robocog

Done - also ordered through Tower Hobbies, the wait is less important than the cost at the moment It did estimate delivery of 7 to 14 days, but £17.02 delivered verses £26.13 before shipping costs is quite a saving and almost pays for the wheels I want to fit (fingers crossed for customs charges and the greedy delivery swines added charges for paying the customs charges on my behalf don't totally trash any savings I could make) Any gotcha's along the way fitting them? It looks a simple enough job to do Have seen a video where it looked like the hubs wobbled a bit on the axle, not sure what the cause was or if they all do this eventually Bit of bearing retainer when fitting them over the axles maybe? or nothing to worry about? Regards Rob

Seems I have just won a set of truggy wheels with a 17mm hex for my Revo 3.3 which is still on the older 14mm hex so I am in need of some 17mm adapters or hubs for her Anyone got anything for sale? (or even pointers to a not so expensive set!) Looked on eBay but they all seem to be for an 8mm stub on the axle - not 6mm which the Revo seems to have Not sure if the 8mm holed ones could be shimmed to fit with some tube?? Regards Rob

WL Toys F959 is the only plane I have...and its brilliant! Inexpensive, fairly easy to fly, good run times (10 mins ish) and it survives crashes well I'm so happy with it I fancy another foam airplane/powered glider ..but with ailerons I looked at getting a bixler (MK2) but it is a fair bit bigger and more expensive than the F959 I'll hold off till I get much better and find a bigger flying site (the site I fly is not very big, but the F959 copes very well in small spaces) Regards Rob

Just acquired an 'old' dirty nitro RC car The blue balloon the RX was sat in had turned to a sticky goo, but scraped off OK Looks like it has sat a while unloved, but they must have used after run oil as the engine still turns over (using the crank as the pull starter spring looks to have 'gone') I think its possibly either a Traxxas Nitro Hawk with street wheels ...or the Nitro Street with Hawk white running gear - parts look like they may be an issue to get hold of Will strip it down and give it a scrub and see if its worth doing something with Dirty Pics..... Regards Rob

As you have discovered - weight is your enemy Lots of flight time is the only way to learn I started on a co-axial, now crash collective pitch heli's as my hobby Getting a PC sim (Phoenx is the one I tend to use the most often) and fly as often as time will allow and it will eventually start to click It costs a lot less than crashing the real thing and will pay for itself very quickly, if you don't get on with flight sims I can recommend a V911 as a nice and solid and stable first 4 channel copter that will teach you better control and habits than the co-axial will ...should you wish to get addicted to heli's It will more than likely survive whatever you can throw at it and they are dirt cheap...which is handy (I still have massive a soft spot for my V911...though there are times I wish I had never got it as its got me completely obsessed and hooked and seems to have made my bank account disappear and I'm constantly waiting for the postman like a junky waiting for the dealer) Beware the slippery slope Regards Rob

I know I'm digging up a very old thread and hoping you are still on here What board did you use? Just started on a build of the Tiny Trainer...but my glue gun seems a little hot for the foam I'm using and I'm having to use tape as its not paper backed (I'm using underlay from laminate flooring - a green foam, it seems light but really not a clue if its going to work out) I think I have found a solution to the foam melting when hot glued issue (by putting a 240v light dimmer switch in line with the hot glue gun) I'm sure I must have at least one if not a dozen in the shed as we replaced all ours a few years ago for fancy new fangled remote controlled bushed stainless dimmers Going to have a dig through and experiment It looks like yours has been VERY neatly taped, intrigued as to what you used as mine is definitely going to need covering to hide the mess I have made so far Do you still have it? are you still happy with it? Regards Rob

