Hello! 
A full month had passed since I have been lurking around the boards researching my very first 6 channel heli. This review is from a newbie's POV, offering you a fresh look at the heli as compared to a seasoned vet that has helis lined up at his disposal, flies the living cr@# out of it, & barely has time for projects as elementary as a 450 size.
My heli experience is limited to a Lama V4, I've had it about 2 months & I felt that it was time to move up to a single rotor CP.
At first I thought of going with HBCP2 route, it's not a bad stepping stone, many pilots also went thru this route. Exchanging PM's & further research led to me to conclude that a motor driven tail could be a good step forward but a belt driven tail would be better. So a belt driven tail it is.
The 450 size seem to offer the most variety in electric helis, be it heli choice, aftermarket upgrade parts & LHS parts support, not to mention a price within reach to a newbie wanting to try out helis.
One model ALWAYS calls a newbie's attention in this size, for it's pricing & RTF package. Overall, a heli that flies most of the time, the model that you either love or hate, the BELT CP.
I would not be going through a Belt CP's strengths as it has lots on any BELT CP thread(yup I read through those).
With the inherent design & build limitations of the Belt CP, I set off to find another candidate.
Enter the CopterX. Well this was a really good contender. Good alum parts, decent overall build & the most important, 99 to a 100% Trex compatibility. I thought hey, that's good as most LHS stock on Trex parts. The CopterX threads has earned an eager following, usually has more pages than the BELT thread, so good luck!
Still I was in search of my heli, then came the GULANG models. Marketed here(where I'm at) as the Clone of the Clone(CopterX). These helis looks to be generic helis, they are probably made to be rebranded,the Ninja450 is probably this heli. I don't know about you, but I would prefer to go with the ORIGINAL clone(CopterX), specially if they are priced about the same & that is because of CopterX/Trex compatibilty.
Another company enters the 450 size with the KDS450S RTF. It has strong ties with Gulang & is probably Gulang made rebranded as KDS. The main difference of this model is the tail drive. Uses the belt directly from the main shaft instead of passing thru a 2nd gear that drives the belt. One important thing though, it has an all plastic head & tail, good thing is it looks to be Trex compatible. It is also priced just a tad higher than the BeltCP. This heli is ahead of the BeltCP(old version) in terms of design & electronics. Plus the canopy looks so bad ass.
However, it is close but no cigar.
Ahh the moment of truth...
After balancing the Pro's & Cons, this goes without saying balancing my budget, I finally decided on my first ever 6 channel heli. All things we're considered & this decision has the blessings from the nice people I've corresponded with in the span of my heli search. Thank you to everyone.
This is the model that I would be growing up with on this heli trip.
http://www.wingmodel.com/company.asp
Stay tuned.
Allan
************************
So yeah I plan to be in this hobby till I can't do it no more for a host of other reasons...but I'll find means.
This is my own little way of spreading the joy/fix/addiction I get from this hobby to everyone who we're junkies before me. :P
SO I GOT ME A HELI.
*September 05, 2008; 5-ish PM
It's about 20 hours old now. I'm loving every second of it. I can't even take my eyes off the heli. There is something about these machines. Hmmmm.
Well, I am now in battery #4 using Radd's method of learning to fly.
http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html
I can just imagine, If Radd was beside me on this battery pack, he'd be yelling in BOLD RED CAPS. ;D
I hovered. Hihihihihi.
You tube & Vimeo download has been going forever, bear with me.
Since this is the FIRST time I actually took her up, I noticed some tail wag, very slight, maybe too much gyro gain. I'll try to lessen the gyro gain first, if I can find it.
For now, I'll follow KISS & the time old adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
From the shop, the only thing I had to do was line up my rudder servo, the pushrod was bending when I got it from the case. I also noticed rudder servo buzz so I moved the servo mount aft by 1cm. NO more buzz. Thanks Finless, I knew exactly what to do.
http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=41692
That is still my main concern. There is still some servo buzz. Not from binding more of like, after you give left rudder input for example, then you give right rudder, the buzz happens. It's like the servos gears are not meshing right, servos are TPSG9 servos(blue ones). Or maybe it's just the gyro working or the lipos breaking in, or maybe its the whole system that just needs a break in.
I'll be looking at this one closely though, my next ten battery's would probably be hovering around 2 to 3 feet. So there is some margin to break in the entire system. I PLAN(not yet a need) to have a radio upgrade, but it seems I need to upgrade servos first or just do both if budget is there.
Of the entire heli the servo creep is my main concern at the moment.
I got two kinds of lube, A silicone dry lube & a 100% silicone oil.
I used silicone dry lube on all the moving things except where there is rubber. The belt, head(w/ the o-rings), & seesaw with bushing I use 100%silicone.
I never use WD-40, go at least with silicone based.
My blades are tight, nowhere near tap & drop, but so far there is no vibration in the heli. So I'll keep it that way. I just need to keep the furniture from hitting them spinning tornado's. Ehehe.
I need another Lipo. My Vislero is puffed.
I need to do something else... brb. ;D
Current pic of Moijiah
Proudly wearing the Philippine Flag ( *digital FAS flag, not official )
Starboard side updated look.
