D-Day for first 450x flight

[dellowwarren]

In a few hours time I will be doing my first take off with my blade but the weather is not looking so good but been sitting to long on the display, yes this is my first 450 or large heli take off and I am so nervous but as you guys mention if you can fly a mcpx you can fly the 450x

[Talesin]

Yep, just take it easy and make CERTAIN to do all of the pre-flight checks in the manual, including a range-test of your TX. Keep a lot of distance between you and the heli... 25' or about 8-10 meters should do. Also make sure you're in a large empty space (an abandoned soccer green should do nicely) for safety's sake, with no spectators.

And use the stick-on velcro, not just the strap! If you don't, the canopy will push the battery up against the motor, which will grind a large hole into the side, and ruin the pack.

Congratulations! It'll be scary as hell the first few times, but is incredibly rewarding once you're past the terror induced by spooling up and being in control of something so large, loud, and overtly dangerous.

[Shogun71]

Go slow, bring extra undies.

I found a set of baseball fields where I live and go first thing in the morning. I find 2nd base a great place to take off from and stand between the pitchers mound and home.

Make sure there is no one around. Distractions are bad.

Just be ready with throttle hold and make sure to be gentle with the throttle. Also don't let it skid around 2" off the ground. Get at least a foot or 2 up.

Trust in yourself!

Just don't get as close as you would with a mcpx.

[VortechZ230]

It is highly advisable when flying this heli for the first time, that you be naked from the waist down!, this way, when the sh$t starts flowing, you can keep control of your heli, or at least try to.... butt... please be careful, as this machine is somewhat of a wild animal!.... Good Luck!..

[Lord Nelson]

You guys are so mean! dellowwarren - you will be just fine. Take it slow and easy - follow these guys advice. Just make sure you got the place to yourself, spool her up, get her off the ground and fly her like a big mCPX!

Fly for about a couple of minutes then give yourself lots of time to hover and land. Then go have a beer!

We also want to know how it went.

[AZHELIMEDIC]

Good luck! My first real heli was the 450x also. Your gonna freak out when u see the power this thing has. Remember this thing will get far away from you really fast though. The first couple times i flew it it ended up being a little tiny dot in the sky and was a struggle to bring it back safe. Good luck enjoy

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[HFMan]

I highly recommend 70% Dual Rate and 30% Expo on Aileron, Cyclic, and Rudder for your first flight. The 450X will seem really twitchy and super responsive compared to the mCPX- hence you need to tone it way down until you get used to it.

Collective will be VERY responsive... take it real easy on throttle/collective changes. It will do exactly what you tell it to do... and it will do it NOW. So just be prepared for zero lag.

Don't dilly dally on the ground. if you have it set up right, at half throttle it won't go anywhere. But not too much further, it will lift off. Just kind of do a smooth transition from half throttle till it lifts off, and don't mess with the cyclic much until after it is off the skids. This heli lifts straight off the ground and will nearly hover by itself it if is balanced and set up right.

Good luck...!!!!

[PhlipSticx]

Grats, it is a bit of a rush the first time (mainly from the anticipation).

If your competent with the mcpx this should actually be easier to fly, just stick to what you know. I'd say if anything feels off don't push it (with weather or the heli) there's always another day.

hope your flying experience with this heli goes as well as mine has (so far). love this thing, now it's got me wanting a even bigger one

[intelligencer]

Good luck.

I had my 7th and 8th flight today and first time in idle up and first time at more than 5metres up. The trick is to keep doing things till you're bored and then move to the next step.

It gets pretty windy with gusts where I am. Theres hardly a day when there isnt 10-25 km/h winds. So I have had to learn in challenging situations. It is possible but the first time the 450X ballooned up while I was expecting a steady hover. Orientation was tested severely and suddenly.

Spool up slowly but as soon as its light get up quick without cyclic. My first flight had trainers on - bad bad idea. I didnt know the manual strongly says not to. Took them off on 3rd flight and has been great since.

On my 4th flight I got into the BeastX system and changed it to "Normal" mode and turned ll D/R and expo off in the transmitter.

Have been flying like that quite comfortably since. I'll try the next Sport mode on my next few flights.

Take it slow and you'll be right. The initial adrenalne is hard to capture again once you get used to it, so enjoy it at first.

[intelligencer]

Originally Posted by PhlipSticx

Grats, it is a bit of a rush the first time (mainly from the anticipation).

If your competent with the mcpx this should actually be easier to fly, just stick to what you know. I'd say if anything feels off don't push it (with weather or the heli) there's always another day.

hope your flying experience with this heli goes as well as mine has (so far). love this thing, now it's got me wanting a even bigger one

+1

The weather around here is very challenging so I have taken it real slow. 8 flights somfar in around 2 months. So basically once or twice per weekend with lots of sim time.

I fly my mCPX a few times with no regard to wind every weekend though. It improves orientation when you can actually see it lol. Even though I can fly the mcpx around in circuits, eights etc I'm still tentative with the 450X and just beginning to get out of hovering mode to idle up and some higher flight. My primary aim is to bring the heli back home intact.

I spend enough time at the bench building my newer helis and dont really want to be repairing at this point.

[Shogun71]

Originally Posted by HFMan

I highly recommend 70% Dual Rate and 30% Expo on Aileron, Cyclic, and Rudder for your first flight. The 450X will seem really twitchy and super responsive compared to the mCPX- hence you need to tone it way down until you get used to it.