Just sticking my head in to see how you are getting on Managed to fly the 250 for all 4 cells in the back garden without any disasters - had to tweak the flight controller to rid it of shakes and nodding Then yesterday I took it to a nice big field and by the 3rd cell of gently hovering and drifting about and "walking the dog" to get a proper feel I plucked up the bottle to pirouette it a few times which went VERY well but needs the tail gain reducing a few points more as it was bouncing a little rather than snapping to a stop Unfortunately the flight was caught short when I /think/ the elevator servo stripped its plasic gears mid air (certainly something caused it to suddenly nosedive into the ground) Snapped the feathering shaft very cleanly, carbon blades got ejected some considerable distance- they were grass/mud stained but seem undamaged, Swash links were never found. Carbon tailboom sheared very cleanly at the body mount ...cleaner than if I had tried to cut them with a dremel..., belt is missing a few teeth...but beyond that - tail seems fine, mainshaft and gears all straight and true still despite the massive clump of grass it has wound round it - gears have all their teeth and nothing else seemed damaged (apart from a servo with many missing teeth when I dissected it!) New complete swash set of digital (metal geared this time) servo's and new complete flybarless head ordered, hopefully here for weekend Already have spare booms and feathering shafts and belts so its worked out a pretty cheap crash considering (as long as I don't discover more!) I am still amazed at how composed and stable the 250 is even with a little wind compared to the mCPx and HCP80 the Tarot ZYX-S2 flight controller is a good bit of kit for sure I managed a good few seconds of completely hands free and it just sat there, waiting for input! Properly looking forward to getting it back in the air...not so much the setting it all up again Cyclic servos I went for are EMAX ES08MD I was running the plastic geared EMAX ES08DE They seemed fine up till the point the Elevator servo lost teeth I got them second hand and I personally crashed the heli at least 2 or 3 times - don't know how many times the previous owner did the same The plastic toothed ones are OK for the money, hoping the metal geared ones are even better - will report back Regards Rob

I run 1300's in mine (a 250 FPV quad) I get about 4 mins on 5040 or 5045 props The C rating makes a MASSIVE difference Don't get anything under 30c, it WILL dissapoint you My Compact Zippys (25c) beep the low voltage doo dah alarm after only a few seconds of giving it throttle, but do recover if you fly steady It's to do with the voltage sag..but that constant beeping makes me feel bad that I'm killing the cells I got a set of Nanotech 45-90 C rated...a million times better! and I don't hear a peep out of the low voltage alarm till the battery really is getting low, even when giving it full throttle punchouts Zippys now just used to power the goggles and charge the TX in the field...wish I hadn't bought so many now Get the highest C rated cells you can afford! Regards Rob

Very valid point Tamiyacowboy- I certainly only have 2 thumbs and a mind that cannot react fast enough even if I did have 4 It still seems like the quadcopter FC's are leapyears ahead of the heli ones My

Does the Nano /need/ this feature though? MCPX is larger and heavier...it still bounces pretty well and seems to shrug off 99% of the epic fails I have tossed its way (blades, feathering shafts, main gears and swash links I'd regard as cheap consumables... a holed/split body shows you are attempting to progress ) I don't own any with this safe tech (unless you count the quads with attitude mode and 6g on the HCP80V2) - but /IF/ it also increases head speed to gain altitudes well as self leveling it - I'd be worried to use it Throttle hold would be safer and cheaper option to reach for and train fingers to hit it fast and early on into the journey- esp if going on to fly to a full on 450 that could quite possibly do serious harm if it contacted a person or animal - and will do major damage to itself on the mildest of tipovers if the head is still on full chat An out of control Nano is unlikely to pose much threat (Eyes meeting full headspeed wouldn't be pleasant and could be a life changing event...but beyond that as long as you aren't flying it recklessly) I suppose it doesn't actually /cost/ them any more to add it other than time and skill (it's only an algorithm I assume like on quadcopter FC's?) and a few bytes of code doesn't add any significant weight...so why not I'm stuck with walking over to them and putting them back onto the skids when it goes wrong (life in the cheap seats eh!) The 250 heli could do with a 6 axis panic button at the mo As long as its fun and not costing more than you can afford it's all good Regards Rob

