i’m flying!

[betty.k]

eeeyup!

got me one of those cheapy 3 ch counter rotating helicopters.

couldn’t resist the tempting innards.

it’s powered by 2 motors, one for each main rotor and a smaller than bit sized motor for the upward facing tail rotor. also comes with a 450 mah lipo cell. there’s an included charger but i don’t think it was working for me, or it was charging waaaaay slow.

one channel controls main throttle, next channel controls the left/right rotation (by varying the speed on one motor) and the third controls forward back with the tail rotor.

the propo is plenty good, at least as good resolution as an iwaver. range is supposed to be 100ft, i’m yet to test it out fully but so far so good.

it’s probably 100 times easier flying a counter rotating heli compared to a regular one but it still takes time to get the hang of 3 channels. i’ve only clocked about 30 minutes air time so far and i’m only just getting the hang of moving forward.
but hovering is piss easy, it just naturally hovers like those rc ufo’s.

weighing in at 65g you need absolutely dead still conditions to fly in, even the slightest whisper of a breeze will bring it down in a hurry so it’s ideal for indoors.

of course it wouldn’t be mine without a couple of mods:smiley15:

first thing to go was the polystyrene fuselage (canopy, cowling?), shaved some weight and now it looks less like a toy and more like a serious rc.

to solve the charging prob i soldered a standard servo plug directly onto the cell so i can use my charger.

and in the hope of helping range i replaced the stock aerial with a longer length of enameled copper wire.

i’ve been wanting a heli for a while now but figured i’d be better off learning on a cheapy first, i’d rather smash this $50aud “toy” than a $300+ one! but i really like the simple design and small size of this little bugger. it’ll be a shame when it’s broken beyond repair:D

highly recomended first time heli:topstuff: :8ball:

[Dangerous Dave]

mate bought one of those but the tail motor burnt out after 4 days 🙁

is it the same as a ZZMT steering motor?

my old man has just jumped in the deep end and bought a full 6 channel heli, I foresee much carnage…

[betty.k]

the tail motor is smaller than a bit or zip motor, more like the size you find in modern pagers/mobiles. if it does burn out i got plenty of little motors i can use instead.

man, 6 channels! you’ll be guaranteed exciting footage if you film him every time!:D :8ball:

[merc-blue]

betty, are these the really tiny ones that some one posted a link to a while back? hows she fly? the counter rotating style helis are normaly pretty stable

lol dave i remember my first FP heli flight, got it to about head heght and then it came right for me. i suggest filming from afar but first timers on a heli (with no sim) is always quite funny

[betty.k]

the tail motor measures 4mm in diameter compared to 6mm for a bit motor, tiny!

and yeah, it’s very stable provided there’s no wind. you gotta be gentle with the controls or it can get a bit wobbly and crash but it’s counter rotating design makes it naturally hover:8ball:

[Kerosene]

Hey Betty – where did you buy this? I’ve been looking for a cheap indoor flying thing. Looks good with the guts exposed 😀

Any chance you can post a video?

[betty.k]

bought it on ebay. shipping was a stupid $37 but the auction was $10 so the overall price was worth it.
here’s another from the same seller:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-RC-RADIO-CONTROL-FLYING-3D-3-Ch-HELICOPTER-PLANE_W0QQitemZ270001327820QQihZ017QQcategoryZ110026QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i’ll try to get some vid soon:8ball:

[betty.k]

got a short vid:
http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/pages/phpGallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=10012&pos=0

the central heating was on at the time so flight conditions were a little windy but that’s one of my best flights to date!:D

i made another cool discovery.
the trim adjustment wasn’t enough on the steering channel, it would spin to the left even with the trim all the way right.
so i popped open the tx and found that there’s a trimpot for every channel inside.:smiley14:
they’re easily accessable from the front panel after removing a little plastic window:8ball:

[trash]

I got one a few weeks ago in hong kong for $15.
They fly ok for what they are. They are as simple as the single channel choppers to fly… hovering doesn’t take much effort, but after a short period of time it starts to gyroscopically wobble. The tail rotor doesn’t do much but give it a gentle nudge forward .
They’re ok to play with but they are nothing like a serious 4/5/6channel chopper.

[Kerosene]

Looks good on the video – good enough for $50 anyway.

I like the Whelan the Wrecker sign 😀

[betty.k]

been flying and tinkering some more:smiley2:

the kit came with 2 tail props, a large one and a smaller one with a ring on it. i cut the ring off the smaller one, was wobbly with it and as beanoman suggested it spins faster.
i’ve found the larger prop makes the heli move forward/back alot slower than the small one and is more stable. if you get a kit with the 2 rotors i suggest using the larger one in the beginning then graduate to the smaller one.

i also learnt about counterbalancing.
at first it would move forward slightly on take off. i added small amounts of weight (blu tac) to the end of the tail (boom?) until it took of vertically.

i also tried out an 850mah lipo but it was twice the weight of the stock cell and required a lot of counterbalancing which made the overall weight too much.
it flew but was only just getting airborne so i just put the stock cell back in. i only get about 4 – 5 mins before i need to charge, just enough time to get the hang of flying again!

