Advice Wanted

[shaun.kendall]

Since I am new to this site and this is a new forum that should probably be used so it can have a viable existence I will make a post.
I am new to this hobby and have a Caliber 5. So far it is a BLAST! :D , even though it can be a little heart stopping :shock: I have not seen a lot of aftermarket upgrades for the Caliber besides HeliProz. Does anyone know of any other sites and parts that are available?
Also, what would any of you recommend to upgrade on the Caliber?
One last question (to be followed with lots more I am sure :oops: ), what purpose does the flybar serve on a RC heli?

[shaun.kendall]

Wait, I think I have it figured out. The main rotors provide lift while the flybar takes care of the forward, backwards, and side to side movement. Is that correct? I do not know why I did not notice it before. :dontknow So my next question is how bad is it to mount your receiver antenna along your tail boom? If you run it along your skids, when you are doing manuvers, doesn't it get caught by the rotor? How do people normally mount their antennas with out cutting them?

[spork]

what purpose does the flybar serve on a RC heli?

The flybar primarily adds stability in pitch and roll. It literally acts as a gyro that is mechanically coupled into the cyclic pitch controls (both swash and blades). As a rule, the natural frequency of any body is inversely proportional to its size (i.e. big things are slow, little things are twitchy). So when you take something like a heli, that's already a handful, and shrink it down to the size of our toys, you need to play a couple of games to make it reasonable to fly. This is also the reason we almost always use a gyro on the yaw axis.

Tangent alert:

The flybar system was developed by a guy names Stan Hiller for full scale helis. He started a museum at one of our local airports, and was a truly amazing man. Unfortunately Stan died recently after battling alzheimers for 2 or 3 years as I recall. If you find yourself in the S.F. Bay area I recommend a vist to his museum at the San Carlos airport.

bad is it to mount your receiver antenna along your tail boom? If you run it along your skids, when you are doing manuvers, doesn't it get caught by the rotor? How do people normally mount their antennas with out cutting them?

I think you really want to avoid running your antenna directly along (or wound around) any metal or carbon components. Some use the little Dean's antennas. Others string it back and forth to the tail fin. Others use two of the plastic antenna tubes (one on each side on the LG struts). There's no really right or wrong answer.

[Laurens]

Ok Shaun here is my first helpfull post on the Kyosho forum:

Upgrades? What do you think you need?

All upgrades kyosho have made are:

-the alu cooling fan
Does your engine have overheating problems? I guess not. This is just $$$ that your wasting unless you like bling.

-alu gear
Bling

As a newbee all you need is fuel, fuel and fuel.

This is what I said about what I want to upgrade:
Uniflow setup
OMI fuel magnet
Radixx 95mm tails.
CY ATG to replace the GV1
Eventually a Hatori 540 (Did I mention the stock muffler is great?)
Duralite regulator
Loads of Wildcat 30%

[shaun.kendall]

All of that is really useful and interesting. I like the little tid bit about Stan Hiller, hence the Hiller mixing system.
And the parts about the upgrades is also useful as well. The Cal5 seems to fly pretty well for me so far, but I do not really have anything to compare it so I was not sure what the general consensus was. The advice about the fuel is something I did not need. I have flown it every chance I get at work. And since I work at a 130 acre antenna site in Okinawa with a very light work load, that has turned out to be quite a bit. It also helps that my boss likes to fly his plank out there as well. :lol: I have managed to burn through quite a bit of fuel already! I only wish that I could fly it more, but than the wife might get upset. Have to keep her on my good side. That might make the rebuilds easier to handle at home when I start trying to do something besides hover and fly in lazy figure 8's. :wink:

[BarracudaHockey]

The paddles dont provide the impetus to move the heli in a direction so much as they help change the pitch of the main blades, kind of like power steering since we use relatively weak servos compared to the hydraulic systems in most full scale helis, we also ask alot more of our collective and cyclic system than to full scale.

[Helik]

The C5 does not any upgrades as it flies great, however if you like a very sensitive feel then change to an after market light weight paddle. I would learn with what you have now first. :wink:

[LLB757]

Be careful of how much money you put into upgrades. My first heli, back in the 90's was a Nexus 30. I ended up putting $300 - $400 in upgrades into it. What I ended up with (including the cost of the kit) was a $700 trainer.
You are better off learning on what you have. Then choose a higher quality kit/w the upgrades included for your second. What you save on upgrades, Plus what you can get out of your old heli, will often go a long way toward a high performance heli later.