Standard plastic mcpx V2 on brushed motor will fly inverted and change direction faster than your eyes can tell your brain WTF just happened.. (you will need expo and dual rates and possibly still struggle to keep it skids facing down to start with!) A stock one will just bounce 90% of misshaps off and come back for more (get good at throttle hold to save the feathering shaft, main gear, motor and swash links!) A full on brushed and heavy/delicate ally version of the same will 'go in' that much harder (because of the extra weight) and cost more in parts (the std plastic parts have more than proved they can take some serious punishment in my incapable hands!) Installing the heavy ally parts I would have thought would absolutely /require/ putting a brushless motor in it rather than it just being an option - and I would imagine the regular cost of parts that will bend every crash rather than just flex back into shape would hold you back from attempting anything more than tail in hover and make it a regular "awaiting bits from china on the bench" rather than airborne and teaching you how to fly I know if I went the carbon and CNC **** route it would just sit in a glass case on the shelf Keep it inexpensive and bog std stock (well maybe apart from putting a solid carbon boom after the inevitable happens) Ditto the landing skids to unbreakable Airtime RC ones when you get bored of replacing them ....and fly it like you stole it IIRC mine was sub

Nope they can crash many many times till you have to actually replace stuff They are physically small yes - but thankfully robust enough that you don't need to go there often! They don't actually have many screws (mcpx possibly only has 5 or 6 in total) ...unlike the 250! and where there /are/ screws I don't think there are ANY at all that are metal to metal and because of the much lower head speed and less mass they don't vibe loose (unlike the 250!) I'm an older guy with gnarly sausage fingers (end of one missing from miss adventure earlier in life) and get slightly frustrated working on the 250 because of the scale - it's a real test of steady hands and aging eyesight The MCPX, I have changed blades a few times, feathering shaft a couple of times, frame (only because I made a pigs ear of extracting a sheared landing skid pin) I got a set of "airtime RC" unbreakable skids as I found I was busting the stock and "heavy duty" KBDD skids very regularly whilst learning how not to crash and with heavy handed CP newbie landings, they are only push fit - but the pin would break off in the frame The landing skids do have to come off regularly when you are new to them to refit the main gear when it shuffles down the shaft (I find they can work loose over time, they are real cheap so get plenty of spares) maybe I was weakening the skids by the many removal and refits to push the main gear back onto the shaft? The ball links also pop off if the blades hit the deck - they are too small to spot in even short grass with my eyes (carry spares) Main gear and ball links are the designed weak point that will ping off regularly whilst learning - saving any real damage and downtime - you don't need tools to fit them, a job that takes longer to dig through the bag to find them than actually fit them made of all plastic they are safe to stash with the pile of batteries you will need I have replaced the tail boom with a solid carbon boom as the stock one does split after many many crashes - the solid one appears to be indestructible again no screws - no tools needed - it just pushes in! (bliss!) I think that is it for the MCPX Just get used to hitting throttle hold as soon as it starts going wrong and you may never need to replace anything more than batteries and the occasional blade when they get so chipped its threatening to kill the bearings/spoil the flight I have not had to replace anything on the HCP80, HFP80, V955 - I have replaced a few bits on the V911...but mainly because I wore parts out on it or I fancied a change of colour I'd say I have possibly spent more bench time on the 250's tailbox alone than I have in total for the other birds, as for the 250's setup time...yikes! smaller and lighter = less mass to destroy parts lower headspeed = less energy to break parts smiles per money, I would be torn between the rest of my collection, but the 250 is definitely last on that list! (if it were to feature on it at all!) Benchtime, downtime and frustration wise the 250 is the clear winner! I'd rather be flying today than seeking new bearings for the 250 (hoping it's a bearing issue causing the vibes) Regards Rob

