Realism

[ClayK]

Ok, I broke down and got G3. I have XTR, but I spend more time fiddling with the settings on the controller and programming than I do on my real bird. Translation, I wanted stick time not programming time.

Since flying on G3, I've noticed the response time is pretty quick, does that seem abnormal to anyone else?

How realistic is autorotation in G3? I seem to be pretty decent at it, with about a 90% success rate. The 10% failure rate is either orientation issues (nose-in, too far away, etc etc) or just dumb thumbs.

Finally, I've noticed the birds on G3 and XTR are pretty aggressive in terms of movement while my real life birds seem pretty docile in comparison, is that just me or what?

[Espeefan]

I don't know, but I wonder the same. I've heard from others that G3 is more sensitive then the real thing, which in theory, should make it easier to fly an actual model. I haven't done any flying other then with G3 so far. I'm excited to see if it will make my first flight sucessful.

I can't comment on autos, but I've just begun to try some. I have maybe a 30% sucess rate! :mrgreen: I usually have no problem setting the heli down, it's just after I touch the ground that I loose it. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

I bought G3 in March to see if I had any future in RC helis or not and have been playing with it since. So far I can hover nose in, tail in, from the sides, and at 45 degree angles. I'm pretty decent in forward flight and making a transition to hover from ff. Just yesterday I started reverse flight. It feels like I start the learning process over everytime I try something new. It's like 90% of my crashes are just dumb thumbs! My brain keeps trying to fly the heli the same as when I'm in forward flight, with the nose coming torward me, only I'm in reverse flight with the tail facing me. I keep giving the wrong aileron inputs to bank the direction I want to curve, even though my rudder inputs are good. I noticed some helis giving me problems in reverse flight when I try to steer with the tail rotor. It simply doesn't respond. Switching idle up to the first level takes care of the problem. Is that normal? Not enough RPM?

I'm hoping to learn reverse flight before I try flying for real. If I can do that, I shouldn't have any problem hovering for the first time, or saving/correcting the heli if it gets away from me. Been goofing off with inverted hovering too, but the more I goof off, the better I start to get with that too, even though I'm not really trying that hard!

It's fun. I try to dedicate at least an hour to G3 everyday.

[ClayK]

Sounds like you are further along than I am :P I haven't tried reverse flight on purpose yet. It's happened, but not intentionally. G3 has allowed me to concentrate on nose-in, something I wasn't able to do with XTR. I was still trimming out and programming the controller on XTR. :P

On autos, just keep the disc level on landing, set her down easy and you should be ok. Sounds like you are getting disc wobble after touch down.

Are you practicing bail-outs as well or just crashing? I spend time on my real birds doing bail-out or prepping for bail-out. Practicing how to recover is hopefully what will save me in parts cost. Then again, the Rappy has only seen FF twice. The TRex has been doing ovals, 8's, stall turns, piros, etc etc. For some reason, I still have pucker factor on the Raptor.

I think we are both looking forward to the MA MXR500, no?

[Espeefan]

Hey Clay,

Yes, I am getting alot of wobble once my heli touches down and that's what cause me to loose it when I try an auto. I can auto from a high hover, but I practice by hitting throttle hold while I'm in forward flight, as with my luck, that's the most probable time for my engine to quite! :mrgreen:

What exactly do you mean by practicing bail outs? Recovery from a screw up? :mrgreen: I don't intentially practice that on G3, but with my newbie skills, I do end up getting a lot of practice saving the heli when things go bad - usually dumb thumbs put me in the situation.

You know I am really looking forward to MA's MXR500! The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that a lot of the electronic gear has to be secured with double sided tape, hanging off the side of the air frame. I kind of like the more conventional electronic plates up front and sitting flat, you know? I'm still up in arms on my first heli purchase. I just can't decide! :mrgreen:

[ClayK]

You had the bail out right :) If you are trying, say a hurricane, and something goes wrong, do you try to recover or once it looks like it's going down, drop it. If it's completely out of reach, I'm trying to teach myself to cut throttle the second before impact so I can minimize damage. Knowing what to do to bail out helps. Both sticks forward! :)

Check out the frame work on the Stratus and Spectra, both mount the electronics on frame. But then again, I'm a big MA fan. Champagne tastes on mostly a beer income...

Raptor has been good for my first couple gallons and what not. I'm nervous taking it into FF, but not with my TRex. Not sure why that is. Probably size or parts cost potential. Dunno. I FF my TRex around in front of my house, stall turns, piro, 8's, no fear. I crash quite a bit, but it's only an hour max to fix and maybe $20 in parts. The Raptor just unnerves me. Don't know why. Hope that doesn't translate over to the Spectra or the MXR500.

[Espeefan]

What's a hurricane? lol Sorry, still not up to par on all the terms for the fancy 3D flying! Well at least I was on the right track as far as bail outs go! I never thought to cut to the throttle before impact. I usually keep flying till there are pieces. :mrgreen: Something to consider though.

I've never seem a pictures of the Stratus or Spectra. They seem hard to come by! I have seen an entire build of a Fury though, and they seem to keep most the electronics up front in the nose. I don't mind a gyro hanging on the side, or a governor, but hanging a rx battery pack from the side is something else.

Today I was emailing heliproz asking about the Fury 50 Expert. They don't stock'em, but they said they'd get me one if I wanted. I'm giving it some serious consideration. I'd really like to get a heli now, so I'm not sure I can wait for summer and the MXR500! The price of a Fury 50 is in the same ball park, but then so is the Fury 60! Only $50 more. Argh! Tough call, I say. I need to check the cost of blades for each. Then of course there's fuel consumption to consider too, and I already have an O.S. Hyper 50. Hmm.....

[ClayK]

thenewguy's Stratus (nice wiring)
Stratus 1 (http://www.helifreak.com/download.php?id=6709)
Stratus 2 (http://www.helifreak.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=8078)


Spectra looks about the same.

[Espeefan]

Yeah, not to shabby. Looks cleaner then the MXR500 pictures we've seen posted anyway! The other thing I wonder about is, I'm sure the larger air frame of a Fury 60 has to have more room for electronics then the 50, no?

Did some more pricing last night and a Fury 60 is $50 more. Fury 60 main blades blades seem to run $20 more then a 50 model. So that's $70 extra. Then an O.S. .61 SX-H WC motor is $20 cheaper then a Hyper 50. Then there's fuel consumption.....how ever much more that would be. Why is this so tough!