OK... what are the FAQs

[jasmine2501]

OK we have a really great forum for all the beginners now, where it's obvious that beginner questions are cool here. Now we need some "pre-emptive" content, so please post what you think the FAQs are for beginners with helicopters. So far, suggestions include:

1. Various flight training methods and critique of each (RADD, bunny-hop, etc)
2. Differences between types of helicopters
3. WHAT HELI TO START WITH! (Number 1 question by far)
4. List of popular beginner helicopters
5. How to set up CCPM heads /radios
6. How to set up gyros
7. Popular simulators and critiques

Please add your suggestions to this list and in a week or so, we'll see if we can get some stickies created for the most common issues.

[osterizer]

8. Which aluminum upgrades do I really need?

(I'll go on and answer that one: you don't need any of them. :) )

[Hellraser]

Biginners check list - things to check when you get the heli out of the box - and top of the list is throttle trim.

safety - including lipo batteries, safe flying practices and safety measures when working on the heli.

Goop point above - plastic tends to act like a fuse and will break where as alloy usually tranfers impact stresses to more difficult to get at and often expensive parts

Regards David

[osterizer]

On a more serious note- picking packs, motors; calculating power requirements and output.

How do I make my motor spin the other way?

How do I set the gear mesh?

How do I balance my blades?

Why does my heli slide to the left? :)

[jasmine2501]

On a more serious note- picking packs, motors; calculating power requirements and output.

How do I make my motor spin the other way?

How do I set the gear mesh?

How do I balance my blades?

Why does my heli slide to the left? :)

I consider the designing your own power system a pretty advanced topic or a specific heli topic, but it is a very common question.

"Why does my helicopter do x?" is a good one. And setup issues like balance and gear mesh should probably be all together in one place...

Definitely good stuff there :)

[grnbrg]

Maybe a sticky thread of "Required upgrades"? ie: Brushless motor for a King2, new servos for the Blade 400, etc.


grnbrg.

[racin06]

On a more serious note- picking packs, motors; calculating power requirements and output.

How do I make my motor spin the other way?

How do I set the gear mesh?

How do I balance my blades?

Why does my heli slide to the left? :)

A few more:

Is it normal for my heli to tilt to the right?

I have excessive vibration...what could be the cause?

My heli is wobbling up and down...what could be the cause?

[racin06]

Good point above - plastic tends to act like a fuse and will break where as alloy usually tranfers impact stresses to more difficult ot get at and often expensive parts

Metal head parts also result in a heli that is more sensitive to stick inputs...a great thing for the seasoned pilot, but not a good thing for a newbie.

[Hellraser]

Metal head parts also result in a heli that is more sensitive to stick inputs...a great thing for the seasoned pilot, but not a good thing for a newbie.

Very true racin and drifting left - tilting right during hover are both part of flight charecteristics - but if all above could be covered it would be a good resorce for the beginner - a wealth of education and that is what is needed - you could say Coax is like Kinder Garden - fixed pitch like school - collective pitch like collage - some people will always like to skip kinder garden and school and go stright to collage - its posable but a very steep learning curve

Regards David

[norcalheli]

Definitely a link to the EHBG. There is so much information in that doc that really needs to be in a beginners forum.

[jasmine2501]

Definitely a link to the EHBG. There is so much information in that doc that really needs to be in a beginners forum.

Yeah really... problem is a lot of people these days don't like to read. They also don't generally go for complete understanding of any subject - opting for "just enough to get by" - which is what it is, just enough to get by, and not enough to do well.

[Hellraser]

Yeah really... problem is a lot of people these days don't like to read. They also don't generally go for complete understanding of any subject - opting for "just enough to get by" - which is what it is, just enough to get by, and not enough to do well.

Also in The Electrical Helicopter's Biginners guide - they tend to talk about helicopters like the Echo 8 which people just starting dont see talked about and dont relate to.

