I'm getting concerned.

[mkovalcson]

This forum was quiet for the longest time while we waited for the TDR-2 to drop and the TDR was out of production.

Last spring there was a surge of activity when the TDR-2 was released, but the TDR-2 has been in production now for almost a year and other than one TDR-2 build thread and a thread about a used TDR this forum has gotten very quiet.

I've now heard of a number of companies that are getting into commercial helicopters. This includes Kasama and Minicopter.

Jan has a strong engineering background in manufacturing and I'm sure he could find a niche that would keep him busy and pay the bills, but I'm wondering if the TDS and other future development will fall by the wayside now.

[Vinger]

Maybe the TDR2 is just so good we have nothing to post/complain about. No mods required etc. People only tend to post when things go wrong and not post to sing praise to a good product.

[GimpyGolden]

And most of the Northern Hemisphere has probably hung their heli's for the season.
I still look at mine on the bench as I wrench Touring Cars but not ambition to get it buttoned up and brave the cold for a maiden.

Hopefully as spring breaks and we get em to the field some things will pick up i here.

[dominoedge]

Interesting. I was about to make a post about if anything has changed over the past year. Life affected my Heli habit (new house, new location, new job) and was going to ask if there's any updates to the TDR-2 that I should know about?

Regretfully, it's sat it its box for the past 7-8 months. I guess I'm somewhat relieved I can go ahead and plan to build it as-is from the May '16 batch that I have. Sounds like no reissue of parts or any parts warnings.

[Puttputt maru]

The TDR2 (mine still waiting to be built) is a scary helicopter at first glance if you do not dig more into it:

1) It is very different in construction

2) It needs special servos

3) It requires special tools to build

4) It requires a specific ESC

5) It is specialize for speed

Now all I mentioned but 1) are actually not completely true.

You can get away with standard servos, tools, ESC and you can do 3D but they all appeared true at first when the original order came in.
I think this might have cut down on the amount sold and the popularity of it.

The TDR1 was a "standard" helicopter with a lot of simplicity and genius engineering put into it.
The TDR2 appears more like a specialize complicated engineering marvel. Its appeal in a shrinking market to an already small interested customer base is doubtful to many.

I sure hope by the time I get mine flying that the Henseleit company will still be alive and well.

[mkovalcson]

I have to admit that I was initially intimidated by the build. In fact I boxed mine up after I started and let it sit for months before I dug back into it.

Once I got comfortable with it, my feelings about it changed completely. Suddenly I felt like this is the most robust solid design I've ever seen. It is built to take serious power and be very reliable doing it.

However I've never felt that way about a build before and I consider myself pretty fearless about diving into things.

It does make me wonder how large a market there is for the TDS considering the last thing Jan told me was that the tail was something that he wasn't comfortable having other people assemble yet and that he needed to work on simplifying it.

[Puttputt maru]

It was posted again in the main forum and I thought this is a good time to post it here again too.

https://vimeo.com/markuschelios/tdr-mk2

Enjoy the hobby and the TDR2

[trillian]

In my case I just haven't been flying at all for a couple months. I moved house at the beginning of December and that was a huge undertaking that sidelined everything for a few weeks. Then I just haven't been motivated enough to get out in the cold.

I have those lovely looking KBDD tail blades to try as soon as I get myself organised enough and the weather behaves.

[Ozzy Mozzy]

I bought a TDR1 RTF not long ago and have never needed to post anything apart from some photos.... Any questions I have had were already answered, it was just a matter of doing a search in this board!

I thought about doing a thread on my TDR experience and updating the thread with any changes I have made, but it wouldn't be anything new or of anything people haven't already seen before.....

[jiminator]

Really hard to improve on perfection.

[AlarmedBread]

Just picked up a TDR 2

[jfmkineteks]

I'm just starting my build as free time has been non-existant lately but the way things go together and the overall component quality are just amazing! There may be a few more parts than some other helis but this one practically builds itself. I'm lucky enough to have two, the second intended for spares but the TDR2 is so much fun to build it'll probably get assembled too......

[wstuart]

I think the lack of posts might be influenced by a couple things:

1. There is no issue putting this helicopter together. No v2 version of parts, no shaving down booms, nothing like that

2. The kind of guy who buys and flies one of these things usually has a lot of experience building and setting up helicopters. I'm realtively new which is why I posted, but if you have a bunch of experienced pilots assembling a helicopter that practically builds itself, maybe there won't be a huge need to post

[mkovalcson]

I guess coming into my 6th year in the hobby I fit that profile. Built a number of helis got through the learning curves and now everything is pretty much on autopilot.

It's one reason that I've found other areas outside of this hobby with learning curves for me to focus on now.

The original TDR is still my favorite heli. The new still hasn't worn off my TDR-2 so it still could become my favorite heli, but for now I love my TDR flights. I'm only flying Speed with my TDR-2 so for the time being those flights tend to be a more tense. Once I get more comfortable with speed and relax more I may feel differently. Of course if I eventually put a set of VTX blades on it and just fly it like my other helis. I do feel more comfortable pushing higher head speeds with the TDR2 because I trust its design. It is a STOUT heli.

[shadco]

Originally Posted by AlarmedBread

Just picked up a TDR 2

Going 14s are ya?

Can't wait will we see it at Cabin Fever?

.

[belgoheli]

I have been on the (informal) list for the TDS since the very early stages.

I sincerely hope Jan will finally bring this machine on the market, no matter how difficult it would be to get the machine built ...
I need another challenge and I am definitely not going to buy something else to fill the wait!

Belgo

Originally Posted by mkovalcson

This forum was quiet for the longest time while we waited for the TDR-2 to drop and the TDR was out of production.

Last spring there was a surge of activity when the TDR-2 was released, but the TDR-2 has been in production now for almost a year and other than one TDR-2 build thread and a thread about a used TDR this forum has gotten very quiet.

I've now heard of a number of companies that are getting into commercial helicopters. This includes Kasama and Minicopter.

Jan has a strong engineering background in manufacturing and I'm sure he could find a niche that would keep him busy and pay the bills, but I'm wondering if the TDS and other future development will fall by the wayside now.