montyjames

im looking at buying a Small electric heli, im a newbie, so does this heli look alright in the link below, i checked the guys rating and everyone seems to be happy, what do you guys think
[link=http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5962864463&ssPage Name=STRK:MEBI:IT]EBAY[/link]

pthegr81

???

sounds almost to good.....hm

try rc-expert
4ch rtf $89

cptsnoopy

I just bought one last month. It was a walkera brand dragonfly #4. I paid $89 + $35 shipping us dollars. it looks like that one in AUS is just about right. I have to warn you though... both servos on mine died within one week. and the tail motor tried to crap out but after taking it apart and putting it back together it runs fine again. (i don't know what was wrong, it looked good inside when i had it apart.) the servos were only $15 us dollars to buy GWS brand. so it was not that big of a deal. the heli flys great and i have been pretty lucky and have not broken any parts yet. I can't say the same for my 22D... I'm just a newbe too so look for some more feedback to get the best value out there.

oops

Hi MontyJames,

I'm in Australia too, in Perth.

I bought one of those from that exact guy.... He has some negative feedback, but I've found him to be OK in emails... Remember it says "No Warranty" so go into it with your
eyes open.... You're buying a cheap heli from Walkera (Walkera 4). I ordered mine on Thursday and received it on Monday !.... He does accept paypal. I used Paypal once and direct deposit. Both items arrived well. I'll probably buy some more stuff from him in the future.

I had a lot of problems with flying it. Here's the approximate guide to what will happen. Use this as a yardstick.

1. The rotor will be too stiff. Take out the head retaining pin. Remove the flybar pivot.... Clean out excess plastic and check tolerances.... Refit. Takes about 1hr with some 2000 wet&dry.

2. The servo's are crap... Really, really crap... You will need to replace them about the moment they start to jitter. That will probably be out of the box. That will cost you about $50.

3. The main motor and tail motor are fine. I'm told the tail motor has a short lifespan... That's supposed to be typical of that series from all manufacturers. Mine still works.

4. Drill the undercarriage before you start learning to fly. The fibersticks don't go in far enough. Drill right through and glue in place.

The main battery is a bit small, but that's OK. Buy a decent charger. You can get one locally from www.oatleyelectronics.com in Sydney. They will sell you a battery charger with 10 packs of batteries for $20. I imagine you can use that to make five 9.6v heli batteries, and modify the charger for 8.4 and 9.6v...

OK. As for a review? It's pretty strong. It takes quite a beating, and I've flown mine into brick walls, beds, ovens and cupboards. The original main rotors are still intact!. The tail rotors break a lot. They hit the fiberstick beneath them. Then they snap. I get replacements from the local model shop for $6 ea, and they are not as good as the original, but are still otherwise OK. I'm on number 9. When two break, clean up one side and glue the two together ! That way you get an extra one for free. I've also successfully CA'ed a broken tail rotor back together ! Impressive glue to glue such thin stuff in shear/tension/torsion so strongly.

It has a problem with Gyroscopic instability (Wobble). You need to set up the flybar paddles flat and equal, and make sure the lengths are the same and they are aligned evenly. The main rotor requires a slightly higher tension than most micro heli's. Someone on this board recommended removing some pitch from the blades (See thread Walkera 4 dynamic balance problem).

OK, now if I haven't scared you off, I can tell you that they are GREAT value !... You will probably get a lot more life from the servo's than I did, and now that it flies, it flies
pretty well ! They like to tip over when spooling the rotor, so learn some fine control, or jump them up to about 5 feet... (Throttle to just before instability then 5 or 6 clicks at once). The throttle safety actually works reasonably well too.

The head speed is slow, so they are not much danger to things they hit, but watch eyes etc.

I've proceeded to a sloppy hover with mine... I seem to have gotten the worst of the faults I hear of, however some people have flown them to a stable hover straight out the box. Luck of the draw I guess.... Considering the worst case (as I went through) I would buy one again... They are just *SO* cheap. And the controller works with FMS... (He supplies a program too, but download PPJOY and FMS). They are only ever going to be a fixed-pitch with the default receiver. The receiver can't upgrade even though the heli can.

The tail control gyro (built in) works well too. Quite stable at takeoff and adding power. Drifts a little.

One last thing. They hate wind. A slight wind makes flying impossible.... Dead calm only.

I bought mine as a low-cost trainer... It's not bad. Fly in an area initially with 10metres space all around minimum... Mine has survived shutdowns from as high as 12ft...

And it's much cheaper than anything I found locally - even if I include the cost of extra servo's and freight.

Oh, and there's no duty to pay either... They come under the "$50 and under free" rule. See customs webpage for more info.

montyjames

thanks for the help, im puttting in a bid on them hopefully i win it,
what the performance like?

oops

Performance?

Well, it's non-existant... They are a fixed pitch heli... Responsive enough, but they can't
do too many tricks, although I have heard of people looping them.

They will fly with enough grunt though... I attached a 9.6V battery *and* the 8.4 (running off
9.6) and it took off. That's 100G extra weight. Not bad for a little heli And it flew very stable too! Mine flies at 50% throttle. I think it can accelerate full at around -0.5G's....

So don't hit the throttle too hard or the next thing you know, it will be about 20ft in the air.
and that's a little too high at first IMHO. They climb *real* quick.

Won't fly too long on a 8.4v pack. But that's OK. Upgrade when you get the hang of it.

LiPo's would be nice Has anyone done that with a Walkera 4?

David

p.s. It took me a couple of weeks to stop crashing it... But I might be a bit slower than most.
Now I make 50% good landing, 45% hard landing. 5% dead chicked dance.

rnkeng

Hi Monty,
My suggestion, althought NOT the cheapest way, involves a QUALITY indoor Heli, the Hirobo XRB Sky Robo, or the XRB Llama. My personal preference,as I have owned both, is the Sky Robo, although the Llama offers virtually unlimited flying times. Because of the control cabling, the Llama is a bit deader, but does allow for very long flight times though, but watch for motor overheating as cautioned in the instructions. The full RC version, the Sky Robo is a great little copter. Although pricey compared to the "knock-offs" like the "House-Fly", which I can not speak first hand about, as I have NOT flown one, but have read some less than positive things from those who have. Also own a AeroHawk, a Picolo FP, and my most recent, a Jr VoyagerE. In any event, my recommendation for a starter is the Hirobo Sky Robo.

batfalcon

Ooops,

I purchased a Walkera FP 4 ch with 2 NimH 8,4 V, 650 mAh packs, from this [link=http://www.happibuy.com/]http://www.happibuy.com/[/link] site. It was my first heli so it took A LOT of crashing, without any serious damage. A fellow in RCU suggested to go for a Lipo, which I did yesterday. Man I was reliefed. This packs gives you time to learn. I mean PLENTY OF TIME TO GET USED with the model. Even had the time AND the throttle to learn to hover it in a really narrow space in my living room. It was my first indoor flight and I got to be in control of the heli (not the other way around). Needless to say that I have it for only 4 weeks.

Michael