Regards David

[osterizer]

Also in The Electrical Helicopter's Biginners guide - they tend to talk about helicopters like the Echo 8 which people just starting dont see talked about and dont relate to.

Regards David

Yup. The EHBG has stood up well over time, but a lot of the examples are out of date. It needs revising.

[mrschultz02]

I haven't seen anyone mention:

What spare parts should I order with my first heli?

Later,
Marty

[abenn]

How about, "what servos for my heli?"? As a long-time fixed-wing flyer I have a reasonable idea of what servos I need in various applications, and I have the necessary skills to make them fit into my models. But as a newcomer to helis I'm at a loss to know what will fit, have the right sensitivity, have the right torque, etc. if I don't want or can't get the brand and model that's listed in the heli instructions.

[aftica]

...

[osterizer]

However, there are a lot of things that are universal, or at least broadly applicable, and the EHBG captures quite a few. The info about specific helis is largely out of date, you're right, but baby/bathwater, man.

So we're getting a good list of questions going on here. How are we going to go about answering them? I know we have the knowledge to do so in the people attending here.

[jasmine2501]

I think we let this thread go on for a while and pay attention to the others that get posted here and then we'll post a FAQ thread and ask the mods to stick it.

[osterizer]

Sounds like a plan.

I was thinking- for the FAQs, it might make sense to link to answers instead of reposting. Common questions might have detailed answers out there already (CCPM setup, for example).

[knutb]

A couple of other suggestions:
- How much space do I need to fly a helicopter?
- How are helicopters affected by wind?
- What does "300 class", "450 class" and so on really mean?
And while this surely will be covered by one or more of the already suggested topics; some general comments about size versus handling/flight behaviour would be good. "Oh, that Trex 250 is so cute, must be perfect for a beginner..."

[mediclavina]

This forum site needs to have a glossary section for total beginners. It took me a little while before I understood what a gyro and an ESC does, what the difference between a brushed and brushless motors are and the advantages, etc. It's also important to understand the meaning of acronyms used throughout the forums like LHS, LVC, etc.

[jasmine2501]

This forum site needs to have a glossary section for total beginners. It took me a little while before I understood what a gyro and an ESC does, what the difference between a brushed and brushless motors are and the advantages, etc. It's also important to understand the meaning of acronyms used throughout the forums like LHS, LVC, etc.

That is a really good idea too... I know I had to Google a few acronyms myself. Not sure if we want to make it super easy for people though - one of the things I think is necessary to be successful with helicopters or anything else these days is the ability to use research tools and to find and read information for yourself. Maybe a sticky about how to find things?

[robertm04]

... you could say Coax is like Kinder Garden - fixed pitch like school - collective pitch like collage - some people will always like to skip kinder garden and school and go stright to collage - its posable but a very steep learning curve

Regards David
Reading the various posts here, it seems that most are addressing the needs of people moving into collective pitch, which is great too, but I think for new people to helis, coming to the "Aircraft - Electric - Helis" page here, the ones that will for sure click on the "Beginner Training Area" are the ones that are more or less brand new to helis, and that in most cases needs to go the coax route.
With that, I think what Hellraser said, that there are like 3 levels, coax, fixed pitch, and collective pitch. Someone that doesn't even know the difference between these 3 will not benefit much by being informed of the things that someone that is moving from FP to CP wants to know, if anything, it will just confuse the heck out of them.
Personally, being a coax and FP flier, I'll love reading about what someone going from FP to CP needs to know (and I already learned things from the "Collective Pitch explained" thread.

[TMorita]

This forum site needs to have a glossary section for total beginners. It took me a little while before I understood what a gyro and an ESC does, what the difference between a brushed and brushless motors are and the advantages, etc. It's also important to understand the meaning of acronyms used throughout the forums like LHS, LVC, etc.

There's a glossary at the end of the EHBG, btw.

Toshi

[NumbSkull]

How about:

What's the difference between the different types of gyros. (Head Holding, Piezo, rate... etc...)

[TMorita]

How about:

What's the difference between the different types of gyros. (Head Holding, Piezo, rate... etc...)

