Skytrek

[Skytrek]

2/25/09, performed some heavy tail in hovering today with the Blue Ray 450 and was able to keep in under control in a five foot pattern, for the most part. Went through five lipo packs and then began light nose in practice, but lost full control after about 2-3 minutes each time. However, I was able to save the heli and land without damage. There was light wind today 5-10 and small gust to 13.

I have made a personal decision not to wait for a completely calm day to fly. Although this goes against everything I have been told and read, I'm afraid if I only fly in no wind conditions four things will happen; 1) the heli will just collect dust on a shelf (what was the point). 2) the learning curve will be extended if not halted all together. 3) I will most likely get caught one day by a freak gust and not be able to adjust. 4) Now this is going to sound crazy, but I'm kinda looking forward to my first fender bender. Part of the fun of this hobby should be drinking a beer in your garage learning technical mechanics and tweaking your bird to fly. I believe some some people enjoy building heli's just a much a flying them and I enjoy working with my hands.

So far the BR heli is great and the tail seems to be holding better as it gets worn in. I'm not sure if this is normal but I'm good with it! The only issue I have is the canopy is made of cheap plastic and cracked while removing to access the battery. I ordered another one through Xheli tonight but this time upgraded to the fiberglass version, that has built in battery access. Over all I'm very please with the purchase after two weeks, and would recommended the bird to others but we will see what the future holds.

[ranger306ci]

Huh! I usually break the canopy slamming it into the ground!
I only buy 1 canopy per heli/year. They last about 2 weeks before I crack them, and the packing tape and ca come out. At years end, they are pretty toast!
Now, a nice, thick canopy is available. Try the helimax mx400/450 canopy. If I remember correctly, they are thick plastic!

[Skytrek]

Hey thanks!!
I just went to site that carries Heli Max and bought another one, just encase!! I have also added supper glue and duct tape to my growing RC Box and figure if all else fails I can wrap tape around the prop and hang it from a near by pine tree!! The thing would most likely stay in the air longer that way. :D

[Skytrek]

Week three,
This was just to nice of a day not to fly!! I began with some light hovering, nose in. Became pretty comfortable with this process quickly but wonder if my 450 could be tamed down a little and noticed the bird was pulling to one side. I adjusted the aileron links to ensure the swash plate was level at 0 and the adjustment seemed to make all the difference. I tried to hover at about eight feet instead of two and noticed the heli seemed to sooth out and the occasional gust of wind has much less impact. I may want to remove the training wheels soon because they seem to drastically affect control with forward flight practice. The impact seems to make the bird wobble back and forth at the end of each maneuver (NOT GOOD). I guess the question is, when is to early to attempt to land without my crutches?
.

[swatson144]

Spend a couple packs taking off and landing. When you feel comfortable with the take offs and landings, get rid of them. That's all they are good for anyway is keeping from tipping over in a not so hot landing. Your HS is low enough that even if you do tip over the damage will be minimal. You can also try lowering the hover pitch to get the HS up a little and see what you think. At some point you reach a sweet spot where centrifugal force is good while the responsiveness hasn't gotten out of hand.

Steve

[Skytrek]

3/21/08,
Well not so great of a flight dad at Debby's. Crashed on first try knowing it was to windy for my skill level using a 450. Spent most of the afternoon putting the head back together only to find my shaft was bent as well! Replaced the shaft and tracked the blades but she still in need of tweaking. Tipped her over two more times but no damage, well maybe my ego.

However, I was glad Steve was there for support, for those times when I got stumped. I'm going to get a bigger bird ASAP, tired of not being able to fly because of a small wind gust!! It's simple, you can't learn this stuff with your bird on the ground, with your finger in the air playing weather man.

Steve, would wait until I did something backwards, then chuckle a little and say something like, ya might want to go back an fix that issue. He also enjoyed asking for my lighter while I was using both hands and wrapped around the heli like a snake.

As always, had a great time joking around at the flying field and pay backs are heck Steve!!:D

[Skytrek]

This past week end was not the best weather to attempt to fly a small 450 sized heli, do to high wind gust. I did so anyways and paid the price by having a pretty hard crash. The head was busted up but repairable for about $25.00. I now realize that even the guys flying larger heli's did not take them up as much as usual. This observation will be noted in the future for sure, kinda the unspoken word.

Rebuilt the heli but just got it tweaked out last night, so I'm ready for the week end. Saturday looks rainy and Sunday does not look much better. Started vacation this week so I hope to get in some serious practice if the weather holds.

[Skytrek]

The past few weeks have been important to my progression in this hobby. Bought A123's off e-bay and built my first packs. All went well, although Steve had a good chuckle when I shrink wrapped all three together in series without individual charging leads.

This past Saturday, I was doing true side in flight and not just leaning in. The Swift continues to be a great buy and confidence builder. Crashed the Blue Ray and replace the main shaft and gear at Debby's. I'm getting pretty quick at the process.

Over the next few weeks I hope to be attempting light nose in flight, we will see?
2907

[don_m8856]

MY god man looking at the photo it looks like your work bench is arranged and in order ? what kind of sick puppy are you ? real men have a mess where they work lol

[Skytrek]

Ah well honestly, I keep my work shop clean most of the time. However, I have on occasion been embarrassed to take unexpected company in the house!! :D

House hers, shop mine. Well she lets me call it mine anyhow!

[swatson144]

Wow that's not neat! That's more like a trail of bread crumbs leading up to a psychotic episode. The neighbors will be saying "he was always so fastidious", I'd of never thought".

Steve

[Skytrek]

Its been a while since I posted but feel it's long over due. Reading my last few notes I was excited about learning to hover.

Well I'm still excited to hover!! Even though I have past this stage, just getting one of my birds off the ground still makes me grin from ear to ear. :p

I have been practicing on controlled loops, flips and circuits. It's one thing for me to go high and flip a heli, -Vs- staying low putting the bird exactly where i meant to. Not easy at all!

I blew up my scale 500 and my ranger is making a weird noise. I will be taring the Ranger down in a few days in hopes to figure out whats going on. I plan on setting it back to pod/ boom, fine tuning before reinstalling the fuse.

I'm hoping to get back into low slow scale flight in the spring. I had to give it up for a while as my turns just aren't exacting enough. I'm hoping the past few months of become more comfortable with over all flight will pay off!! Also, I have been spending time setting my Xcell Fury up for scale only flight.

More to come....