introduction

[scooter]

Hello,
My name is Scott and am a new-bee to the hobby. I'm 32 and have been lay-ed off for a while..... long enough to get hooked on a new hobby!
I bought an Air Hogs heli in Dec of '10,... and have been helplessly hooked ever since!
My 1st real heli was a Blade MSR, then immediately after an MCX2 due to not listening to the advice of the hobby shop employees.
Although after a couple of days flying the MCX2, I became very bored with it and proceeded to flying and mainly FIXING the MSR.

My 3rd heli is a Walkera V120D01 and have had a small amt of fun with it. It's been difficult to say the least, trying to learn in tight indoor places. I had more skill it seemed, with the MSR.

I can't say I've got the hang of flying the FP heli's very well at all, but there is something about it that makes me want to get a bigger better helicopter. I'm Hoping the flight characteristics of a higher quality helicopter might be more conducive to learning how to fly.
So I have ordered a Hurricane h200 v2 md500 kit and can't wait to get started building it!!
I bought a Gaui flybarless conversion kit for it that includes a 4-blade rotor head complete w/ swash plate and shaft, and the gu365 FBL unit.
I haven't bought servos yet, but have been considering hyperion ds09 series, hitec hs65mg's or other's, and maybe spektrum h3000 series or h3020's??? I'm not sure. Any advise would be appreciated.
Also, trying to decide between a spektrum DX6i, or hitec optic 6,
or even the aurora 9??? Any suggestions here would be appreciated also.
I figure the 200 size cp heli would be a good cp to learn on without such lethal potentials as a large 450 or 500 size helicopter.
I look forward to becoming a descent heli pilot, learning the in's and out's, and sharing knowledge and enthusiasm for the hobby with you all!
Scott

[dunkonu23]

Hi Scott... Scott here, too!

Some thoughts. I wouldn't put the multiblade head on the Gaui 200, yet. There are some serious configuration issues to worry about with it. Things like phasing. I'll get back with more suggestions, but right now, I have to get to bed to get to work.

Welcome to the forum, sir! I hope you enjoy it!

Scott

[Jerrymac]

Hello Scott (scooter) , welcome to the site.

Just a few thoughts. I would tend to agree with Scott that if you are fairly new to the hobby, setting up a 4 bladed head and FBL controller could be quite daunting. You might want to set up your new 200 with a flybar first and get a feel for flying it. I have a 200 and I can tell you that it is very agile and flys like a mad yellow jacket.
The larger helicopters are much more stable and easier to fly, although they can be somewhat intimidating at first. Check back soon as we have a small treat for our members that we hope to announce this weekend.

As far as radios go, I have only used Spektrum so I can't offer any comparison between brands. My suggestion would be to download the manuals, and compare the features of the radios that you are considering to get a better idea of what you might want. The most popular seem to be Spectrum, JR, Futaba, and Airtronics.

Ivan, (9sec240), is our most experienced Gaui 200 and 255 guy here, so hopefully he will be able to pop in and help you with your build.

Jerry

[dunkonu23]

Getting bigger. Here's my thoughts. I started out with an RTF BlackHawk 500 which is really a slightly stretched 450. Because it was an RTF, I think I had more problems than I should have if I had bought a kit and built it myself. That said, I can appreciate the fear and not knowing what to do for things like setup and the like. It's not an easy hobby by far. I would agree with Jerry that the larger the more stable and easier to fly. Setup is pretty much the same until you throw flybarless into the mix. There, I am with Jerry about getting a flybarred version of the 200, first. I don't have a Gaui 200 or any 250 sized helicopter, but I believe Jerry when he says they're a handfull. What I would do if I were you is in the future, get a name brand kit 450 or larger up to 550, build it, then set it up.

Setup is two stage. 1. Making sure mechanically everything is to spec, then 2) Radio. I've used a Futaba radio and there's nothing wrong with them. I currently use Spektrum like Jerry and really don't know too much about hitech radios. They do make good small servos, though. I would probably not get a DX6i, though. Why? While 6 channel radios can fly anything electric up to 90 sized. You may want to invest in at least 7 or preferably 8 channels if you ever see yourself flying a nitro helicopter. If you don't want to fly nitro, the DX6 will do just fine for electrics.

