Newbie Progress

[G.K.]

Wasn't quite sure where to put this post, perhaps it should of been in the Honey Bee section......But as it's more about training here will do.

That aside, I thought I'd keep a log of my progress as I learn to fly this copter, I'll try to keep it brief. I consider myself a complete Heli novice. Any tips / suggestions would be warmly received.

Downloaded Helisim, plugged in my transmitter and gave it a go. Concluded that this was going to be far more difficult than I thought but relished the challenge. Practised for a few hours on the sim over the weekend and can now hover reasonably well within an 8ish foot radius. Now only at 60% crashes on landing. Flying around not too difficult, even did a few stall turns but as in fixed wing aircraft the landing is 100% more difficult than the flying around. Left an right while the copter is facing me gets slightly confusing and needs constant thought.

Fitted training gear to copter and taped it down to a table, this probably isn't recommended but I wanted to make sure what the controls did, make sure they worked, make certain they weren't reversed (the left right bank needed reversing). Noticed a violent wobble at low revs so checked blade tracking, adjusted as per manual, wobbly now partially gone. Will check the balance when I've found a small enough screw and nuts.

Back to Helisim. I reckon I'm going to need at least 40 hrs on the sim before I try the heli for real, I'll keep going until my stick movements are second nature. I may paint my balls red (port) and green (starboard) to help with orientation when at a distance, my eyesight isn't what it used to be

[tombo242]

You're off to a good start there Gary, using a sim, even one like helisim can save you a lot of cash in crashes.

I always liked to land my fixed wing craft with my back to the wind, so nose-in was natural for me and that's how I landed my helis. As no one had told me it was difficult I had no problems until I started to think about what I was doing. That was not good at all! Your action has to be pure instinct with no thought. The sim is invaluable here but it is different on the field. Keep it steady, tail in and stay in control.

I fully recommend Radds course, OK there's a lot to read at first but follow it and you are very unlikely to crash in the hovering stage. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Tom.

[G.K.]

Thanks for that link Tom, it looks like very useful stuff.

[Dumb Thumbs]

Stick with it and you'll get there sooner or later.
Just a quick tip that I find very helpful; Tail in or nose in, the end of the heli Not pointing at you will move in the direction you move the rudder stick.

[G.K.]

Thanks for that DT, any tips for orientation are helpful. I used to race RC cars years ago, I even won a few trophies, my brain used to be able to work it out but it seems to have forgotten.....old age I guess, still it has some benefits, I'm not as reckless as I once was.

Still practising on the sim, my hover radius is getting smaller and hovers are getting longer.

[tombo242]

[G.K.]

Continued practice on the flightsim and after some initial progress I'm now getting worse. So I decided to try skidding the real heli around on some concrete. Did some hops of about 2 seconds in length at about 4 inches high.......I can't say I was in control though.

I have now altered the model parameters in helisimrc to reflect what the "hops" told me about the Honey Bee. My heli is not as responsive as the models in the sim.

[G.K.]

Now on a combination of Helisimrc, skidding around on concrete, and the hover-ezze method (4 bits of string tied to bricks).

The 4 bits of string method is certainly giving me feel for the heli.

no damage yet

[tombo242]

Hi G.K.

I found that Helisim was not a brilliant sim, better than MFS for helis but not a patch on the pay sims. My personal choice of the fair priced ones is ClearView. You can download a free demo programme here, limited only in time and models from the real thing. If this works then the real full programme is $39.95 for a lifetime run of all upgrades and new models.

There is also a ClearView forum, (you will find a number of us there to welcome you) the site is here.

Tom.

[G.K.]

Thanks for the suggestion Tom, I've seen the youtube videos and it looks very good, loads of eye candy. I may well give it a go

Overall today's progress has not been good. Now I'm trying the honey bee for real I've been disappointed, I just haven't been able to control it. My inputs have an influence on the chaos but in a laggy and sloppy sort of way. I've watched other peoples "first flight" and "practice hover" videos on youtube and there's no way my heli responds like those in the videos.

10 mins ago I put on my magnifying glasses and inspected the heli under a lamp. The swash plate seemed sloppy with lateral movement around the shaft. The plastic collar that clips in to captivate the brass pivot bearing had come out. I popped it back in and ran up the heli and it had popped out again.........I'll degrease it tomorrow and put a couple of drops of super glue on it.

Very glad I found this problem and very glad that I'd been cautious about free flying this heli.

[tombo242]

Hi Gary,

Glad I found your name at last, I'm sure that you would find a good sim a great help. While it's not quite like flying for real the stick movements are the same and certainly get the muscle coordination working. If it's your actual model or not is really irrelevant, it's the stick control that counts in the end.

You will find that until the sticks become a part of your system and you no longer have to think about which way to move them (a bit like where the pedal/lever is and putting on the brakes when driving,) then it becomes much easier.

Finding that loose swash was good, you do have to keep up a constant inspection on a heli. The vibration it suffers ensures that something somewhere will always start to come loose regardless of your precautions. It is unfortunate that we cannot wirelock all the nuts and bolts as we did on the real aircraft.

Tom.

[G.K.]

After sorting the swash the heli is much more civilised. I had a couple of good hovers yesterday using the 4 pieces of string method, all 4 pieces slack and heli hovering (not completely still) for approx 10 seconds 2 feet off the ground. After getting all the trims balanced it was very nice, battery position was very critical and I need to sort out how to make sure I can repeat the positions. The honey Bee battery securing method is very hit and miss, re-usable cable ties might be best......I was well pleased after the hovering. I'm starting to think I might get the hang of this now.

I shall persevere with the string until my hovers are consistent and use helisimrc for coordination practice. I am interested in tweaking the helisimrc model parameters until I've got it as close as possible to the honey bee, this may or may not help future users.

Thanks for your input.

[G.K.]

Yesterday and today I managed some serious practice with hovering. Yesterday not so good, today much improvement.....glad I had the string on.



Link

[G.K.]

The inevitable has happened. I bent the copter last night Concentration deficit, landed hard, rotor hit the tail boom, boom and flybar bent, one wooden rotor trashed, horizontal fin vapourised.

Boom straightened, flybar straightened, new fin cut from sheet plastic, spare rotor balanced and tracked.



.....bloody hell, this is difficult.....and after initial progress I seem to be getting worse.

Compiling a spare parts order:

Spare rotors.
2xflybar
2xboom
2xhorizontal fins
1xwhite canopy (current black one not damaged, I just fancy some variety)


What should I add, just in case?

[tombo242]

With the control you show in the vid Gary, I would say dump the strings and training gear. You don't need them and the heli would fly much better.

Go for it!

Tom.