First flight

[Helijason]

I was introduced to rc helis by a friend on the west coast. I started with an mcx, followed by blade 120, then bought my friend's FBL Trex 500. Weather here in northeast was crap, which gave me time to practice on the sim. Weather finally broke enough for snow to melt away, so I ventured out for my first flight with the 500 this past Saturday. I made sure that the family and dog were safely tucked inside the house, went through a flight check, and then went to work. A couple of false starts led to the first real flight (my son up-loaded to youtube with the soundtrack - I would have preferred the sound of the motor).




Very exciting moment for me.

Next flight, I stripped some TT gears when the tail came down first in a grassy area - oh well.

[whiskykid]

congrats on your first!

you should now realize life as you know it just came to a quick and somewhat ereversable change welcome too thee adiction!

[Ozz58]

I remember that day. Still got a smile on your face, right?

Keep a close eye on your bank account, and if you are married, you might want to get a "hidden" bank account.

You might think about converting your 500 to a belt. Just saying.

Enjoy,

Craig

[whiskykid]

and without training gear! my HERO! hehe

I havn't even been that brave yet! (with my 250 even)

[glanrus]

Grats Man!

You're much braver than me doing that first flight without training gear and on camera too.

[whiskykid]

its all over now suckers! with the insperation from the OP yanked my training gear off and just went out and flew a pack, my first without training gear,

what can I say! WOW! what a dif. without the gear on her she was silky smooth!


thanks man for showing me the way!

[jtjohn1]

Very nice

I just had my first flight a couple of weeks back. Something you may want to consider to help you stop stripping out the TT gears

Buy the longer tail fin for it.

I also threw the landing gear from a T-Rex 600 on mine (Gives it a wider base and slightly higher stance)

Sum total for these upgrades was ~$20 or so (I forget exactly what)

All you have to do with the landing gear is drill 4 holes in it (They don't line up) otherwise they are perfect.

You also don't need the youtube quote thing (Just post the link itself) that will get rid of the double video (Guess how I figured that out

[N4HHA]

Originally Posted by jtjohn1

You also don't need the youtube quote thing (Just post the link itself) that will get rid of the double video (Guess how I figured that out

I thought he was really good and flew it twice to the little green marker both times perfectly.

[Helijason]

Originally Posted by jtjohn1

Buy the longer tail fin for it.
I also threw the landing gear from a T-Rex 600 on mine (Gives it a wider base and slightly higher stance)

thanks for the tips - I already have a slightly longer tail fin, was contemplating putting a shim on the rear landing skid in order to give it a slight forward pitch, but I like your idea better. My buddy suggested a ping pong ball attached to the bottom of the tail fin, will try that as well.

[jtjohn1]

I have flown mine ~25 times so far and not hit the tail at all (Even with the slightly longer edge tail rotors)

http://www.helidirect.com/carbon-fib...00-p-13526.hdx

That's the fin I use (20mm longer than the stock one) it goes well with the higher landing gear.

[froghammer]

Originally Posted by N4HHA

I thought he was really good and flew it twice to the little green marker both times perfectly.

Good one.

[kevinbattista]

HeliJason,
Congrats on your maiden flight ( are your hands still shaking? )
from what i saw in your vid , it looks like the heli wanted to go nose down into forward flight right from the start.. was that a stick comand ? ( did you meen to do that?)
if not , you may want to re~check your swash to make sure it's level and check your CG. ( just a thought)

bigger landing gear is also a good idea . or i've heard of people putting ping pong balls on the skids, it will raise the heli off the ground a bit.

again , congrats , and welcome to the addiction

[jtjohn1]

Here is a video of my Heli with the bigger gear on it (Little bit on the ground and in the air)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sNcM1FItHM[/ame]

[Helijason]

Originally Posted by kevinbattista

HeliJason,
Congrats on your maiden flight ( are your hands still shaking? )
from what i saw in your vid , it looks like the heli wanted to go nose down into forward flight right from the start.. was that a stick comand ? ( did you meen to do that?)
if not , you may want to re~check your swash to make sure it's level and check your CG. ( just a thought)

bigger landing gear is also a good idea . or i've heard of people putting ping pong balls on the skids, it will raise the heli off the ground a bit.

again , congrats , and welcome to the addiction

Thanks vm. I'll look at the swash and check the CG. I could well have moved the stick forward a bit - I was concentrating on not pissing in my pants. Will try 600 gear next, and throw a ping pong ball on the tail again for good measure.

Jason

[Helijason]

Originally Posted by Helijason

Will try 600 gear next, and throw a ping pong ball on the tail again for good measure.

Up-date : made the above mods - result: 1 destroyed ping pong ball, and one cracked front 600 skid.

Back to the sim

[jtjohn1]

DANG how hard did you HIT!!!! Well at least it served it's purpose in protecting the rest of the Heli (Not like it's hard to replace those)

Originally Posted by Helijason

Up-date : made the above mods - result: 1 destroyed ping pong ball, and one cracked front 600 skid.

Back to the sim

[kevinbattista]

HeliJason,
sorry to hear about your down time it happens to all of us. i just want to be clear though, when i mentioned ping pong balls i ment more like a shortened version of training gear , helps keep the heli a little higher off the ground . just some wooden dowles drilled into a small wooden block , then attach to the landing skids with wire ties .. when i first started i didnt really need the full training gear but i kept hittin my tail on landings and take offs ( the Cypher is a low heli ) worked well , also added a little stability because of the weight.
Hope you get back in the air soon , best of luck