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Revell Fire Strike Pro Apache and Blackhawk Micro Helicopters Review
By Michael Heer
Aug 06, 2009, 10:27 AM
Introduction
I was happy to have the opportunity to review these two new additions to the Fire Strike Pro lineup, the Apache and the Blackhawk. They are both coaxial helicopters with the same electronics and blades but different plastic bodies that show good detail. Both are available in two colors: The Apache comes in green or black and the Blackhawk is sold in camo colors or solid green. The Blackhawk’s charging plug is on the left side of the helicopter while the Apache's is on the right side. Both have the on/off switch on the right side. They both have LEDs in different positions. My Apache arrived on channel C and the Blackhawk on channel B. The rear rotor is at different heights on the helicopters as well. They both sell for under $40.00 each.
I found them much more controllable then a lot of their predecessors in the three channel world of helicopters. The bright LEDs make them interesting to fly in a darkened room, and I can tell them apart in the dark by the different LED locations.
Included in kits
Each kit includes:
Items I supplied for each helicopter:
Assembly
The helicopters came fully assembled. I only needed to supply 6 AA batteries for each transmitter. Using my small Phillips screwdriver, I removed the battery compartment door and installed the 6 batteries and reinstalled the battery compartment door with the screwdriver. That was it for the assembly!
Completion
The transmitter also serves as the charger for the single cell LiPo battery installed in the helicopter. A charger connection wire Is located on the back of the transmitter. I simply pulled out the charging wire and connected the charger to the charging jack on the helicopter then turned the transmitter on to charge the helicopter. The charging plug has an arrow on it, and that arrow went on the bottom side of the plug when connecting it to either the Apache or the Blackhawk helicopters. My transmitters had a greenish and red LED lighted when it was charging. It was on solidly and not flashing as described in the manual. The LED was red when not charging or for normal flight. (The Blackhawk, which came out a week after the Apache, had a small notice about this LED situation change from the manual. My Apache, which was one of the very first, did not have the little correction notice in the box, but I suspect that subsequent ones will have the corrective notice.)
Flying
Infrared Transmission
These helis are controlled by infrared signals, and they are directionally and range limited. It is necessary to point the transmitter's senders (top of the transmitter) at the helicopter to control it. If something or someone blocks the infrared signal, control can be lost. If I forgot to keep pointing the top of the transmitter at the helicopter, control was lost. Direct sunlight greatly reduces the range of these infrared controls, and therefore, these helicopters should be considered indoor helicopters. They can be flown outdoors at night in extremely calm conditions but they are really intended for indoor flight. Range was adequate; both of the helicopters could be controlled from up to 25-30 feet away indoors. Up to three of these helicopters can be flown at a time on channels A, B and C.
3 Channel Control
Both the Apache and the Blackhawk have three channel control. The left stick is throttle only and controls the climb, descent and hover of the helicopter via electronic matching of the two motors to keep the rotors at the same speed for a smooth hover. Rotation to the left and right is controlled by the right stick by making one motor work at a different speed than the other motor. By having one motor work faster than the other it allows the helicopter to turn to the right or the left. Incidentally, it climbed in prolonged right hand turns and descended in prolonged left hand turns unless there was throttle adjustment. This turning control is on the right stick with the side to side movement, which is normally on the left stick in a four channel helicopter, but I had no problem making this adjustment. The right stick also controls the movement of the helicopter forward and backward in flight. Both of these helicopters moved better forward than backward, but they moved in both directions. The small rear rotor blade faces up and not to the side. This rear rotor controls the forward and backward movement of the helicopter. It only operated when directing the helicopter forward or backwards with the right stick and only when the main rotors were working as well.
Trim Adjustment
There are no trim tabs or trim buttons by the control sticks. Instead, there is a single trim control dial that allows for correction of drift/rotation to the left or the right. That was the only adjustment needed with these three channel coaxial helicopters anyway. That control dial worked very well and gave me better rotational stability than I have experienced in most other small three channel helicopters that I have flown. It adjusts the speed of the two motors so that they match, and the heli can hover and hold a heading when the adjustment is correct. I was flying these helicopters around the room with controlled flight straight, left and right almost immediately. Let I did occasionally have to adjust the trim dial during flight to hold a heading as the battery discharged. Heading could also be affected by climb or descent. I could correct with sideways motion of the right stick or with adjustment of the trim dial as needed. I found I needed to make trim adjustments much less often than with most of the three channel helicopters I have flown in the past. Based on my past experience, i was very pleased with the directional control of both the Apache and the Blackhawk.
