Nf-ID: #R:gremlin.nrtc.northrop.com:41351:trsvax:1195667311:000:7117
Nf-From: trsvax.tandy.com!earl    Sep 25 17:17:00 1992



/* ---------- "Putting together a heli FAQ; sugges" ---------- */
After exchanging e-mail with Shamim, I may take a crack at writing a FAQ
for R/C helicopters.  (I sent him a note asking about a heli section for
the R/C FAQ, and he suggested I volunteer!)
There are several heli gurus on the net (Howard Kaplan and Mike DeMetz come
to mind immediately), so there's a lot of net.expertise on R/C helis.
Here is a list of questions that came to mind.  This is a first-cut core
dump.  Any other suggestions for questions that should be answered in
an R/C heli FAQ?  After having gathered a fairly complete collection of
questions, I will trim the list down.  Suggestions for questions to
trim from the following list?
Thanks - Greg Johnson
   ********************************************
   IMHO, I hope this helps.


1)  What are some good helicopters to consider?
   CONCEPT 30 is a good one to start with.
2)  Price to get going?
    About $300 for the chopper.
    About $140 for the .32 heli engine
    About $300 for a inexpensive helo-radio.
    About $100 to $200 for a gyro.
    About $200 for all of the support equipment, tools, starter, etc.

3)  Can I use my airplane radio?
    IMHO, I would not recommend it, it is too difficult to set up the collective
    pitch in the old-fashioned mechanical way.
4)  What are the radio options?
    Airtronics, Futaba, JR-Propo all make low cost and high cost helicopter
    radio systems, about $269 mail order for the inexpensive ones, then upwards
    of $700 to $900 for the really good ones.
    Kyosho also has a inexpensive radio at around $200 through Tower Hobbies.

5)  What is cyclic?  Collective?
    How about fixed-pitch versus collective helis?
    Cyclic...Ailerons relate to the left and right cyclic and the elevator is
    analogous to the forward and reverse cyclic.
    Collective... refers to the main rotor blades and their angle of attack into
    the air from a neutral point. Basically you can change the main rotor blades
    pitch angle from one position to another. 
    I would stay away from the fixed pitch helo's, they would cause you to much
    trouble, while your learning to fly.

6)  How hard is it to learn? 
    It depends on the person and how much they're willing to put into it. I have
    seen guys who refuse to ask for help, and go it without instructors and so
    on, they usually never make it and give up after crashing a few times.

7)  What do the servos control? 
    Throttle, and collective pitch. Left-Right Cyclic, Forward-Reverse Cyclic, 
    and the Tail Rotor pitch. 5 servos are used for this. The throttle is mixed
    with the collective pitch but collective can be increased or decreased by
    a 5th channel.

8)  What are some good books?
    There are several being advertised in the RC magazines. They are all OK.

9)  What accessories should I get?
     Starter, starter belt if the chopper uses it. Training gear for the skids
     for learning. Loc-Tite, a Dubro balancer to balance everything. Spare ball
     joints, a ball joint tool, good grease for the drive gears and tail rotor
     assenblies (if they use it), spare glow plugs, etc. You might also consider
     spare rotor blades and other parts like the main shaft, etc. in the event
     you come down a little hard. It makes it easier to get going again later.
     But by all means get someone to help teach you how to fly it.

10) How does one normally progress?  In what timeframe?
    It depends on the person, I took about a year or so. Other guys took 6
    weeks. I figure about 6 weeks or longer for hover practice, then advancing
    on into simple flying, then on to advanced flying, a year or two would
    be about right.

11) What are all those switches?  (throttle hold, inverted, stunt..)
    Don't worry about them until you advance enough to use them. Hovering can
    keep most people busy for a long time. It is very, very, very important to
    have hovering down to a fine art and be able to do it without thinking
    about it. Practice, practice, practice.

12) What options exist on which radios?
    The better ones are all about equal. The cheap ones don't have hardly
    anything. Although Kyosho's $200 heli radio ain't bad, it has a lot of
    features found only in the better radios.

13) What about setting up throttle and pitch curves?
    It is done electronically off of the radio transmitter. That's what a good
    instructor will setup for you to start with.

14) What's the deal on auto-rotation?
    An advanced manuever, beginners don't worry about it.
    Basically, you kill the engine, go negative on the pitch to keep the rotor
    blades turing in the same direction, dive at the ground to keep up the rotor
    speed and build rotor inertia, and at the last possible second pull out
    go positive on your pitch and hover and land on a target spot on the ground.
    For advanced pilots, it might be enough to save the chopper from a nasty
    crash when the engine flames out in the air when radical aerobatics are 
    being performed.

15) What about aerobatics?
    Beginners don't worry about it, hovering is all that counts.
    The advanced chopper pilots can do all of the normal fixed wing stunts
    plus some unique, helo only ones too.

16) Switched versus switchless inverted?
    If your a beginner, don't worry about it. Most helicopters can't do it
    anyway. You have to setup special helo's just right to do it. 
    To fly upside down, requires setting up your main rotor blades to be able to
    go negative in pitch, then you basically, flip over go negative on your
    pitch and hover upside down; say 6 inches off of the deck. Very expensive 
    when you make an error.

17) Blades locked versus blades swinging?
    All newer choppers have swinging blades, makes it easier to transport
    and helps to minimize blade damage on minor hits. Helps to keep you from
    getting hurt too badly too, when you get into the arc of the blades while
    they're turning.

18) How do you balance the head?
    With a Du-Bro deluxe balancer unit.

19) What about electrics?
    They are real neat, but very fragile. They also cost as much as the engine
    powered ones. You also have a limited battery run with them, if you in the
    air and battery goes, you have very little time to get it back down before
    the battery dies. Electrics use a electronic speed control in place of a
    throttle servo.


Helo's fly from about zero airspeed up to around 60 to 80 mph.
The airspeed can be forward and backwards. Most choppers fly around 30-40 mph.

***********************************************************************


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						Earl W. Bollinger
						@ <trsvax!earl>


"You were in the Clone Wars!", said Luke excitedly.
"Yes", replied Obi Wan, "I was a DOS programmer. But that was before the dark
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