**Update**
You might also wanna check out this alternate thread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=918978
A full month had passed since I have been lurking around the boards researching my very first 6 channel heli. This review is from a newbie's POV, offering you a fresh look at the heli as compared to a seasoned vet that has helis lined up at his disposal, flies the living cr@# out of it, & barely has time for projects as elementary as a 450 size.
My heli experience is limited to a Lama V4, I've had it about 2 months & I felt that it was time to move up to a single rotor CP.
At first I thought of going with HBCP2 route, it's not a bad stepping stone, many pilots also went thru this route. Exchanging PM's & further research led to me to conclude that a motor driven tail could be a good step forward but a belt driven tail would be better. So a belt driven tail it is.
The 450 size seem to offer the most variety in electric helis, be it heli choice, aftermarket upgrade parts & LHS parts support, not to mention a price within reach to a newbie wanting to try out helis.
One model ALWAYS calls a newbie's attention in this size, for it's pricing & RTF package. Overall, a heli that flies most of the time, the model that you either love or hate
, the BELT CP. I would not be going through a Belt CP's strengths as it has lots on any BELT CP thread(yup I read through those).
With the inherent design & build limitations of the Belt CP, I set off to find another candidate.
Enter the CopterX. Well this was a really good contender. Good alum parts, decent overall build & the most important, 99 to a 100% Trex compatibility. I thought hey, that's good as most LHS stock on Trex parts. The CopterX threads has earned an eager following, usually has more pages than the BELT thread, so good luck!
Still I was in search of my heli, then came the GULANG models. Marketed here(where I'm at) as the Clone of the Clone(CopterX). These helis looks to be generic helis, they are probably made to be rebranded,the Ninja450 is probably this heli. I don't know about you, but I would prefer to go with the ORIGINAL clone(CopterX), specially if they are priced about the same & that is because of CopterX/Trex compatibilty.
Another company enters the 450 size with the KDS450S RTF. It has strong ties with Gulang & is probably Gulang made rebranded as KDS. The main difference of this model is the tail drive. Uses the belt directly from the main shaft instead of passing thru a 2nd gear that drives the belt. One important thing though, it has an all plastic head & tail, good thing is it looks to be Trex compatible. It is also priced just a tad higher than the BeltCP. This heli is ahead of the BeltCP(old version) in terms of design & electronics. Plus the canopy looks so bad ass.
However, it is close but no cigar.
Ahh the moment of truth...
After balancing the Pro's & Cons, this goes without saying balancing my budget, I finally decided on my first ever 6 channel heli. All things we're considered & this decision has the blessings from the nice people I've corresponded with in the span of my heli search. Thank you to everyone.
This is the model that I would be growing up with on this heli trip.
http://www.wingmodel.com/company.asp
Stay tuned.
Allan
************************
So yeah I plan to be in this hobby till I can't do it no more for a host of other reasons...but I'll find means.
This is my own little way of spreading the joy/fix/addiction I get from this hobby to everyone who we're junkies before me. :P
SO I GOT ME A HELI.
*September 05, 2008; 5-ish PM
It's about 20 hours old now. I'm loving every second of it. I can't even take my eyes off the heli. There is something about these machines. Hmmmm.
Well, I am now in battery #4 using Radd's method of learning to fly.
http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html
I can just imagine, If Radd was beside me on this battery pack, he'd be yelling in BOLD RED CAPS. ;D
I hovered. Hihihihihi.
You tube & Vimeo download has been going forever, bear with me.
Since this is the FIRST time I actually took her up, I noticed some tail wag, very slight, maybe too much gyro gain. I'll try to lessen the gyro gain first, if I can find it.
For now, I'll follow KISS & the time old adage of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
From the shop, the only thing I had to do was line up my rudder servo, the pushrod was bending when I got it from the case. I also noticed rudder servo buzz so I moved the servo mount aft by 1cm. NO more buzz. Thanks Finless, I knew exactly what to do.
http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=41692
That is still my main concern. There is still some servo buzz. Not from binding more of like, after you give left rudder input for example, then you give right rudder, the buzz happens. It's like the servos gears are not meshing right, servos are TPSG9 servos(blue ones). Or maybe it's just the gyro working or the lipos breaking in, or maybe its the whole system that just needs a break in.
I'll be looking at this one closely though, my next ten battery's would probably be hovering around 2 to 3 feet. So there is some margin to break in the entire system. I PLAN(not yet a need) to have a radio upgrade, but it seems I need to upgrade servos first or just do both if budget is there.
Of the entire heli the servo creep is my main concern at the moment.
I got two kinds of lube, A silicone dry lube & a 100% silicone oil.
I used silicone dry lube on all the moving things except where there is rubber. The belt, head(w/ the o-rings), & seesaw with bushing I use 100%silicone.
I never use WD-40, go at least with silicone based.
My blades are tight, nowhere near tap & drop, but so far there is no vibration in the heli. So I'll keep it that way. I just need to keep the furniture from hitting them spinning tornado's. Ehehe.
I need another Lipo. My Vislero is puffed.
I need to do something else... brb. ;D
Current pic of Moijiah
Proudly wearing the Philippine Flag ( *digital FAS flag, not official )
Starboard side updated look.
**Update**
You might also wanna check out this alternate thread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=918978
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