HIStory (well MYstory, but it doesn’t work as well!)
Its a sad state of affairs when you start off with a solid footing, then everything starts to crumble and fall apart!
A dramatic beginning to my first blog on Heliguy I know, however, it is appropriate. Let me explain…
It all started back in December 2006. I was searching on the internet, having a look at remote control planes/gliders and stumbled across the Alany Micro Mosquito on a well known auction website. Only costing a couple of pounds sterling, I thought, what harm can it cause buying one…well, little did I know!
It arrived in my mailbox only a couple days after I purchased it, and within only a matter of minutes I was flying it around my living room, albeit, at the pace a tortoise ambles! Regardless, my r/c pilot’s career had begun, and I had already unwittingly taken my first step on to a very high hobby ladder!
A couple of hours of flying the Micro Mosquito, I decided that I wanted, needed! more. So, in a haze of expectation, I bought a PicooZ, however this was nothing but disappointing when it arrived - and was somewhat of a backward step from the Micro Mosquito. Having wasted a small amount of money on the PicooZ, I wasted a little more on a clone Apache 2ch, which I found out was useless. All of this was happening before I found the heliguy forums…but when I did, I was up up and away - sorry for the shameless punn!
Having researched for a couple of weeks, I opted for an Esky Lama v4 in silver. When it arrived, I was excited to see it was a whole lot bigger than anything I had flown before, and the build quality was far superior from the MM and the Apache clone junk. I was somethat dubious as to whether RTF (ready to fly) was a sales pitch, but when I lifted the Lama V4 for the first time, my fears were elayed when I found it really was RTF, but also RTC (ready to crash) - through my own inexperience. A couple of snapped blades, a cracked canopy and a dented ego, I upgraded to xtreme blades, the CNC aluminium kit, an E-flight CX Police Canopy and a nice set of navi-lights and a search spot. All was going swimmingly well, until a winter gust of wind decided to blow my heli into next doors garden. My neighbours, who were on holiday in the US, were completely unaware of the helicopter crash on their property…which hadn’t caused them any damage. The rescue mission was underway (which involved me climing over a 12ft wall, landing in a rose bush, recovering the helicopter, then realising I was trapped without help and was unable to get out of this garden. Oh well! I should have entered the Krypton Factor for what I went through to get my liberty back!
A drunken bargain purchase on that well known auction site saw my fleet expand again, when I bought a Colco Apache AH-64. Wow. This little co-axial, which a well known large model store is retailing for a massive £149 (rip-off!), fly’s like a gem! Very controllable, very stable, well put together and thought out. Of course, for those late evening flights, I installed a set of navi-lights, and uprated the 900mah battery to a 1100mah, as well as adding a set of xtreme blades.
Having repaired my damaged Lama V4 to tip top condition, I now had two well flying, well maintained, well oiled and nicely modified helicopters - which incidentalyl had been flying for around 6 months without so much as a single crash!
So, I decided it was time to step up another rung of the ladder, I purchased an Esky Cp2, however, this was a none starter for me. I was completely unable to come to terms with the more advanced heli, and its characteristics. Desperate to fly this lovely little heli, I bought countless carbon fibre rotor blades, several canopies, a set of SuperSkids, a carbonfibre tail boom, etc, but alas, the marriage was never to be :(.
4 months on, she still has not flown - well not in the way I want her to fly, which incidentally is not vertically, downwards, very fast!
Christmas 2007 is rapidly approaching, as it my Christmas bonus, so, what now…Well, I am never one to concede to a challenge, or walk away from a failure, so, a Cp2 barebones kit from heliguy for around £35 shipped will be placed on order in the new year…and maybe a Esky Robins 22, or if I make another drunken purchase, a Twister Tandem Co-Axial Chinook.
Yup, 2008 is hopefully going to be a good flying year!
Watch this space…