One big of advice. Invest in quality metric nut drivers and allen drivers-- use loctite, usually blue loctite on all metal to metal screws. It's important. 1. You don't want to strip the heads of screws, and two, you don't want your helicopter falling apart and destroying itself.

One other thing.. don't ever think the 200 can't hurt you. It can cause great damage, even death if you or someone else gets hit.

You may be tempted to fly indoors in a large room in your home, but I can tell you from first hand experience, it's not a good idea. Before I learned how to setup my BH500, I spooled it up and it shot like a rocket into a ceiling fan in my living room. Others fly in their homes without incident, but since then I've never as much as spooled up in my house.

The big word here is safety. Not only for you, but others as well. Besides, if you're married or in a relationship, your significant other might not like slashes in walls and furniture. My wife didn't like it when I hit fan.

If you have other questions, feel free to ask, Scooter. Again, welcome aboard!

Scott

[9sec240]

Welcome Scott, to be honest, the 200 is not going to be a fun heli to learn on. The GU365 / FES will make it even more frustrating. The 200 sacrifices stability for maneuverability. The Trex 250 would be the better option in that size. My personal opinion is to learn on the biggest heli you can afford to crash. There are many Trex 450 clones on the market that fly very well for the price and offer what I would consider the best cost to stability ratio.

[scooter]

Wow!
Thanks for all the reply's guys!! Sorry it took so long to get back on here. I'm going to be putting alot more time into reading and learning on this site as I get closer to starting a build.
Scott, Ivan, and Jerry. .... Nice to meet you guys. I will take the advice on the 4-bladed head and gu-365. I bought it on a whim because it was 1/2 price at only $144 w/ the head and swash.... Normal price $289. I also already have a Gaui H200 V2 kit w/ the scale MD500 conversion coming from HK. Got it for $206, its the GB-A kit I believe. I don't know if it comes with only the scale conversion parts or if I will have to buy tail boom parts to fly it with the normal set-up until I'm comfortable. I don't want to tear up the scale canopy while learning. I will leave the flybared head on there until I get the hang of it. Maybe I should sell the FBL kit with the gu-365 and 4-blade head and swash. Do you guys know anyone that would be interested?? $150 NIP
Any way......
I've ordered servos..: 3 x Spectrum H3000 digital metal gear ball bearing sub-micro servos.
1 x JR ds290g tail servo
I will need to buy a gyro if I'm going to learn on the flybared version. Any suggestions?
I really liked the idea of not needing a gyro while using the gu-365 fbl gyro. I could buy a 2-bladed fes head and swash cheaper than a good gyro so what do you guys think of doing that? ( just going with the std 2-bladed fes setup to learn on )
Thanks alot for the info and insight! :-)

[malcolm]

Hi there scooter

I am new to this site but not to heli's and i am totally with the others on this, an FBL set-up is not for learning on, they fly with a very different feel to a fly-barred heli and that is after many hours of setting up, testing then tweaking, they are indeed more efficient and more capable than fly-barred heads but to get the best out of them the basic dynamics of how a helicopters head works needs to be understood, the advertising always says "easy set up" and indeed they are easy to set up, just plug em in right..................................... then comes the array of menu's to contend with, things such as phasing angle, pitch correction delays for cyclics and how the eCCPM servo's interact with each other to name a few, wear-as a fly-barred head is, all CCPM servo's arms at 90deg at mid stick, flybar paddles equal and flat 0deg at mid stick, main blades 0deg at mid stick, make sure the blades (main and tail) are balanced as is the flybar and a heli will lift off into a hover, MUCH easier to get a grasp of what does what to start with.
The Trex 600e i have just sold was FBL using the mini vbar system and it took me quite a few weeks of flying to get the virtual flybar to work as a real one would, the 450 i had on the other hand was fly-barred and could be fiddled with in 5 minutes at the field.
Unless you are into accurate scale heli's or extreme 3D a standard fly-barred heli will generally be able to out-perform the pilot and once you get to the position of being able to out-perform the heli then you will have the know how to get the best out of FBL.
Just my take on it, hope it helps

Malcolm

PS: As for a good gyro, the Phoenixtech GT9 works well and is easy to get set-up, holds well for general sport flying and is a good price.