Broke down and purchased the SIM.

[treaves]

Even though I'm not convinced it does any good (most low-end SIMs tend to degrade 'real' performance in any field). But as I'm having great difficulty getting my Blade 400 off the ground, I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm also having to use a borrowed laptop, as I use a Mac.

So I have it updated to the latest version, which supports my DX6i. I've calibrated by radio and tried both a Blade CX2 - which I fly O.K. - and the Blade 400. I've noticed a couple of things that don't make me happy, but I'm trying to give it a chance.

First of all, with both heli's, the motor is on as soon as the SIM starts. Not much, but barely turning. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because their physics really don't take electric heli's into account. Is there anyway to get 0% throttle to be in fact 0%? I'm using a new model in my radio, and the curve is set for 0% at low stick.

The second is that with the Blade 400, first of all (in addition to the above) is a continual noise in their soundtrack. It's annoying, and I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent. At first I though it was the tail rotor slapping the grass, but it does it even when I lift off.

More of an issue is that I can get the heli off of the ground. This is something I was only able to do with my real 400 once, with very bad results. In the SIM, I have absolutely no trouble getting off of the ground. In real life, my heli want's to go to the left and tilt to the right. In the SIM, as soon as I lift off, there doesn't seem to be any left-hand movement, but it does go pretty good forward on its own. Again, I'm guessing poor physics. Like real life, I soon crash.

Are these experiences common? Is this all I can expect from a SIM? Are there things I can tweak to make this better?

Any help appreciated.

[raylepper]

You sound depressed already. Don't be.
First, Phoenix is a great sim. Far from degrading real life performance, it teaches muscle memory quite well. Yes, while the necessary amount of control input and resulting response from the model are absolutely different from real life, it's a training aid, not a substitute.

I'd go back to the very beginning with a clean model in the radio. Then from the Phoenix set up menu pick one of the offered choices for DX6—one with a lot of EXPO—to make it easy to get comfortable. Make sure you read the instructions, especially setting ccpm to off.

Real Helis 'drift' sideways on take off due to the tail rotor producing sideways thrust. It's called translating tendency. You have to hold some cyclic against this movement. In our helis it means the bird lifts off and 'drifts' left, so we hold a touch of right cyclic. Some people even set their trims or swash to compensate so at center stick the heli stays put. Similarly, it's natural for the heli to lean to the right if you're holding right cyclic to counter the TR thrust. It's not much and you get used to it.

I'm not sure why you're getting throttle from the sim at 0 stick. My guess is it will go away if you go through the Phoenix calibration process. Again, the instructions are good and there's a lot of bits and pieces about radio set up here in the Phoenix sub-forum.

Hang in there, man. You've bought a great sim and it will pay for itself many times in repairs you don't need.:fly

[TheBum]

In my experience, Phoenix does a very good job simulating the real world. I quit using it for a couple of months while I improved my flying in the real world. I was really struggling in the sim when I left it. When I came back, I could fly the simulated heli just as well as the real thing.

[pilgrim]

I had one of the HeliFreaks that gave me a lot of help to set up my DX6i and it didn't take very long to do either but it sure made a lot of difference. His user name is LockMD and I would believe he or Helimix would be willing to give you some help also. They've got a lot of time with both the Blade 400 and Phoenix.

I had tried to learn to fly with the old RealFlight several years ago and never did get the hang of it but with all the help and advice I've gotten from the guys here at the Freak I'm learning.

I also have a Blade 400. I was having a problem with getting the tail to hold on Phoenix but I made a personal copy in the edit heli area and messed around with the tail and a couple of other settings and now it flies much more like my bird. Don't know why I had to do this but no matter since it worked and the most important part is that I am not only improving in the sim but it is without doubt transfering to real life.

When I began with the sim I could hover for a little bit in real life but couldn't get the hang of it on the sim at all. Once I made the changes I have been able to get it much more under control and now I'm hovering around the yard for full battery packs without setting it down even once. There is no doubt in my mind that the sim has increased my ability. For one thing I am able to try out some new things without worry about crashing. For instance I was able to do forward flight in circuits tonight for the first time! And I landed without crashing! The sim has shown me where I have problems and need practice before trying it in the field.

To me the help from the sim and the guy's at HeliFreak have been invaluable. PM one of those two I mentioned and I'd bet they will pitch in and give you a hand. I would also be willing to dig around and find the settings I am using on my "personal" Blade 400 and pass them along. Don't know if they would help you but they sure did for me. I'll be back on the HeliFreak site sometime tomorrow if all goes well and I'll check this thread again.

[Vibe]

Hmmm, tail rotor wash is simulated (pulls heli to the direction of the tail rotor), and can be increased/decreased using the edit aircraft > fine tuning > tail rotor wash setting.

Electrics behaves completely different than ICs in the sim, so you probably have a bit of throttle even at lowest stick position.

[treaves]

Thanks for all the great and thoughtful responses! I really appreciate having my expectations aligned. I now have several ideas of things to try, and to point of the muscle-memory training is well made.

Thanks again.