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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Flying the Blade CX is about 50x easier than flying a single-rotor chopper. Seriously..
Its like the difference between a Bicycle and a Unicycle - The CX self stabilises to the point where, once you have it trimmed out properly, you can put it in a hover, then put the Transmitter on the floor and watch it hover by itself for 30 seconds ! (Yes, I have done this).
The only drawback to the CX is, being a coaxial machine, is its very stability means its impossible to do anything too dramatic with it. It wont bank more than about 30 degrees, and if you start hammering it around in high speed turns, you clash the rotors together. But for gentle cruising around indoors (basketball courts are great) they're a fun machine.
The single-rotor T-Rex will stay stable for about 2-3 seconds (if you're lucky) without control inputs and its very twitchy it in its response. You can soften things up a bit with some weights on the flybar, but its still designed to be a stunt-machine, so it cant be too stable. This means you can flip it upside down in about 1/2 second, which also means if you make a mistake, you can unintentionally end up upside down in 1/2 second too.. !
Smaller Choppers like Dragonflies are even harder to fly. Fixed Pitch choppers are harder again since they alter the rotor speed to change the lift, which then also affects the cyclic responsiveness, Collective-Pitch choppers are less mushy, but more fragile when you hit something.
The hard part with Helis is training your brain to get used to the orientation changes reversing 3 out of your 4 stick movements. Because balancing a single rotor chopper is like riding a unicycle, reversing the controls really throws you up the creek for a long time.
This applies to dual and single rotor choppers, although with the duals, in most cases, if you just stop pushing the cyclic and rudder sticks around and add power, you will get yourself out of trouble (provided theres no walls closeby to hit). In a single rotor, you have to balance it back into a hover before you hit the ground, which is 20x harder.
The CX is a good way to get that orientation thing sorted out, then if you're masochistic enough to move to a single rotor machine, you will have to learn the balancing thing all over again, but at least the neural orientation wiring should already be in place.
If you want to play with choppers - the #1 piece of advice - Get a simulator ! Pixels are much cheaper to crash than rotor blades
They range from free to $350
FMS -Free : OK for planes, waste of time for Heli's - the physics are nothing like realistic
Clearview ($50 + Tx Cable) which is quite good for the price, simplistic but functional
Phoenix-sim which is very nice for around $200 (Includes Tx cable)
or up to $330 for Reflex (The best physics, a little rough in polish, uses your Tx with an included cable)
and $330 RealFlight G3 (The big mama, Physics arent quite as good as Reflex, but 95% as good, but with more planes, choppers, bells, whistles, multiplayer, training etc than you can poke a stick at, and comes with both a cable to use your own Tx, and a USB controller of its own which is surprisingly good and useful since it doesnt need batteries and you tend to always have it near your computer (cause its no use for anything else, unlike your normal Tx). The main drawback to G3 is it needs a beast of a computer to run well. Anything less than a 3Ghz P4 with a $200+ Graphics card and its jolty unless you turn all the detail down.
So anyway, If you want to save yourself a lot of crashes, I'd reccomend getting at least Clearview. If you want to go for single rotor choppers in the future, then Phoenix, Reflex or G3 are worth investing in. The first couple of crashes you avoid will pay for the sim and you can have fun when its raining outside..
Does the E-flite spectrum controller have any programmability like end-points, curves, expo etc in it ? Or is it just a basic controller using the spectrum modulation system ? _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:24 am |
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DumHed
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 1219
Location: Sydney
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it appears to be a very basic controller with the Spektrum modulation.
There are various mode switches which are undocumented at the moment, but it looks like they'll do some more with it.
Either way, at $60US for a replacement TX (or free if you already have a chopper) I think it's worth a try. Spektrum AR6100 receivers seem to be about $50US, so that's a cheap robot control system to have a play with
I've had a few goes of simulators, but my attention span for computer games in general is pretty short, so I'd never use it enough to make it worthwhile.
I'm glad I got the CX2 now, because I probably would have gotten tired of learning to fly anything else!
The thing I found tricky was that you have to be constantly controlling four controls at once, as well as the orientation changes, which is a lot tricker than cars or even planes!
Once I got the hang of that I've found it pretty easy to do fast laps around the office, narrowly avoiding solid objects, and the weird air con downdraught that makes the heli drop a couple of feet in altitude right above the printer
I can see how this becomes a very expensive hobby!
One problem with it is that it looks much easier than flying a plane, so everyone wants a go, which generally results in another trip to the hobby shop shortly afterwards! _________________
The Engine Whisperer
- fixer of things
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Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:58 pm |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Yes, If anyone asks for a go of my Heli's (except the PicooZ's which are near indestructible), I ask them for $200 cash up front, and if they crash it, I get to keep it, which generally discourages them pretty quick.
Helis 4-at-once controls are certainly tricky to master.. Most roboteers have enough trouble driving 2 channel machines well. Add another 2 simulataneous dimensions you have to focus on at once, with the added bonus that you cant just stop and get your bearings once you are airborne and that most of the controls also have an effect on some of the others and its a real balancing act.
Helis are a great way to burn money. The worst part is, they *are* fun. Remote Controlled Adrenalin Dispensors IMO. I've wondered how difficult it would be to build a heli with a lightweight shroud (ducted fan style) around the main and tail rotors, which would prevent self-destruction when you bump the rotors into something _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:48 pm |
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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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quote:
Originally posted by DumHed:
I've had a few goes of simulators, but my attention span for computer games in general is pretty short, so I'd never use it enough to make it worthwhile.
Well, if you want to go single Rotor, you are going to need one, I guarantee it.. Go for Clearview if you dont think you'll use it much. Its only $30 US with free lifetime upgrades, instant download - and the author keeps adding onto it all the time. It even has the Balde CX in it. !
And if you dont want to stump for a Tx Cable, if you have a look at the controllers section on the website - http://rcflightsim.com/ - details there on how to make a simple cable that uses your sound cards line input to decode the pulses for next-to-nothing in parts - a few plugs and some wire.
quote:
I'm glad I got the CX2 now, because I probably would have gotten tired of learning to fly anything else!
Yes, the CX is probably the best beginners chopper I know if. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:48 pm |
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