I started with an E-Sky Honeybee fixed pitch. It has taken a beating, I'll tell you. Luckily spare parts are inexpensive, and BPHobbies has flat rate shipping of $6 for them. So every time I break a part and need to order, I order 2 or 3 of that part, so I'm ready for next time. The problem is that I haven't really been breaking the same parts.
I'm on my second set of landing gear, my second head, and my second plate thingy. (not the swashplate, the rectangular one)
Yesterday, I was packing up the helis for my club's first indoor flying session at a new, larger gym. When I got outside, it was so warm, beautiful & calm, I just HAD to fly outside for a bit first. You know where this is going by now, right?
Long story short. I accidentally left the dual rates on 70%. I got up about 50' high, and the wind took me away, even with full cyclic fighting. That extra 30% throw would've come in handy. As it is, I had to give up fighting the wind and slowly throttle down. I wound up crash landing it on a roof. Cabin parts flying and the head popped off. The only mechanical thing that was broken was one ball link bar. But I don't have any spares of that one part. I could almost build a whole 'nother head with my spares, except for that !$%^# part.
I bought an E-Sky Lama V3 a week or two ago. This is more like it. It is designed for flying indoors, and has a much quicker learning curve. I tried flying it outside too. Same result; the slightest puff of wind and it was carried
...Continue Reading