Are we there yet?

The importance of not getting cocky!

gazza — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:56:34 +0000

Great morning yesterday. Had a few minutes with the heli on some waste ground on the way to the local Asda.Managed to control the heli in a series of rough hovers for a full battery pack with no major crashes, just a couple of heavy landings which the training gear and the extreme skids took completely in their stride. for the second session in a row I was getting the heli to go straight up rather than drift in some random direction. I felt really buzzed and felt that I had finally cracked it, and finesse and refinementÂ was now all I needed.

Completely different story this morningÂ though. IÂ was launching off grass in the local park which may have had an effect, but I found everything to be back in reverse. I could not gain height and could bearly hold the drift, and if I added more power for take off, it just drifted more quickly, and then into the ground. No damage was sustained, and no parts broken.Â I did however lose one of the rotor head bearings, which is no hiding in a clump of grass somewhere, which is really irritating. Never mind, Joe has them in stock

The thing does seem not to like grass very much, in future I’ll stick to hard surfaces. Mind you given the lack of rain lately grass isn’t any softer than concrete!

By the way given the addictive nature of this hobby, does it not make Joe and co rc heli “drug dealers”!!Â Every time I visit the site I feel the urge to feed my habit!. Never mind, keep stocking the spares and we’ll still love you all!

Happy flying!BTW, I also must try and capture some video on the new camera when I get the new bearings.

Hooray! I can fly again

gazza — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:50:33 +0000

Called at a local Shop which stock the sabre and twister, and picked up a set of perkins blades for the twister.

I wasn’t to confident at first as a close visual inspection showed that they seemed to be the same as the first replacements, namely “polished” underside, and the mould around the mounting was also the same. Holding the blades together to compare showed that the pitch was the same as well.

Balanced the blades, and chucked them on and wow! A few great short low hovers, best I’ve ever managed actually. The dog was milling about though, and the light was failing so there was no time to take any vids.

I cannot detect any difference between the 2 sets of replacement blades which is a shame as it would have been useful.

My only recommendation is that in future blades are bought where possible from a local shop, where you can swap them if they do not lift. For the price of them, sending them back to an internet seller is probably not worth the cost and hassle.

Still not there

gazza — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:14:48 +0000

frustrated….

after getting my new blades, I’ve found that they’ve got no lift, managing just to lift a couple of inches at best. I thought it was a flat battery, but after a full recharge - nah. So I’ve posted on the forum, somebody’ll know what to do - they always do, good folks that they are. Once I find a definitive cure I’ll post it, which will hopefully help others.

Wind is getting up now, and the forecast is for it to be windy for the next few days so there may be no real flying again for a bit.

It always seems to be windy since I got the heli, or maybe I just notice more these days.

On the plus side I seem to now have the hunger to want to fly the thing as much as I can.

Simple answer is no we aren’t

gazza — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:05:04 +0000

This is my first post of what should be many. Brief history lesson is as such. Bought an EF Sabre locally in February 2006. I practiced off and on for a couple of months until lack of time and a bit of disheartenment set in. picked the thing back up when I was on leave for a week almost a year later.

I made up a sim cable, and got some practice in on FMS. I also found a really useful guide to learning to fly, which was very helpful in getting me started again. This time I have made a commitment to learn to fly the damn thing. I’ve bought a clearview licence which converted to only about Â£16 here in the UK, as I liked the graphics better for learning, especially the gym landscape.

Time is still short, but I now feel more confident, although my hovers are still limited to very short hops, although they are slowly getting longer. I hope to post some vids and other stuff such as getting setting up clearview with a sabre/DF4 tx.

Hello world!

gazza — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 09:40:58 +0000

Welcome to Heliguy.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!