Got my 4g3!

[CrazyNorman]

So today I got my 4g3 in the mail (makes up for the weird issues my King 3's been having lately). Unpacked it, made sure the swash was moving right, and everything looked right, and took her up into the air. Extremely squirrelly (I guess that's to be expected with something this small) and I panicked and let it back down.

Despite a gentle landing, the thing tipped and I could hear the blades bouncing of the ground as it slowed to a stop. That's when I noticed two things: "A. These landing gear are way too flimsy to land on unless you're landing at exactly zero speed." and "B. I just hit the blades on the floor and there is literally ZERO damage "

With this extremely exciting fact, I set out to build training gear so I wouldn't kill it on a stupid landing. First I made a drinking straw monstrousness which would gaurunty the only way to really crash or hit anything would be to go inverted.

Luckily I did not crash. Sadly it didn't like lifting the 20-odd straws and would barely hover. I took that off and just taped a single piece of carbon fiber rod perpendicular to the landing gear. This would prevent a horizontal tip, as the landing gear + tail were fine in the forwards/backwards direction.

I got it into the air a few times for several second each, before freaking out or losing control. Even when I had a rough landing with a blade strike, no damage done! This heli is really durable for a CP, good thing considering its unstability + my lack of experience.

Sadly, I eventually bumped the heli into a wall while under power, and that damaged the blades quite a bit. On a hunch though, I tried taping down the broken bits (mostly only along the tip), and with my super-ghetto-tape-based blades, to my surprise, the heli lifted back into the air without excess vibration or trouble.

Not an optimal solution, as a good deal of power is lost to the extra drag, and the battery lasts about 1/3 as long as with blades in good-condition, but enough for me to keep flying. I finally got in a good 15-30 seconds hover (wasn't counting), keeping the heli stable in the air. WHAT A FEELING!

I've got 4 new pairs of blades on the way (these small parts are cheap). They should all last a lot longer than one day (although I got quite a few packs in today), as I'm definitely getting better at controlling this heli and at knowing my limits.

I'm excited, this is a way more fun than the sim (not that I won't be using it, I will). I can fly much more often than on my King 3, as the battery charges much faster and I can just walk into my living room with the thing. When I do crash, I can usually just sit it upright and take off, and when I do break the blades, the parts are dirt cheap in comparison to the king. I figure this will enhance my skills far faster than the "Fly, crash, wait a week (and work on sim), fly, having another disaster" rut I've been stuck in with my larger heli. And once I can control this little guy, the bigger guy won't be any trouble at all, it's far more stable. I'm mad happy I bought this thing

[Steve Joblin]

Might want to move this to the Walkera forums...

Great write up! If you like the 4G3, you will love the 4G6... and the new flybarless versions! When it is too cold and windy to fly outdoors, these super micro collective pitch helis are a life saver!

[CrazyNorman]

Oh that's true. I figured it more applied to anyone who considers flying indoors, as I wasn't really asking for Walkera specific help. Is there a general policy as far as that type of thing.

And yeah, great little heli. I was too cheap to get the 4G6, at least I have the 4G3 metal. The lack of extra stability from the 6's gyro or the flybarless will hopefully improve my reflexes more (or else I'll just crash more and not learn )

[pitchp]

buy heaps of parts, fly over grass, if you crash it on grass, hardly any damage would be set upon it.

[heli--freak]

Originally Posted by CrazyNorman

Sadly it didn't like lifting the 20-odd straws and would barely hover.

Have you checked your pitch??? or make sure your battery was fully charged??? the heli shouldn't have any problems what so ever hovering with some straws on the skids. if it brushed you might want to think of upgrading to brushless. Yop can also add about 2-3 degrees of positive pitch to the paddles and that will help stabilize it in a hover. Not sure what pitch is set at from factory but I run several pitch settings just depends on what flying you plan to do, heres one I use:

Low throttle -2
Mid throttle +2
Full throttle +10

Low throttle -5
Mid throttle 0
Full throttle +10

[rcgtsport]

i have the mia micro-flight landing gear stronger and wider.