Hi

Yes you have all probably heard this story before. My son wants to learn to fly a heli. Myself I have been involved with cars and boats for over 20yrs but never planes or heli's

Been reading a bit and 4ch coaxial seems to be a good beginner. Seem some things on ebay that scare the bejeepers out of me so cheap so big seems to be asking for problems.

Walkera seems to be reasonably priced for an RTR

Any suggestions or help on this would greatly appreciated

Cheerz ROF

Right now xheli has the Esky Big Lama on sale for under $100 which is a great deal. Get him that AND a Syma S107. I think everyone should learn first on a small indoor to learn throttle control and orientation so you're not totally clueless with the Big Lama. Get the training kit as well and fly in NO wind.

I think you learn a lot more with the ESky Lama V4 or big Lama, or Blade CX2. The tiny, ultralight coaxes have no mass, so they have no inertia, so you don't learn much about heli physics. They are a lot harder to break, though. That being said, I like the way the Blade MCX2 handles. It's very sharp and has nice movement authority, for a coax. That would be my choice for a small indoor heli.

I do not like 3 channel helis for learning, because they have the wrong channel assignments and no swashplate, so they can't move sideways or bank.

I don't know how old your son is, but my grandsons got bored with micro sized coaxes in less than a week. There are several single rotor, self-stabilizing FP helis that are a little more of a challenge, but will teach a lot more. The Blade MSR, NE Solo Pro, or Solo Pro copy sold by Revell are good choices. In your location, A Walkera CB100 might be a viable choice as well.

Cheerz thanks for this info appreciated. He's RC savy, he drives cars and boats better than i do. Kids have that hand eye co-ord down pat. I too believe that learning on a small isn't the best thing to do.

He didn't learn to drives RC cars by driving a micro car he's learnt on a 1/8 truggy.( don't want to get into the whole comparison thing, I get the point).

Again cheerz for the info

For a larger coax that could be flown outside in mild wind, I would look at the ESKY Big Lama (BOL) or the Walkera 400 (in its different versions - perhaps the 400D version is best suited for geginner, as it is not as expensive as damaging a full body fuselage in a crash and also because you can access the "insides" of the heli A LOT easier for repairs)

I have/had them both, just dont get too much to fly them lately - but on my youtube channell there are vids to both (with and without fuselages)
example for the 400D without canopy:

Walkera Lama400D spotlanding.wmv (2 min 17 sec)

E2

My grandsons range in age from 3 to 14. They can all drive my RC cars (even the 3yo tries). All of my cars are 1/10, mostly off-roaders. The RC helis they seem to have the most fun with are the Blade 120SR, Hirobo SRB Quark and a modified ESky Lama V4. They definitely prefer outdoors. In the house, they would rather play video games.