Good luck...!!!!

Good advice, something I forgot to mention.

[dellowwarren]

Thanx guys for all the support

Let me just say how it all went today, i crashed but thinking back like you guys said the response is so sensitive and really i know wat you guys mean, i just tapped Aileron and i mean just tapped it, she went straight into the ground, but the guy i fly with have also said wen we started flying together that throttle hold is a must and just practice which before she hit the ground, i hit TH and i was like here we go with spares prices and amazingly i just need to replace the mainshaft which we dont think its bent but the spindle is bent like a mm of a mm but other then that all is fine which i thought the servo's would go but as he test the heli in flight after pre checks from the crash it was shakey but then saw the spindle bent so i am greatful

Asso i dont know if you guys have had this before but as i was spoiling up my eyes were going like white like i was losing sight and having tunnel vision?

just ordered my spaces and i am gonna get this one right and make sure i fly her right cause i think i crash from being so nervous and wanting to fly her so bad but now since i know the damage has been done which i am so happy and jumpy since i got her more then 10 feet high and still held her in a hover but just still rethinking that crash but cant wait to fly her again asap

thank you guys for all the support and really this is the best hobby to be in cause of all the support and there is non of this hierarchy

[Shogun71]

Sorry to hear that....

Good luck on your next attempt. Make sure to dial the controls back a bit in the dual rates.

[andersn]

which mode was the bx on? you can always add a bit of dual rates...

once you get used to this 1-2 months, you will think that your rates are "slow" and you willwant more where you now just tappped and it tipped.

[giodog2000]

Sorry to hear about your crash but it's good learning experience. If I may share with you a few things , from novice to novice , don't rush things when you fly her.

I only started heli a few weeks ago ( many decades in flying planes though) with the MCPX with toned down controls. First thing I noticed last week with the 450x was it flew better and much more stable than the MCPX but the controls are twitchy and thats normal if you want this bird to do stunts and 3D , but for you and I novices , it's not a good thing. Especially if you are nervous and your fingers are shaky. So, tone the controls down a bit and relax , you'll see that she is very gentle and no need to hover on Rev-Up. Keep the throttle on NORMAL so that if something happens you will hit throttle hold but if your reflex is to pull the throttle stick down , at least you won't drill your heli in the ground.

Speaking of hover, for me a 10 feet hover when I first started was enough to make me nervous. So I kept it eye level max until I got use to it... just hover , hover hover at first and don't skip level too fast. Do the basics first and you'll see after a few days , you'll be in forward flight with it cause even though it's a 3D capable bird , it's very stable and gentle. The only problem with this heli is that the learning curve is fast and eventually it feels like you can push yourself in more difficult maneuvers , but just resist this feeling longer until you gain experience and confidence.

Keep it up man , you'll get it ;-)

[Diesel6401]

I found it easier to fly then a mcpx. The big difference is the 450x is intimidating spooling up for the first time when coming from a mcpx. I know when I would flip and invert the mcpx I would need a lot of collective so not to drop altitude on the 450x just smooth collective and she repsonds instantly. Its an awesome heli! Kinda wanna get another one lol...

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[andersn]

Originally Posted by Diesel6401

I found it easier to fly then a mcpx. The big difference is the 450x is intimidating spooling up for the first time when coming from a mcpx. I know when I would flip and invert the mcpx I would need a lot of collective so not to drop altitude on the 450x just smooth collective and she repsonds instantly. Its an awesome heli! Kinda wanna get another one lol...

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

try a 500 with bx... mmm

once you spool a 500, 450 isnt anything scary, you spool a 700, and everything else seems "calm".

I still love my mcpx! inverting and doing 3d with mcpx is so much harder than anything else due to lack of power and tail authority really.

[Diesel6401]

Originally Posted by andersn

try a 500 with bx... mmm

once you spool a 500, 450 isnt anything scary, you spool a 700, and everything else seems "calm".

I still love my mcpx! inverting and doing 3d with mcpx is so much harder than anything else due to lack of power and tail authority really.

Hopefully I get to experince the 500 very VERY soon, like this upcoming week maybe :rolleyes:

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[dellowwarren]

right guys spares have been ordered and now just that long wait for the arrival to install and get back out which i have been taking that think of where i went wrong but i just know now what not to do but still throttle hold helped save so much i still cant believe it.

i have been also thinking about the beastx, with this crash does it affect it or should i reset it?? just a bit worried about it

[Talesin]

Well, you're going to have to do a full BeastX setup after your repairs; most likely the servos are all stripped (move them up and down with the heli powered off... if they click AT ALL, they're stripped and MUST be replaced. Should just give a smooth whirring sound of gears) which means you need to do all of the calibration, geometry and ranging. The only bit you wouldn't have to do would be the tail bits, and they don't take long at all in the first place.

Allow me to repeat. After you have repaired it mechanically, do a FULL beastx setup!

We've had a number of people who just slapped it back together, ignored the setup because it was intimidating/looked complicated and instantly crashed again because the settings were screwed up, and they ignored the people telling them to do the setup. Download the AR7200BX manual from Spektrum or Horizon and go through it while you're waiting for the parts to arrive. You'll definitely need some method of precisely setting the blade pitch, if you don't have one yet. Digital pitch gauge is recommended.