Much much much harder IMHO (or maybe just totally different?) you know how when you return the cyclic sticks to center on a quad and the machine does the same and it levels off and returns to a nice stable hover? 6ch 3 axis or 90 degree flybarred CP heli does NOT do this! They do not hover at all without continuous correction and subsequent corrections of over-corrections when you push the cyclic stick forward to make the machine go forward and keep the stick pushed forward to keep it going forward on your quad....a 6 ch heli would have looped (or nosedived) by the time you have wondered what happened Ditto for cyclic sideways I could fly the V911 (45 degree flybarred fixed pitch microheli with low headpseed= nice and stable with self correction and stabilization /because/ of the 45 degree flybar) and I could do figure 8's and circuits in our small kitchen within days of getting it It took me weeks and weeks of endless crashing and picking it back up again to get the MCPX to do similar in a massive warehouse and a footy pitch (I actually had come to the conclusion it was the helicopter with an issue and not me! I went along to my local club, found someone (even older than me BTW!) who has an MCPX and demonstrated he can fly his very nicely... I showed him that I was struggling with mine and asked him if he minded seeing if mine had some terrible fault making it impossible to fly ...bugger me- he flew it in nice smooth arcs and circuits and commented on how it flew nicer than his and it was like flying a band new one!.....I was gutted and embarrassed at my epic failure at anything other than getting ti to tail in hover but I came away even more determined I would get good enough to fly circuits of the indoor club as I knew it WAS possible .... I had seen it was possible Maybe its cos I'm an old fart who is crap at computer games..dunno, but he was older and greyer than me! One evening of crashing the MCPX in a field something "clicked" and I can now fly the MCPX though the doorways of house and do small neat controlled circuits in the kitchen The V911 feels too tame and boring now - but I am very sentimental about it as it was the "one" that kept me flying when the MCPX and its brethren were beyond my technical skills - I can now do funnels with it and fly circuits backwards and bang the sticks end to end without it flinching...so its still a good one for indoors after a bad day! It takes a fair bit of getting used to going from a nice stable platform that will not do anything in a hurry when sticks are banged from extreme to extreme to an inherently unstable wild mental mad fast capable of flipping on the spot and flying inverted machine... (or curbing the old habits of holding the desired direction and getting quick at hitting throttle hold!)...and that's before the negative pitch issue that will have blades striking the boom when you dump it a bit too hard or the broken skids or bent booms from hard landings or the million setup issues that /could/ make it impossible to fly by an expert even Honestly get some time in on a sim before even spinning the heli up Get the heli looked at (and flown?) by someone who can...they are pretty complex machines- proving IT CAN PHYSICALLY FLY was a milestone for me and I knew which side of the TX needed tweaking! Make sure every metal to metal attachment point is locktighted! Then get a wee one that can handle a few tumbles (something with much less mass and much lower headspeed is a definite help!) and get some stick time in that will not cost a lot Being small means it can be carried and flown pretty much anywhere! Stick time is the key for the mindset to click! They need to be "steered" and corrected continuously - so if you are flying a simple circular circuit - unlike a 45 degree flybarred jobbie or quad or coaxial heli - you /do/ need to be able to keep a stable hover in all orientations before this is possible (at least I /think/ this was my stumbling point - until I could hover over a circle on the ground with the tail slowly spinning round I found flying circuits on the CP heli's completely and frustratingly impossible without it shooting off in a random direction or instantly crashing!...yet the V911 was easy peasy) Hisky HCP80 (small, cheap and fun) has a rather nice feature of a switchable 6 axis gyro that makes it a doddle to fly- combined with some expo and dual rate - it can be made docile as a coaxial heli...not far off quad stability and when the TX sticks are centered the bird does hover pretty much hands free...with some drift...but this isn't really going to teach you much 6 axis stabilisation can be turned off from the TX when you are ready to have a go at 3 axis full on 3d madness (and flicked back whilst flying if it all gets a bit hectic! at least till you get used to it) It's not a rescue mode...but it is definitely nice and stable when its in 6g stabilization! Once you get your head round 3 axis flying - 6 axis will seem very boring I have got fast at hitting throttle hold whenever I feel its going to hit the deck to get rid of any power, this has saved me many parts and downtime I'm sure! Not saying it's impossible to go from a nice stable self leveling quad to a 6ch heli... but the transition and getting into a new way of thinking is going to cost big time - crashing a 450 about whilst learning will bring you up to speed on rebuilds and setup for sure - though a 450 is a pretty dangerous and intimidating bit of kit when its headspeed is great enough to lift its skids! Tonight has been a complete nightmare for me a new batch of 4 cells turned up for the 250 heli ready for the bank holidays..hoooray! charged them nice and slow, flew one pack outside to get a measure of how long it will fly to 3.7v a cell - so I can set the timer on the TX to alert me (got 4 mins) - not brilliant but not too bad I suppose- they should get better after a few gentle cycles , landed safely came indoors - all good and happy I needed to just tweak the tail (because it had a /slight/ drift when not in heading hold mode) I did a single turn on the tail adjuster and thought I'd better spin it up indoors just to check I went the right way... Fresh batt installed, started spinning her up nasty tail vibe as the headspeed increased...odd Noticed the tailbox screws had come slightly loose, nipped them up with fresh threadlock Left the threadlock 1/2 hour to set Had another go and the vibe is still there, belt had a couple of strands showing (despite it hardly being used!) so replaced that for the spare I had Still had the nasty vibes on spinup changed the tailbox for a mix n match of the best bits I had as the screw holes were now stripped.... and I still have a nasty vibe.... and it managed to snap a tail brace whilst spinning up due to the vibes...grrrrrr 2 screw heads snapped off (because I didn't take the time and effort to put a soldering iron against them to break the threadlock seal) ...another 3/4 of an hour extracting broken threads and one part that I failed at extracting the broken screw from I am NOT getting on with these bigger heli's at all It had just flown a full pack earlier n the evening and was flying smooth as butter, it landed back on its skids nice and soft as I had almost no negative pitch on the TX - I only added 1 turn on the tail turnbuckle now its unflyable I just don't get it I guess I'm not destined to play with the 'new' heli this weekend then despite me getting plenty of spares in and new cells...sigh I am already thinking of getting rid of it as it seems 250's are (or can be) more trouble that they are worth The good news is I managed to flip the HCP80 a few times...not that I am up to the task of keeping it inverted for long before the inevitable crash No damage sustained! Good luck and report back Regards Rob

