remember the Hydro-foam boat / plane video?

They now sell basically that design as the Air Hogs Storm Launcher.

Have a look at the http://www.airhogs.com/ site. They also have the Pico-Z chopper, called the Havoc Heli (which is the one I got for $30)

In other news, my Blade CX2 heli flies pretty well, and I managed several minutes of flight before I snapped a rotor blade off by running into stuff
Lucky they're only $1 each

I can't wait to try the controller with another Spektrum receiver to see if I can use it for robots too!
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

well, it was all going well with the chopper till I let one of the guys here have a go
He bounced it off the roof a few times with no damage, but eventually got it to do a death thrash on the floor with bits of rotor flying off in all directions

A quick call to the hobby shop confirms that they have the parts in stock, and even super ricey alumninium versions (lower rotor hub, swashplate, linkages, flybar)
I might have to get a second battery pack while I'm at it
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

www.bladecxpro.com
Hop up parts for the Blade CX (not sure about the CX2)

Although Ive heard a lot of them are just standard parts taken from a Blade CX copy (I forget the name of it now, can find it if you want)

The CXs are a nice machine, I have one of them with a dual brushless motor conversion,

Watch the high speed forward flight though, or the rotors eat each other !

One of the mods on that site is to replace the main shaft with a longer one, giving more rotor seperation to allow higher forward speeds before blade clash happens. Apparently, a layer of fibre-reinforced-tape on the blades helps stiffen then up and delay blade clash. Theres a big forum on RCGroups dedicated to tweaking them up.
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

@ Aaron:

XD 3.5g for 1cell lipols. Only $100 canadian! XD
_________________
( •_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Oh yeah I found the upgrade sites
The CX2 is the same as the CX, but with the Spektrum controls and some minor tweaks.

The hobby shop here stocks the alloy stuff, but it's pretty expensive so I'm sticking with the standard bits for now and relying on my gradually increasing skill to prevent it from being smashed too much

If it looks like I'm going to go through a lot of bits I'll order the alloy stuff from that Canadian mob.

I really want to see if the transmitter will bind with a normal Spektrum receiver, because it'd be a nice robot controller if it works. The transmitter (5 channel) is only $60US from e-flite.
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Brett, how do you find the Blade CX compares to a "normal" single rotor chopper from a control point of view.
I bought this one because the guy at the shop said it's easier to fly and the parts are cheap and readily available.

On my first impression it wasn't any easier to fly than the single rotor one I've tried before, but I certainly managed to fly it for longer before breaking anything

What I'm wondering really is once I get good at flying this one, how different will I find a single rotor heli?

I found out some more info about the CX2's control system and the Spektrums.
A DX7 controller does work with the CX2's receiver, but a DX6 doesn't - because the CX2 actually has the newer DSM2 standard from Spektrum.

So, if I get one of Spektrum's later receivers, or the standalone rx that E-Flite are apparently bringing out, I can use the heli's controller for my robots
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Flying the Blade CX is about 50x easier than flying a single-rotor chopper. Seriously..

Its like the difference between a Bicycle and a Unicycle - The CX self stabilises to the point where, once you have it trimmed out properly, you can put it in a hover, then put the Transmitter on the floor and watch it hover by itself for 30 seconds ! (Yes, I have done this).

The only drawback to the CX is, being a coaxial machine, is its very stability means its impossible to do anything too dramatic with it. It wont bank more than about 30 degrees, and if you start hammering it around in high speed turns, you clash the rotors together. But for gentle cruising around indoors (basketball courts are great) they're a fun machine.

The single-rotor T-Rex will stay stable for about 2-3 seconds (if you're lucky) without control inputs and its very twitchy it in its response. You can soften things up a bit with some weights on the flybar, but its still designed to be a stunt-machine, so it cant be too stable. This means you can flip it upside down in about 1/2 second, which also means if you make a mistake, you can unintentionally end up upside down in 1/2 second too.. !

Smaller Choppers like Dragonflies are even harder to fly. Fixed Pitch choppers are harder again since they alter the rotor speed to change the lift, which then also affects the cyclic responsiveness, Collective-Pitch choppers are less mushy, but more fragile when you hit something.

The hard part with Helis is training your brain to get used to the orientation changes reversing 3 out of your 4 stick movements. Because balancing a single rotor chopper is like riding a unicycle, reversing the controls really throws you up the creek for a long time.

This applies to dual and single rotor choppers, although with the duals, in most cases, if you just stop pushing the cyclic and rudder sticks around and add power, you will get yourself out of trouble (provided theres no walls closeby to hit). In a single rotor, you have to balance it back into a hover before you hit the ground, which is 20x harder.

The CX is a good way to get that orientation thing sorted out, then if you're masochistic enough to move to a single rotor machine, you will have to learn the balancing thing all over again, but at least the neural orientation wiring should already be in place.

If you want to play with choppers - the #1 piece of advice - Get a simulator ! Pixels are much cheaper to crash than rotor blades

They range from free to $350

FMS -Free : OK for planes, waste of time for Heli's - the physics are nothing like realistic

Clearview ($50 + Tx Cable) which is quite good for the price, simplistic but functional

Phoenix-sim which is very nice for around $200 (Includes Tx cable)

or up to $330 for Reflex (The best physics, a little rough in polish, uses your Tx with an included cable)

and $330 RealFlight G3 (The big mama, Physics arent quite as good as Reflex, but 95% as good, but with more planes, choppers, bells, whistles, multiplayer, training etc than you can poke a stick at, and comes with both a cable to use your own Tx, and a USB controller of its own which is surprisingly good and useful since it doesnt need batteries and you tend to always have it near your computer (cause its no use for anything else, unlike your normal Tx). The main drawback to G3 is it needs a beast of a computer to run well. Anything less than a 3Ghz P4 with a $200+ Graphics card and its jolty unless you turn all the detail down.

So anyway, If you want to save yourself a lot of crashes, I'd reccomend getting at least Clearview. If you want to go for single rotor choppers in the future, then Phoenix, Reflex or G3 are worth investing in. The first couple of crashes you avoid will pay for the sim and you can have fun when its raining outside..

Does the E-flite spectrum controller have any programmability like end-points, curves, expo etc in it ? Or is it just a basic controller using the spectrum modulation system ?
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

it appears to be a very basic controller with the Spektrum modulation.
There are various mode switches which are undocumented at the moment, but it looks like they'll do some more with it.

Either way, at $60US for a replacement TX (or free if you already have a chopper) I think it's worth a try. Spektrum AR6100 receivers seem to be about $50US, so that's a cheap robot control system to have a play with

I've had a few goes of simulators, but my attention span for computer games in general is pretty short, so I'd never use it enough to make it worthwhile.
I'm glad I got the CX2 now, because I probably would have gotten tired of learning to fly anything else!

The thing I found tricky was that you have to be constantly controlling four controls at once, as well as the orientation changes, which is a lot tricker than cars or even planes!
Once I got the hang of that I've found it pretty easy to do fast laps around the office, narrowly avoiding solid objects, and the weird air con downdraught that makes the heli drop a couple of feet in altitude right above the printer
I can see how this becomes a very expensive hobby!

One problem with it is that it looks much easier than flying a plane, so everyone wants a go, which generally results in another trip to the hobby shop shortly afterwards!
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Yes, If anyone asks for a go of my Heli's (except the PicooZ's which are near indestructible), I ask them for $200 cash up front, and if they crash it, I get to keep it, which generally discourages them pretty quick.

Helis 4-at-once controls are certainly tricky to master.. Most roboteers have enough trouble driving 2 channel machines well. Add another 2 simulataneous dimensions you have to focus on at once, with the added bonus that you cant just stop and get your bearings once you are airborne and that most of the controls also have an effect on some of the others and its a real balancing act.

Helis are a great way to burn money. The worst part is, they *are* fun. Remote Controlled Adrenalin Dispensors IMO. I've wondered how difficult it would be to build a heli with a lightweight shroud (ducted fan style) around the main and tail rotors, which would prevent self-destruction when you bump the rotors into something
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

I think the shrouds would be easy to damage too. The whole thing just has to be too light to have much strength.
With today's lipo batteries and brushless motors though I think a small ducted fan based flying saucer type craft would be very possible!

The PicooZ really is an awesome toy. I've been amazed at how much punishment it'll take, and how much fun it is to fly.
The problem is that it doesn't really offer any worthwhile training value when it comes to flying a real heli of any kind

I've been pretty impressed with the CX2's durability though compared to other helis I've seen. I had an older coaxial 2 channel one at home I got for free that would destroy itself with even a slightly rough landing, and it wasn't even much fun to fly!
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

quote:

---

Originally posted by DumHed:
I've had a few goes of simulators, but my attention span for computer games in general is pretty short, so I'd never use it enough to make it worthwhile.

---

quote:

---

I'm glad I got the CX2 now, because I probably would have gotten tired of learning to fly anything else!

---

yeah I'm not going to buy a single rotor heli as well.

This is entertainment while I'm stuck overseas with nothing else to do
When I get home I have limitless expensive hobbies to waste money on!

I learned today that air currents around buildings are not entirely compatible with light weight helicopters
There was some brick wall contact, and some concrete footpath contact from about 5m up. oooooops!

Two broken lower blades (I am yet to break an upper one!) and a slightly cracked top rotor hub (where the flybar clips in) was the result, which is probably worth it since I can now say I've flown a helicopter in downtown New York City
_________________
The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

hey jeff are you bringing the revo to the next event? finally got that crappy rc working without reverting to 2wd might even put that dodge aldi camera on for the day heh
_________________
www.demon50s.com - Minimoto parts
http://www.youtube.com/user/HyzerGlen - Videoooozzz

Yeah, might as well, finally got it working again too, dodgey fuel and the wrong glowplug make for a really shit running (or not running at all) nitro engine lol.
_________________
Jeff Ferrara
fb@ffej.net

ffej.net

Just had an email from a guy who I just had to tell the Roboteers about.

I bet this will have George smiling.

http://monstertanks.com.au/index.php
_________________
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people