Can you help a noob with a V100D03BL?

[CrashGordon]

So I've had my V100D03BL (I wish they'd given it a cool name) since Christmas and already I've nearly mastered complex 3d maneuvers like hovering! OK, you may not think hovering is a complex 3d maneuver but it looks that way when I do it...

I'm on my 4th set of main rotors and I've destroyed 2 training kits. The latter is not as bad as it sounds since the trainers were both pretty flimsy to start with. At the moment everything is stock except that I'm using MCPX main rotors.

Basically I've bitten off a big hunk here as my previous experience is with a Syma 107 which is essentially no previous experience.

I can get into the air without trouble, but a couple of seconds later I'm swirling around like a turd in a toilet. It seems like I'm always a fraction of a second behind what's happening and playing catch-up. If I just pull the throttle all the way down it lands on the skids and then I can try again. Problem is sometimes it lands pretty hard and that's how I busted the trainers.

I'm pretty sure a lot of this is just me being an idiot, but part of it could also be setup. So what I'm looking for is advice on how to set up the TX*/RX/heli for beginner flight. I have access to a couple of large open interior spaces with smooth floors and no obstructions. At the moment, though, five seconds of hovering uses about 30 by 30 feet of floor space. I think I should be able to do better.

=====
*2603

[zadaw]

If you are using a 2603 transmitter, I am not sure what can be done. If you have a 2801 pro transmitter, then livonia bob from rcgroups will have tame settings

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=260088

But honestly, the V100d03BL is not a good model for beginners. The Genius CP and MCPx are more durable but are still very difficult for beginners. I would spend more time on a SIM or get a self stabilizing FP such as the CB100, Nine Eagles Solo Pro (Proto Revell Max). Blade MSR, or one of the cheaper clones.

[CrashGordon]

I'm beginning to pick up skills instead of pieces...

I made a training kit that seems to be working well and not breaking. The first kit I bought was designed specifically for the V100D03BL; it has a plastic frame that snaps onto the skids. Problem was, that it would UNsnap from the skids, sometimes on one side only and at inopportune moments. So I put a turn of tape on each side to keep it from falling off, and it promptly broke instead. The second trainer was made for the mcpx but is about the right size for the V100D03BL. It was made of 4 CF rods that press-fit into a plastic X, which you then attach to the skids with little o-rings. However the plastic X was so flimsy that it was beginning to crack just from the strain of assembly and it broke on the first landing, which wasn't even a hard landing.

So I made a trainer out of four 16in lengths of 1/8" hardwood dowel. They're set up in an octothorpe pattern, with the center of each dowel's length aligned with the main rotor shaft. I laid a dowel alongside each skid, then laid two more on top but going across, one just ahead of the forward skid strut and one just behind the aft skid strut. Each crossing point is bonded to the skids with a blob of hot-melt glue. It ain't pretty, but it ain't broken either. And it's lasted over a week, while the first "real" one made it maybe a day and a half, and the second was completely useless.

Instead of standing in a big empty tiled room and trying to hover waist high, I'm practicing at home on carpet at a foot or lower -- just enough to get out of ground effect. I'm restricted to maybe 3 or 4 feet of lateral travel before there are obstructions, and so most flights end with me cutting the throttle after less than a second to avoid hitting something. To get a better perspective I fly sitting down, so the heli is flying just below eye level even though it's only a foot off the floor.

At this altitude, and over carpet besides, dropping the heli is pretty trivial, damage-wise, compared with a three foot drop onto tile. So now I generally only break the tail rotor, because occasionally on a bounce the main rotors contact the tail rotor. The tail rotor I've got is mostly CA and scotch tape at this point; I've got a couple spares on order. It seems to hold position OK for now though.

I'm using mcpx main rotors because the local shops don't carry Walkera parts. Maybe the mcpx rotors are a smidge longer and that's why they clip the tail? I've ordered a set of Extreme mains and a CF skid/battery holder set.


But I'm getting to the point now where I can stay airborne in this restricted space for as much as ten seconds at a time! And I'm not breaking parts very often any more. I now am mostly able to keep "flying" (if you want to be so generous as to call what I'm doing "flying") until I run down both of my batteries. A week ago I'd have to stop before running down even one battery to go on a parts run and/or wait for glue to dry.

I've been playing with the trim settings which has been helpful, although I don't know what's the "proper" way to set them up so I'm just guessing. What I do is lift off and note what kind of drift I see, then set down and crank in 5 points or so of trim and try again.

I've also been playing with the exponential setting on the cyclic; I started with it flat but now have it set to 75, which makes the stick a bit more sensitive close to the center. I haven't messed with any other TX settings. There are adjustments on the heli as well but I haven't touched any of them and don't plan to.

Anyway, every session I seem to have ever so slightly better control. Perhaps by spring I'll be ready to try outdoors in calm weather? Time will tell...