Section 30.1.7.4 in the EHBG 17 covers this:

http://www.swashplate.co.uk/ehbg-v17/ch30.html#heliwork

Toshi

[jasmine2501]

Why don't we just update the EHBG so it applies to current situations? A lot of noobs have trouble making the connections between things - they are looking for information specific to their particular setup. I see a lot of questions asking the same things over and over, and many times, the person is asking simply because they think some minor difference in their helicopter makes it a completely different question? How often have we answered the "what to do when changing the servos in my Blade 400" question. Answer: same setup you always do on any helicopter... but a lot of noobs don't see it that way. They are afraid the setup or some minor thing will be different if it's HS65 instead of HS55, or whatever. We could re-write things in such a way as to give the person confidence in their setup, regardless of the specific helicopters or equipment used.

[osterizer]

That does sound like a good idea if Toshi's up for it. Glad to help with it if so.

[TMorita]

Why don't we just update the EHBG so it applies to current situations? A lot of noobs have trouble making the connections between things - they are looking for information specific to their particular setup. I see a lot of questions asking the same things over and over, and many times, the person is asking simply because they think some minor difference in their helicopter makes it a completely different question? How often have we answered the "what to do when changing the servos in my Blade 400" question. Answer: same setup you always do on any helicopter... but a lot of noobs don't see it that way. They are afraid the setup or some minor thing will be different if it's HS65 instead of HS55, or whatever. We could re-write things in such a way as to give the person confidence in their setup, regardless of the specific helicopters or equipment used.

I've sent updates to Mark (the guy who generates the various formats of the EHBG) but he hasn't been updating the various formats lately.

I'll ping him.

Toshi

[jasmine2501]

I've sent updates to Mark (the guy who generates the various formats of the EHBG) but he hasn't been updating the various formats lately.

I'll ping him.

Toshi

Just create a new thread here and ask the mods to sticky it.

Do several posts, one for each section. Then go back and edit the first post and put the table of contents as a series of links to the later posts. Make sense?

[TMorita]

Just create a new thread here and ask the mods to sticky it.

Do several posts, one for each section. Then go back and edit the first post and put the table of contents as a series of links to the later posts. Make sense?

The EHBG has 31 sections.

It's probably excessive to have 31 threads that people need to go through to find the correct info.

Toshi

[jasmine2501]

The EHBG has 31 sections.

It's probably excessive to have 31 threads that people need to go through to find the correct info.

Toshi

Yeah that's kinda why I said "posts" instead of threads.

The other option would be to go here and create a free blog site.
https://www.blogger.com/start

That would actually help the guide show up in Google searches a bit better. A lot of my hits to my blog come from Google. Also you can link it up with Adsense and provide helpful ads for people to click on. I've made $10 with my ads so far.

A blog site like mine is very easy to set up and maintain. I am a programmer so capable of doing much more than this, but it would be work, and I don't like work.
http://jazzyflight.blogspot.com/

[osterizer]

Mmm... a blog would be ok, but that would put most of the work on tmorita to edit everything, wouldn't it? Dunno- is there an RC version of SourceForge? :)

[jasmine2501]

Mmm... a blog would be ok, but that would put most of the work on tmorita to edit everything, wouldn't it? Dunno- is there an RC version of SourceForge? :)

Blogspot does allow multiple authors on the same blog... at any rate, there is a way to provide answers to the FAQs without presenting the user with a giant wall of text, which in today's world will just be ignored. That's one reason why we get the same questions over and over - because people can't or won't do the research required to find the answers they want. They prefer to have others do that for them. I would venture to say that those are the kind of people who won't be successful in this hobby anyway.

[osterizer]

Ahh, ok, that sounds better. Also, might still want a way for people to get the formatted doc for download. Many people read and surf around HT docs online, but many, many still like a "real" doc to read, or want to be able to have it on the train, plane, or whatever (don't have connectivity and opportunity to read at the same time).