Calm Conditions
These helicopters were pushed around when they got in the stream of the air conditioner at our fellowship hall. I could steer and motor into the stream of wind, but when I say conditions must be calm for outside flight, I mean CALM!
Takeoffs and Landings
Always turn on the transmitter first and make sure the throttle (left stick) is at the bottom position. Turn on the helicopter, and let it sit for a couple seconds on a smooth, level surface. To take off, I smoothly powered up the throttle so that the copter lifted off the ground, and I would let it climb to a foot above the floor. If the helicopter was turning without my input, I would notice the direction and adjust the trim dial in the opposite direction of the spin to stop it. (New pilots are encouraged to land before making the trim adjustment for safety reasons.) If the helicopter was turning right, I would turn the dial to the left. The beginner can make another short flight and continue the process until they have a basically stable facing helicopter. Landings just required a slow reduction of throttle, and the helicopter gently descended. A rapid reduction of throttle caused the helicopters to fall from the sky, as would be expected.
Aerobatics and Special Flight
I could fly horizontal circles, squares and make crazy eights. These helicopters turned equally well to the left or the right but they flew much better forward then backward. I used reverse much like I would with a car: It was good to get away from a wall but I didn't use it for much more than that. These helicopters required very little adjustment of the trim dial after the initial lift off. Correction with the dial was only occasional during flight to maintain a solid heading (keeping the motors and thus the coaxial blades in balanced spin.). Many 3-channel helicopters I have flown required very frequent adjustment to the trim, especially if climbing or descending. I found I was making very few such adjustments during a flight with either the Apache or the Blackhawk. One or two adjustments were necessary as the battery neared the end of its charge, and an occasional one or two adjustments during a flight otherwise. Often I would simply adjust with the right stick as necessary and had well controlled flights. I was very pleased with their controllability.
Are These Helicopters for a Beginner?
Yes they are! I recommend that the beginner find an open space of 10' x 10' with no obstacles and start with the helicopter facing away from him so that the helicopter's right and his right are the same, lift the helicopter off to a foot to two feet off the ground and turn his body to match the direction the helicopter is facing until he can get his head into the helicopter and fly knowing if the helicopter needs right or left adjustment and where he wants to direct it. If a problem is encountered and a crash is going to happen, he should drop the throttle to OFF IMMEDIATELY! These light helicopters can usually take the fall but the spinning blades may damage something or break the copter if they keep spinning during or just after a crash. Drop throttle to off immediately if there is going to be a crash! The copter's rotors are pivoted so they shouldn't break if they hit something provided you have throttled down the helicopter.
Photo Gallery and Videos
Conclusions
Revell has two more nice helicopters with good looks, price and handling in the new Apache and Blackhawk. The Fire Strike Pro series continues to impress me with the quality and the price. Both of these three channel helicopters do a good job of holding trim and handling a heading without unplanned spinning for the most part. I cannot recall a better flying three channel helicopter than these two.
Pluses:
Minuses:
Last edited by Angela H; Jul 30, 2009 at 06:27 PM.. |
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Aug 07, 2009, 01:30 PM
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#2 |
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just Some Useless Geek
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 499
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Forty bucks, huh? Hmph. Save yer money and get an mCX.
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Aug 07, 2009, 02:50 PM
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#3 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,628
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They are only $30.00 when I last looked at Tower. While I love the mCX and the mCX S300 not everyone can afford them or wants to spend that much on a gift. I know I will be giving some of the Apaches to people this Christmas. I gave relatives mCXs last Christmas. Mike H
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Aug 07, 2009, 03:32 PM
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#4 |
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Proud member of the Tri-C's
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Posts: 843
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Michael,
That is true, for $30.00 it is well worth that price to start someone on the path of RC Copters. My kids love the Air Hogs and those Revells look good too. If it were not for the Air Hogs I would not have purchased my RC Copters. Steve |
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Aug 07, 2009, 05:05 PM
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#5 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 29
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nice review, the apatche looks identical to the one that got me started in helis recently, £18 from play.com.
