I have now changed my stock radio for a Spektrum DX6i, I wasnt going to change till next year but the stock rx doesnt allow remote gain control.
As soon as I got it I upgraded the heli, it was a bit touch and go setting things up but with help from the guys at Heliguy forum we got there in the end 
I have had a couple of flights and I am over the moon with the new programmable handset, what a unit for the price!
Also, I have fitted some nice little lights to the heli, well it is almost christmas ;P
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M4Oad3TZhEg
Had a few bits turn up from HK & Heliguy this week, stocked up on spares
I ended up stripping the heli right down and made a good few tweaks including drilling out the tail control slider, moving the boom a wee bit to tighten the belt and cleaning down the head while fixing the bell control arm.
It was really tempting to throw on a load of upgrades I have sitting here ready, but I am holding back for when I can do some circuits and 8s, plus I might as well use up some of these plastic spares first ;P
Wow, now that I have stripped, cleaned and re-lubed all the head, swash and washout the heli flies like new. i think the straight feather shaft is also helping ;P
Only had time for a quick spin up and tweak but I well impressed with the results, I’ll do a few packs tomorrow and let you know how I get on
Had a go at hovering the heli outside at the weekend, just a shame it ended in the heli going down nose first taking out a set of blades and breaking the canopy ;(
I fixed her up with new woodies and used a load of tape on the shell.
I thought all was well but used a couple of packs today and ended with a small crash 
Bent the feather shaft and broken a paddle control arm, its not all bad though as the dodgy feather shaft explains why I had some control issues (thought it was me at the time).
I’ve taken the opportunity to give the heli a good check over as new parts are on order giving me a few days off, this is the first full strip down from new so I will now apply some of the knowledge I have learnt over the last 2 weeks i.e. level out the swash and check for hidden damage.
While I’m at it I will check the tail belt as this is prone to wear (rear gear and belt dont mesh to well).
The stock motor died today, was having a quick hover in the living room when all off a sudden the motor started making a loud noise that sounded like metal grinding on metal, the heli lost power and the tail went a bit mad for a few seconds, fortunately I landed the heli okay
So I’m now in the process of stripping the motor and old ESC out to make way for the 3900 motor and EK1-0350 ESC, while I’m there I am going to fit the Extreme frame stiffener I bought a few days ago.
See you on the other side
Okay so I put the heli down for a couple of days and take a break, the last few days at work have left me tired in the evenings.
Tonight I get home and look at 3 packs sitting on the side fully charged and ready to go, have a beer and catch up with me emails etc…
After the spam has been cleared and all is up to date the urge for the hover takes me down stairs with the heli ;P
WOW, the break seems to have helped my steady hands, previously I have noticed how stiff my fingers are while trying to fly and know this isnt good for smooth hovering.
Only done 1 pack tonight but as you can see below I am a little more steady than a few days ago, the advice I have been given by a few in the forum really does seem to be true, having a break is good.
Lots of practice is good but the breaks in between are also a major factor in perfecting you hovering.
I have also noticed that hovering at 2 feet rather than 2 inches is far more stable but a little more scary, I seemed to push the heli that bit higher tonight and got away with it
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yrthYaX5V9k
I’m getting my teeth stuck in to Real Flight, took a while to get my handset running with all the controls right way round but its sorted now I can hold a hover and have started to fly about a bit tail in, gonna be glued to the SIM with all the spare time I have from now on.
Got a few of my spare parts now which is handy as I broke a blade and link during a “tweaking session”, actually it was more me having a little go ;P
Been reading up on the setup of the HBK2, it seems “RTF” doesn’t mean you can “fly it out of the box” i.e. ready to fly…
So I have been having a play to make sure it hovers correctly and all looks good
Strange as it seems I am now going to leave that alone for a while, going to get lots of practice on the heli sims, been trying a few different ones and I like RealFlightG4 the best. No sure if it will help me a lot but I am sure it will help with fly nose in (nose pointing towards you).
One training method I have been reading about recently involves drawing a box on the floor and placing the heli in the middle. The aim is to get the speed just right so the heli drifts without actually leaving the ground, you then get used to holding the tail straight and holding the heli within the box. If it steps out you must spin down and move by hand, you keep at it till you can hold in the box and then move on to drifting back and forth within the box again manually moving the heli if you step out.
When I get to hold the sim down and move on to the real deal then I think I will try this method, I recon patience and lots of practice is the name of this game, plus I don’t want to jump in the deep end and smash the heli to pieces.
I have now also come to the conclusion that I WILL break the heli while learning, so I have a few bits on order.
- HRPoly-X (Battery warning device)
- Brushless motor and ESC upgrade
- 10 female deans connectors
- Spare blades, woodies and extreme plastic fibre
- Complete CNC upgrade (For the future when I am okay at flying)
- 4 X 2000mha Bats
- Imax B6 Charger
- A few packs of links
Well here we go, I’m not normally a blogger but as I am pretty much starting from the top I thought it would be a good idea to keep a log of things and share my experience with others
I’ve had dreams since I was a small boy to fly helis, big or small they all fascinated me. Played with electric cars in my early teens and even crashed a few planes ;P
So here we are today, I’m 33 and still very much a little kid at heart ;P
Recently a friend of a friend popped round with his small electric heli and I was just like a little kid again, when I asked about the price of these nowadays I was stunned. I remember helis being very expensive when I was a kid although I don’t think there were any electric ones about back then.
Seeing as you can get started up with a basic heli kit for under £150 I had to do it.
So the kits in the post and I’m very excited…