Torque is the reason... All my toy helis lean- even full sized ones lean from what I understand (though maybe chinooks and coaxial ones are an exception to this rule) Regards Rob

I can only echo the comments Stop, get a sim (phoenix is what I use) Get an MCPX, crash the heck out of it and enjoy flipping it back onto its skids and flying off again Once you get to the point you can take off, fly a pack and land on the skids THEN think about it I have a good selection of micro heli's (WL V911, V955, Hisky HFP80, HCP80, Blade MCPX) All have had massive crashes and misshaps along the way, none have cost much at all to maintain or repair I have spent hours crashing on Phoenix (good tip for the sim that has brought me up to speed with orientation, setup the TX so the tail spins 360 degrees every minute or so, and try and hover a 450 sized copter staying in the takeoff/landing circle marked on the floor for 15 mins, once you have it dialled in and can do that without crashing or drifting out the circle - give yourself a pat on the back and switch direction...once that is dialled in switch to a twitchy 250 and start again!) I got a 250 heli- thinking I was "ready"...all of the above has given me good experience ...but nothing prepared me for how delicate these things are Blade of grass gently kiss the tail blades on landing?..kaboom!...spend, wait, strip, repair.... repeat barely clip an object and it explodes It's a good job the parts can be had cheap! If I had started with a bigger heli I would have thrown in the towel before I had properly got into the air It took a LOT of crashing to get to the point I can fly a whole pack on all the micro ones without a misshap I dare say the initial outlay of the wee choppers has more than covered the likely cost in the first few flights of a bigger one whilst learning Just my 2p's worth