New and looking for info

[flying 442]

I am new to this hobby, but more than willing to give it a try and a bit of time. I am starting with the Blade CP on training wheels. I went with this unit because the local hobby shop has all the parts needed to build 3 of these from scratch.

My skill level at this time? The 4 inch hopping motion and the wallet grab. Once it's in the air it feels like it's sitting on a beach ball and wanting to roll off into the ground in an arc.

I will keep reading, working, and searching, but if there's anything that's a must read for the new guy you might let me know. Thanks, Jon

[Rick Rotorhead]

I got a Twister CP which is a close Blade CP clone. I can now do basic circuits and hovering with it after some 14 hours air time (and longer on the repair bench). So keep up the good work, its a twitchy little beast, but with enough practice you will master it. Also, yeah, it falls off the beach ball instantly you stop correcting it, so its not your fault, you just gotta learn to give it the correct corrections it wants instantly without thinking. An' that only comes with airtime. Once you can hover it for 20 seconds or so, you will find it easy to extend that time to minutes.
One tip - don't try hopping it along the ground. Concentrate first on being able to keep that wayward tail under control and try to hover it below knee height over a fixed spot - although the rotor downwash makes it harder to keep stable close to the ground, you need to build up the 'muscle memory' for quick corrections, but low enough that mistakes don't cause damage. Once you can do that you can raise the hover height first to waist high then chest high and eventually well above head hieght with confidence.

[Pinecone]

Do a Google on the Radd school of helicopter flying. Follow it. GOOD way to learn.

[jediwannabe]

You gotta watch these video's.
http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t244675p1/
If you take the time to set it up and trim it it will hover alot better.
I never did like trying to hover it low with the training gear, little did I know the trimming(blade tracking, pitch, proportional, gyro , and sqashplate) would make the experience like night and day.

When I started I always went to a field down the road where I could get it up and hovering over long weeds. This worked well because when I dumped it in it rarely broke. It flew great forward flight, but I could not hover. After adopting some of cyclicpitcher's attitude towards taking the setup seriously, I can now hover over the driveway without training gear with confidence.