Finger Tip Danger

I recently learned just how deadly your finger tips can be to the lower router head and propeller blades of an RC helicopter. A friend of a friend found an Apache AH-64 Feral Beast and decided that he would try his hand at flying a remote control helicopter. He managed to get it cranked and then almost immediately stuck his fingers in the way of the blades. He gave it to me real cheap saying that he just decided that remote control helicopters just weren’t for him. I immediately noticed the cracked and broken propeller blades and the missing balancer, but it wasn’t until I actually got it going that I realized the real extent of the damage. The lower router head was completely sheared off and replacement parts come with large shipping bills. The friend or a friend confessed to what really happened and offered to take it back or chip in on the cost of fixing it, but I still have not decided what to do. It is a larger indoor heli like I have been looking for, but on the other hand it will take more effort to fix it than I really want to put into it. This lesson right here should teach you two things.

1) If it is sold cheap, it probably isn’t worth it!

2) Keep your finger tips out of the way!!

Be safe flying,

Tim

Expanding my knowledge

I have used and tinkered with RC vehicles for the better parts of the last decade, but nothing prepared me for the vast amount of information I DID NOT know about the hobby. When I started building this website I wanted it to be a good central location for RC enthusiast to go and find out what they need to know. I wanted to be able to help everyone from the beginner to expert in some way, because I really thought that I had a good grasp on what it took to get the most out of the hobby. I am now admitting that I was wrong, wrong, and wrong with a capital W. For example, I know what a good trainer RC airplane is and can give advice on how to get started, what I could not do was really explain what made it a good trainer. Needless to say I have had to research nearly everything I put on the website because I want it to be true and accurate information that goes into enough detail that it is beneficial. I hope my hard work shows through. So please, please, please if you see anything what so ever that looks wrong please don't hesitate to e-mail me at support@allthingsrc.net and tell me to fix it.




-Tim

New experience at the air field.

I took my son to the local flying field today for the first time. He is 5 years old and has only played with my mini RC heli around the house. It was a short trip and there were not very many people there today. I took my very first trainer out hopeing to get it up and let him play with the controls a little bit, but alas the bad luck god was smileing at me. First we find out that the rubber band bag was not in my field box so we couldn't secure the wings. There went any chance of flying today. Still hopeing to save the day from being a complete diaster I decided to crank of the engine to make sure it was still operating ok after being in storage for a few year. While trying to get the engine to fire my son asked me why water was dripping from my plane. That "water" was actually nitro fuel ....... now the trip was an offical diaster. We packed everything up and headed home. My son said that he enjoyed the little bit of time we were at the flying field, but I am hopeing to get back soon and show him the real toys.

-Tim

My first RC heli (helicopter) (written July 2010)

I have been into RC Airplanes for several years now but I have always wanted to learn how to fly RC Helicopters. At the field that I flew at there was only one guy that was really good at Helis and he was not willing to teach and all I ever heard was how hard it is to learn. Well all that changed when I came across several Helicopter pilots that started to frequent the field I flew at. These guys really opened my eyes and my will to learn how to fly Helis. Several of them learned to fly Helis before Airplanes. The best piece of advice that they gave me was to first find a low end Heli that was small enough for indoor flight and that had some directional controls. That way you could fly it inside and not have to worry with the effects of the wind and you could learn the controls of the Heli no matter if it was flying towards you or away from you. This is one of the most important concepts to learn because the more controls you add the more compounded the problem would be if you got turned around while flying you Heli. Now I learned very quickly that there is several cheap Helis available that will not teach you anything. These are the ones that you will find at your local shopping center. The reason for this is those Helis are built as toy and the Helis that we fly are not toys. Due to the low quality of the equipment used to build these Helis they don’t hold the trim adjustment and as the battery starts to weaken all the controls are affected greatly. This makes learning extremely hard because the Heli never flies the same. So I would recommend that if you are serious about this hobby you need make your first Heli purchase wisely.

As a final note:Make sure that the Heli is put out by someone that specializes in RC hobbies not toys.


-Tim