
I wasted a lot of time with an esky honeybee cp a few years ago. It had a separate tail motor (rather than belt or torque tube drive) which seemed to be the main problem but with hindsight the amount of slack in the head and the general low quality made it a b
h to learn with. Don't struggle on with something cheap thinking you'll get the hang of it.
If you haven't already I'd go the eflite small heli route - get something like an mcx coaxial to start with, then move up to the msr (or newer msrx at about £65) after which you'll be able to fly any decent large size model. At some point you have to move from indoor to outdoor and there are very few helis suitable for both. Once you do go outdoor its pretty much the larger the better.
h to learn with. Don't struggle on with something cheap thinking you'll get the hang of it.If you haven't already I'd go the eflite small heli route - get something like an mcx coaxial to start with, then move up to the msr (or newer msrx at about £65) after which you'll be able to fly any decent large size model. At some point you have to move from indoor to outdoor and there are very few helis suitable for both. Once you do go outdoor its pretty much the larger the better.
tig said:
Don't struggle on with something cheap thinking you'll get the hang of it.
That's what I did with my belt CP. I thought I was being incredibly slow picking it up till I had a go on my mate's 450. With my belt CP I struggled just to stay airborne in an open car park. Even in his tiny front garden manoevering was no problem at all on that thing._Al_ said:
tig said:
Don't struggle on with something cheap thinking you'll get the hang of it.
That's what I did with my belt CP. I thought I was being incredibly slow picking it up till I had a go on my mate's 450. With my belt CP I struggled just to stay airborne in an open car park. Even in his tiny front garden manoevering was no problem at all on that thing.Helpful forum:
http://forum.heliguy.com/
Very interesting website:
http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/
He seems to rate the 'blade' helicopters,
As said above, the blade mCPX in RTF (Ready To Fly, i.e. comes with radio gear and battery) is about £140 and should fly exactly the same as larger models. I think I'm right in saying that this is a 'collective pitch' 'copter, which means it's a 'proper' model helicopter, and flies the same way a real one does as opposed to coaxial (or even fixed pitch) that are really more of a toy (but much easier to fly and look after). Read up and decide what you want, I wanted a model helicopter so went for a 6 channel collective pitch model.
One more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxni3OXT_Vo
Scariest thing I've seen done with an R/C helicopter.
Edited by varsas on Sunday 4th March 11:38
varsas said:
One more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxni3OXT_Vo
Scariest thing I've seen done with an R/C helicopter.
Yeah - when I said you have to progress from indoor to outdoor I didn't mean by cutting a hole through the ceiling ! I'll admit to trying out my esky in the living room at first. Wouldn't do it again though !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxni3OXT_Vo
Scariest thing I've seen done with an R/C helicopter.
I've got the mcpx which is a pretty awesome small heli. If you're pretty good you could fly it indoors. But most people (me included) would find flying outside with a 450 or larger to be a lot easier. I can only use the mcpx comfortably outside in <5mph winds.
I think the cheapest way to get proficient is a coax mcx (indoor), msr (indoor), then something 450 sized outdoor. And a simulator for when it's raining.
Thanks chaps. A bit more to mull over. It does appear that everyone agrees the 450 route is the way to go out doors.
Been trying to tame a single rotor double horse 9100 and getting on ok, but the number of breakages are putting me off spending much more on it before commiting to something more grown up.
So once I have finished the bathroom and got domestic management clearance is there such a thing as a tame 450 to learn outside?
Been trying to tame a single rotor double horse 9100 and getting on ok, but the number of breakages are putting me off spending much more on it before commiting to something more grown up.
So once I have finished the bathroom and got domestic management clearance is there such a thing as a tame 450 to learn outside?
studog said:
Thanks chaps.... ...is there such a thing as a tame 450 to learn outside?
They can all be made to be "tame" In terms of collective pitch heli's, there are two stages to setting one up.
1, Physical setup of machine, including levelling, setting pitch range etc.
2, You then set up your transmitter to fly the heli in the style you want. It's at this point that you tune the programming of the Tx to suit what you feel is best for you.
For example.....say you set the heli up physically to have a pitch range of -10 to + 10. Now this amount of pitch may be too much for you to deal with and you certainly wouldn't want that to be it's range in "Normal" mode. Though +-10 is a good range for "Idleup1". If just starting to learn how to stop heli's crashing then ignore "Idleup1" for now, just concentrate on "Normal"
You would use the Tx to adjust the amount of travel the servo has in "Normal" mode, this will cut the pitch down to the level you want.
Other ways of "taming" a heli include using "Expo" and "Dual rates", yet again, this is all done inside the TX. So in some respects getting the right TX is more important than buying the right heli. You'll need a minimum of 6 channels to fly a cp heli, and generally you do get what you pay for with a TX, more money = more features = easy to set up how you want
'but the number of breakages are putting me off spending much more on it before commiting to something more grown up.'
You're having a lot of breakages because the heli isn't good. This will be the same with the honeybee v2 (nasty separate tail motor as mentioned).
Sounds like you could go straight to a 450 - I wouldn't be scared of a second hand one as parts are fairly cheap and easy to find. You'll be amazed at what a great pilot you are once you get a decent heli ;-)
You're having a lot of breakages because the heli isn't good. This will be the same with the honeybee v2 (nasty separate tail motor as mentioned).
Sounds like you could go straight to a 450 - I wouldn't be scared of a second hand one as parts are fairly cheap and easy to find. You'll be amazed at what a great pilot you are once you get a decent heli ;-)
Forum | Scale Models | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff