altacom

My Feedback: (3)

Well here goes a new experience for me. I've been flying RC for years, since 1968, and strictly Electric since 1996. So I'm not a beginner. But I have gotten tiered of being flight challenged when the weather is bad, so I began to look into RC Electric helicopters. Interesting, and rather threatening, but now I've taken the plunge.

To keep the costs low (hopefully) I've ordered a Dragonfly 4 RC Helicopter. Mainly chose this one for both price, and the fact that it was listed here on RC Universe.

It should be in in a few days, and any ideas from experienced pilots will be appreciated. It says it comes with Lithium Ion Batteries. Can they be charged with my Astro 109 Li-Poly charger, or should I change over to Li-Poly on the Choper. I have so many questions that have arisen and the machine is still a few days away. It seems to be small enough to fly indoors, but is it?? How about the back yard???

Any help will be appreciated.

roboto65

My Feedback: (30)

I used to have the first dragonfly good heli blades a little fragile but took some good hits. As far as the Li ion and Li poly goes they charge the same way. Charge at 1X the rated mah and you will be fine 1000mah would be 1.0 amps

roboto65

Ozydego

Before you get the heli trimmed for good hover flight, it will be an outdoor model, once you get the hang of it, and it settles down for you, then it can be a very nice indoor heli. Most say you will be happier with lipoly and the rule of thumb is, if its a FP a 2 cell lipo is sufficient, for a collective pitch, a 3 cell is needed. Aren't Lipos and Lions about the same weight tho? the only thing would be to go with a higher mah for longer flight times....

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

What dragonfly are you reffering too? Dragonfly 5 or Dragonfly 22...............?

altacom

My Feedback: (3)

The Helicopter is a Dragonfly 4

[link=http://www.rc-expert.com/product.php?pid=61]Order Page for Dragonfly 4[/link]

fireplug1111

My Feedback: (21)

Ok Dude:

Try this on for size. Im about where you are r/c airplanes then electric and now a heli. I have the Dragonfly 4 channel GWS. If you want a few pointers here goes. 1st make sure that the heli is perfectly balanced at the flybars. This is done by holding the heli up by the flybars and see if it is tail or nose heavy. Battery location will help keep the CG directly at the main mast. 2nd if it comes with a gyro and mixer keep it on a flat surface and plug in the battery and make sure you dont move the heli until you see 2 green lights on the gyro come on. When both are on nothing should move (blades and tail rotor) if you give it a little movement side to side the tail rotor should move. 3rd get a sim and practice. keep it in a tail-in hover and keep it in one location to get used to the controls. 4th get a training kit. 5th fly it with NO WIND. I flew mine the first few times with very very little wind and it was a handful, later that evening no wind and WOW what a difference.
Dude this is my second electric heli. I got so discuraged with the first i just gave it full throttle and let it climb as high as possible and let it smash into the road. Now I have the sim and training gear with some advice from this site now im hovering after 7 flights.

Alan

altacom

My Feedback: (3)

This is a dumb question I'm sure - What's a sim.

I have Great Plains G2 Flight Simulator and it has helicopters, and I've been practicing while I wait for delivery. Pluss I've been using the RADD trainig course in the simulator.

Thanks for the info, I was wondering about balance (CG) I have a Balancer for my planes, but not sure if it will be able to balance a helicopter.

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

sim is short for Simulator.......

Ozydego

Balancing a heli is quite different, but your prop balancer could come in handy. Balancing fore and aft is simple, hold the heli by its flybars and make sure the main shaft stays vertical spinning the rotor head all the way around the heli. Balancing the blades is a little different, let me see if I can locate my post explaining it...

Ozydego

here is the link
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=2324623]Balancing Blades[/link]

dkgoodman

You have the same heli I do. I have some info for newbies (like myself) on my web page at [link=http://www.dkgoodman.com/dragonfly.html]Dragonfly Helicopter Help[/link]

disguy2k

Be very gentle with it in the beginning...

Get your fore/aft weight balance correct, by positioning the battery till the heli is balanced (rest the flybar on your fingers, and the skids should be parallel with the ground)

If you get out of shape, try to level it off then give the throttle a good shove before you hit the ground and it will save you a new set of landing gear, or also stop the legs shooting through the body Give it a touch of throttle to get it in the air, to see where its heading, and trim each channel. Only ever throttle up slowly with these... As the gyro isn't quite fast enough to keep the tail straight.

When you're trimming, start off with roll, then pitch (fore aft cyclic) then tail. just get it so you can get it in the air, but don't trim it so it takes off straight, ours always pull to the left and rotate to the right on takeoff but we trimmed it for flight, and it settles down in the air. If you want to tame the controls a bit while you're learning, add some weight to the flybar, it will make it less touchy.

Take your first few flights in 10 minute blocks, as it is surprisingly taxing on the brain. Also make sure you have some CA and a hot glue gun. We ended up going with hot glue on everything, I think all the extra weight adds to my FP's stability :P

Well thats all the things I can think of. Hope at least 1 helps!

Oh... its never a mistake