Whether to Mod Before Learning to Hover?

[Beachcomber]

I'm still very much a beginner at flying helis, and have gotten a lot of very good advice in this forum. But there is one particular piece of advice I have seen quite often, that I have not found to be true, at least for me. For the benefit of newbies newer than me, I'll explain.

Advice: "Learn to hover your new heli before you start modifying it."

My Observations: Some 300 size electric helis might fly well when stock, but many do not, even after balancing, adjusting, etc. A seasoned flyer can probably fly anything even if it's flying poorly, but a beginner can NOT. I have been struggling with a new stock Honey Bee FP for the past 6 weeks (after giving up on my Blade CP before that) and until I decided to make a few improvements, was constantly struggling just to keep the darn thing hovering anywhere near where I had started. It was controlling me and it was a constant battle. And yes I also have a simulator, so stop already.

Then I did a few things (described below if your interested) that made the heli more stable and required less energy and effort to control, allowing me to actually make some progress. Without the changes, I was ready to give up. So there, you newbies wanting to give up on that piece of junk you are trying to fly, either get help from someone who knows what he/she is doing, or read below.

Mods that helped my 300 size electric Honey Bee Fixed Pitch.
1) Stiffen the head by whatever means necessary. I carved up a popsicle stick and mounted it on top of the stock head (seen on this forum), requiring longer screws, and experienced a large improvement in stability/controllability. Apparently if the head flexes at all, things get squirrely. Cost = $1 for a couple of stainless steel screws, nuts, and washers.

2) Don't add a lot of weight. It makes things worse. But you have to start with training gear, even though it adds a little weight.

3) If your heli came with plastic blades (most FP do) replace them with aftermarket fiber reinforced plastic (Xtreme) or wood. They will be stiffer and the same comment above about flexing making things squirrely applies. Cost for Xtreme plastic = less than $10. Warning, wood is stiff, but not very durable in case of crash. Large improvement in stability/controllability even if it does add a little weight.

Conclusion: If you can get that sucker to be still, then you have a chance of learning how to fly it. Have a Great Day.

[Riktar]

While this is not exactly like your scenario I found the principle of your argument spot on in my case:

My CX2 came with an upgraded aluminum upper blade mount but the bottom was plain old plastic/whatever. After my first crash which trashed the lower mount I asked the person at my local hobby shop if I should get the aluminum lower to prevent future failures of that part. His response was to stick with the plastic until I learned how to control the heli better since breaking that part might be saving something else since it acted like a "cushion" to prevent transferring the shock to other components. After the second crash which trashed the lower mount AGAIN I went to a different hobby shop and just bought the aluminum mount without asking for any advice.

Imagine my surprise when after installing the aluminum part I noticed a (slightly) better flying heli. And after the next crash (I am getting better, REALLY) imagine my bigger surprise when the only thing that broke was the lower blades. Unlike the plastic mount which shears the pins clean off in a blade strike, the blades became my cushion. The aluminum mount was just fine. So rather than a teardown of the shafts and what not, a simple blade replacement was all that was neccessary to get back in the air.

So in that sense I am right there with you!