RC Model – Helicopters

Preface: One day in 2010 a buddy from work came along talking about flying rc helicopters. I knew those little foam helis, mere toys, but not real rc helicopters. But he was talking big, flying outside with a fully controlable one with virtually no experience. Now I got interested and did some research on rc helicopters. Back when I last flew, bigger helis had to be glow ones, the batteries just couldn’t take it. And learning to fly was a very long process. But with new electronics and batteries, this has changed quite a bit in the last years. So I bought my first mini heli and within 2 months I was zipping round the living room and completely hooked.

Blade MSR

The first one had to be one ready out of the box. Durable, cheap and replacement parts readily available. The Blade MSR from e-flite checked out on all these criterias. In the early days i crashed this thing so often, i lost count. Despite that very few parts had to be replaced. Later i put some aluminium replacements (swash plate) on and it flew even better. With my skills progressing, i sold the MSR to my buddy, who initially got me into rc flying again.

Blade SR

For the second heli i wanted something for outside. Still not into building a heli myself i went for e-flite again, a Blade SR this time. This being my first variable pitch heli, i learned to control this the hard way, crashing it a couple of times (frame, motor, couple of blades, complete rotor head, tail booms). Sure it was bad skill, but the SR also has a very bad tail. It could swing around 90° without warning. Rebulding the tail from a direct drive fixed blade to a direct drive with variable pitch took alot of try and error. Now the tail holds perfect and the heli is quite fun, alltough it’s not a power house any more, because of the added weight to counter for the heavier tail.

Arrow Plus

I bought this one crashed from a friend and rebuilt it with Walkera parts (same build as the CB180D). It was like a bigger MSR with not quite as much manouverability. Since i was allready flying variable pitch helis, i sold it having done only a few flights.

Blade mcp X

This was the replacement for the MSR. e-flite again, this is a variable pitch heli, able to do aerobatics and also flies very well outdoors. Having bought 6 batteries for this one, i could fly this all day long. It’s also cheap on parts. Not that you need them very often, because like the MSR it’s very durable. If i want to try something new, i’ll do it with this first, before moving to my bigger helis. Tons of fun with this, its sometimes hard to believe how this heli performs. Please notice its standing on the blade of the 600 heli below. That’s how small it is.

HK600GT

After the SR, i wanted something bigger, heavier. Considering a T-Rex or KDS 450, a friend of mine advised me to go even bigger. And he even had a budget solution for me, the Hobbyking 600GT, which is a clone of the T-Rex 600 CF, but a lot cheaper. Building my first heli was fun, 2 weeks i fiddled with screws and glue. I found this much more satisfying then building a balsa plane. With 1,3m in diameter this is big and regulary stops the traffic on the street adjecent the place i fly. The gears create a turbine like sound during spool up and the beat of the blades is like on the real ones. And with the self made paint job, it quite stands out on the ground and in the air.

HK450 (KDS 206 fuselage)

This was the replacement for the SR. It wanted to use as much components from the SR as possible, so i went for a HK450. Due to a delivery error I got a HK450GT Pro. It was a challenge to get it into the KDS fuselage, because its not quite the same size as a HK450. That’s why i changed over to a HK450 as soon as i could get a cheap one. The looks are great never the less.

HK450GT Pro

I got myself a cheap HK450 for my KDS206 fuselage, so the more potent HK450GT Pro could be used to its fuel potential. It got all the better parts I had lying around and is now fully fit for aerobatics. I did my first loops and rolls with this one.