I have to say for the price they cannot be beat, they do fly well for begineers. The one thing I have noted is that the trim seems to need adjusting as the battery runs down. |
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Aug 08, 2009, 07:09 AM
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#6 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,628
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Yes the trim dial does need to be adjusted as it runs out of power as mentioned in the main article. This is true of all three channels helis that I have flown thus far. These just didn't need as much adjustment as others I have flown. Mike H
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Aug 08, 2009, 03:36 PM
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#7 |
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Hovering is Over-rated
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Big Spring Tx
Posts: 279
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Nice review. The apache looks really stable in the video. What are flight times like?. Hopefully in the 6 minute or so range. If so Ill probably get one.
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Aug 08, 2009, 05:15 PM
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#8 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 156
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Nice looking helis. However the tx is the same as the one for my Syma S026 tandem, so Syma may be making these for Revell.
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Aug 08, 2009, 06:07 PM
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#9 | |
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chaos,panic,disaster.that 's me
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: holland
Posts: 9
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Quote:
 the "heads"are the same the way the blades are mounted are the same, same stabelizers and they look the same. the green apache and black hawk are how they were released by syma but the camo black hawk must be a version of it for revell.nice to see that revell "makes them to now"might wanna try one and the chance of finding a revell fire strike pro at my local hobby shop is bigger then any other syma helicopter i live in holland :P
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Aug 13, 2009, 08:26 AM
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#10 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,628
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There are three brushed motors not two!
As was properly pointed out to me there are indeed three brushed motors on these copters. The two main brushed motors of equal size for the main rotors and the smaller tail motor for forward and backward flight. I apologize for my oversight. Mike Heer
Last edited by Michael Heer; Aug 16, 2009 at 07:07 AM. |
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Aug 14, 2009, 10:56 PM
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| pedroli |
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An infraction has been given for this post.
Infraction type: Excessive advertising (Spam)
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Aug 20, 2009, 02:21 PM
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#12 |
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Planes are cool ;)
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: West Midlands, UK
Posts: 713
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I saw one of these in a gadget shop yesterday and, because I'd practically just read this review, I couldn't resist buying a green Apache. I've never flown a heli (other than on a sim) and these are nice and easy, and look great while cruising the living room.
Thanks for the great review and convincing me to buy one! |
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Aug 20, 2009, 02:32 PM
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#13 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Stockton, Ca. USA
Posts: 6,628
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I have bought a few for Christmas presents this year. Glad you are enjoying yours. Mike H
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Aug 28, 2009, 03:26 PM
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#14 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Michigan
Posts: 2,281
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Just picked up a blackhawk from the LHS for $25. I couldn't resist as they are cheaper than the Airhogs stuff and I was considering getting the Turbo Blast (which as I understand does not have sustained forward flight and no reverse) for $40. I fly a T-Rex 450 and love flying this in the living room so far. It is almost exactly the same length as my Havoc Apache, but 3-channels and even better looking.
Nice job, Revell and good review. |
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Sep 04, 2009, 01:59 AM
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#15 |
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 178
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questions
HELLO MY Name is DON.
I was wondering like that other person was HOW Long of flying time is there? and how often do you have to charge your batterys or replace them in the TX? Do you have to replace the battery in the RX as well.? FOR I am a scale ship builder and thinking of picking up the black hawk and change it to navy Gray . FOR I have all most a 6 ft DDG for it to land on once I got good enought to do. I have never flown one at all . I also race 1.10th scale Losi electric trucks so I know the RC world at least in the water and in the dirt. Thank you for any and all coments on this one. I do like the Review and the Video . I am looking at the black hawk right now. This will be something new for me if I do it?? But I am trying to do my home work befor I do this one. Thankyou again DON in Portland Oregon. |
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