there’s a big downside to this heli though, it’s a nasty gateway drug:smiley3:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/New-4Ch-XRB-LAMA-IV-RTF-Helicopter-2006-Spare-Blades_W0QQitemZ290002865375QQihZ019QQcategoryZ110026QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i’ll letcha know when it lands:topstuff: :8ball:

[betty.k]

the new heli landed!:smiley16:

it’s been a lotta fun now i can control it better, it was pretty sketchy at first!
i removed all the useless stuff like the fake exhaust and tail rotor. and i find it flies better without the cockpit cover.

i’ve moved the rx/controller sideways to make space for the camera which brings me to my questions.

this is just a copy of a better heli so the manual is a bit hazy but it eludes to there being a gyro. i have no idea what one looks like and i’m not sure it even has one but it could be the silver component i point out in that labelled pic?
the startup procedure is doing something, i turn on the heli, the green/red lights blink. i then turn on the tx and the green led blinks for a couple of seconds and stays on. supposedly the blinking part is setting the gyro.

if it is a gyro then which way should it be oriented? did i make a mistake moving it?

also in that pic i point out 2 trimpots. one is for centering the rudder by differing the motor speeds but i have no idea what the other one is. i’ve fiddled with it a bit but it doesn’t seem to make any noticable difference. what is it? :8ball:

[merc-blue]

Trent,
when the gyro is setting it self you should leave it to center and dont move it while its centering.
the “?????” trim pot is your gyro rate so bassicaly if it has a habit to drift around in a particular direction tweak the trim pot to stop it. being a yaw rate gyro you will never get it spot on and as your flight goes on it may warm up and start to drift again slightly

[merc-blue]

Trent,
when the gyro is setting it self you should leave it to center and dont move it while its centering.
the “?????” trim pot is your gyro rate so bassicaly if it has a habit to drift around in a particular direction tweak the trim pot to stop it. being a yaw rate gyro you will never get it spot on and as your flight goes on it may warm up and start to drift again slightly

[betty.k]

so when you say “drift around” what direction are we talking? side to side or turning (rudder)?

got a good link to some gyro info? :8ball:

[betty.k]

so when you say “drift around” what direction are we talking? side to side or turning (rudder)?

got a good link to some gyro info? :8ball:

[merc-blue]

ill try to find somthing, by drifting i mean rotational drifitng. it will control the offset speeds of the 2 rotors as you increase the throttle the amoutn of offset needs to change to keep it facing in one direction, want a simple explination, turn the pot all the way in and slowly throttle up then turn the pot all the way out and slowly throttle up you will see its affect, when its in the right possition you should be able to throttle form 0-100% without the nose wavering (side to side or fwd/back drifting is done with COGs and trims. pity the head doesnt come off cause balancing them and getting blade COGs right would really help these models

[merc-blue]

ill try to find somthing, by drifting i mean rotational drifitng. it will control the offset speeds of the 2 rotors as you increase the throttle the amoutn of offset needs to change to keep it facing in one direction, want a simple explination, turn the pot all the way in and slowly throttle up then turn the pot all the way out and slowly throttle up you will see its affect, when its in the right possition you should be able to throttle form 0-100% without the nose wavering (side to side or fwd/back drifting is done with COGs and trims. pity the head doesnt come off cause balancing them and getting blade COGs right would really help these models

[betty.k]

i’ve been kinda impatient with my learning, i really should take the proper time to learn better but it’s fun to see it in the air!

as a result i’ve trashed the main blades and i’m almost through the spare set that came with it!:D
trying to find compatible blades online was tricky so i went to my local rc flight shop. he stocks the range of venom air corps stuff so i got the closest looking ones.

got em home and found them to be too thick for the mounts, so i had to grind em down a bit to fit.
that worked so i fired it up.

turns out the new blades were a different pitch to the stock ones and wouldn’t provide any lift even at full throttle:D

but all is good now, i reshaped the blades where they attach and bent them to give a sharper pitch and i’m back in the air!
i’m yet to take it on a full flight but the new blades seem more stable than the old ones:topstuff:

now i just gotta sort out this gyro business and i’ll be enjoying it more :8ball:

[betty.k]

i’ve been kinda impatient with my learning, i really should take the proper time to learn better but it’s fun to see it in the air!

as a result i’ve trashed the main blades and i’m almost through the spare set that came with it!:D
trying to find compatible blades online was tricky so i went to my local rc flight shop. he stocks the range of venom air corps stuff so i got the closest looking ones.

got em home and found them to be too thick for the mounts, so i had to grind em down a bit to fit.
that worked so i fired it up.

turns out the new blades were a different pitch to the stock ones and wouldn’t provide any lift even at full throttle:D

but all is good now, i reshaped the blades where they attach and bent them to give a sharper pitch and i’m back in the air!
i’m yet to take it on a full flight but the new blades seem more stable than the old ones:topstuff:

now i just gotta sort out this gyro business and i’ll be enjoying it more :8ball:

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