Editor’s note: This column was written
for the December 2000 issue, but did not
run because of the Nationals coverage.
It’s AnOther perfect month to enjoy
the most challenging of Radio Control
(RC) aircraft, and some serious shopping.
This issue will arrive at the start of the
holiday frenzy. Some of the hot, anxiously
awaited releases have finally arrived, and
will no doubt be on some of your shopping
lists.
Let’s take a look at a few of them.
The Eagle Freya is now available, and
it generated a fair amount of interest this
summer at the IRCHA (International Radio
Control Helicopter Association) Jamboree
in Ohio.
The Freya is the new low-cost .60
helicopter in the Hirobo line, and it sports
a molded frame set with a belt-driven tail,
a new pitch slider, and a constant drive.
The street price is approximately $700.
On display at IRCHA, minus a few
parts, was the new .60-size Thunder Tiger
Raptor. Ace Hobby did not know when the
helicopter would arrive for sale at the time
of this writing, but it hopes to have it out
in time to be put under your Christmas
tree. No pricing has been announced.
The .60 will have a tube-drive tail, a
molded frame, and an open bottom similar
to the .30-size Raptor. The Freya and the
Raptor will have standard mix (non-CCPM
[Collective and Cyclic Pitch Mixing])
arrangements.
Miniature Aircraft is shipping its new
version of the X-Cell Pro, dubbed the “Pro
2K.” This is a deluxe helicopter, designed
to be contest-ready right out of the box
(after a relatively involved building
session.).
The Pro series comes with most parts
that would be upgrades on other machines,
and is priced accordingly.
Absent is any word about—or sightings
of—a “new” JR Vigor model. Even the
long-ago-announced tube-drive upgrade is
nonexistent as of mid-August 2000. The
new model and upgrade are expected
before the end of the year, according to
Horizon Hobby.
The current (belt-drive, standard-mix)
Vigor .60 was in abundance at IRCHA,
and is one of the good values in the
industry. Many Vigors at IRCHA were
sporting the Curtis Youngblood Muscle
Pipe setup—a very good pipe for use with
Eric Hawkinson, 319 Yellowstone Ave., Billings MT 59101; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
Close view of Curt Peterson’s JR Vigor. Popular at the IRCHA
Jamboree, the gorgeous paint job looks even better in color!
Curt Peterson’s popular JR Vigor at the Cascade event. O.S. .61
engine, Curtis Youngblood Muscle Pipe provide motivation.
World Champion Curtis Youngblood autographs a memento for a young fan in Idaho.
January 2001 135
136 M ODEL AVIATION
the O.S. .61 engine. (It doesn’t work well
with the increasingly popular YS .61 ST2
though, and Curtis no longer recommends
it for that engine.)
The Hatori and KSJ mufflers are also
popular for the YS and O.S. .61 engines.
Robbe Schluter has two new models.
The Millennium 11 is a slightly
modified version of the original
Millennium. The hot model is the Futura
Nova, which is a Futura SE belt
transmission in a new frame set, with
control and tail systems from the
Millennium.
Robbe never has enough stock to fill
orders for new helicopters (at least in the
US), so you may not see the Nova on a
dealer’s shelves very often.
Another new .60 helicopter that should
ship before the holidays is Quick
Worldwide’s “Quick .60.” This is a larger
version of the popular all-metal, fullbearing
Quick .30. The .30 costs more than
most bargain-priced .30s, but it has little
need for upgrades. All of the Quick
helicopters are CCPM (Quick calls it
“EMS,” for Electronic Mixing System).
I don’t know of many new .46-size
helicopters available. Ace Hobby is
shipping fans and mounts for the Thunder
Tiger .46 (the mounts work on the O.S. .46
only after the mount and the engine are
modified), and most of the other upgrades
it announced last year.
Miniature Aircraft has a new “.50”
helicopter due out sometime this year, with
a much-simplified frame set and CCPM
controls.
The only new .46 I know of expected to
ship by fall is JR’s semiscale Robinson R-
22. This belt-driven CCPM helicopter was
initially expected in the spring, but it keeps
getting pushed back.
Thunder Tiger’s amazing Raptor
dominates the .30-size market, like the
Shuttle used to do.
Despite Ace’s price increases in June,
the Raptor still outsells all other models.
Century Helicopter’s much-improved
versions of the Falcon and Hawk are
probably the next biggest sellers, although
fewer dealers handle those models.
Kalt does not have anything new this
fall. This company has good products that
suffer from a lack of marketing. I’ve been
told that Kalt has a new offshore owner,
but I don’t know who it is or what the
future plans are.
In the even smaller helicopters, the
Ikarus Picollo is with its second US
importer, and it still has serious problems
with availability—and reliability—of the
requisite controller boards. That’s too bad,
because the Picollo is a very entertaining
and practical Indoor Electric model.
On a much happier note, JR is shipping
the interesting Voyager Electric helicopter.
It uses CCPM control and a belt-drive tail,
and the initial kits include the electric
motor and a speed controller, for
approximately $400. The kit is very nice,
with precovered blades, a prebuilt main
frame, and an assembled main rotor head.
The Kalt Whisper has generally been
unavailable all year, but the Voyager is
well-poised to dominate the seven-cell
electric market, and JR’s parts support has
been second to none.
Only Futaba has a new radio system—
the 9ZHW WC, with a cool new look and
some sharply machined stick ends. It’s
available in different packages, including
one that includes only the transmitter,
batteries, and case.
Gyros are a different story; many new
ones are being shipped, and many more are
in the works. Futaba has the new GY502,
to replace the well-known GY501, and two
others, including a low-priced headinghold
gyro. All were expected to ship in
September.
JR has two new high-end gyros, and
they are very impressive. The G550T and
the G5000T use separate sensor and
control-box designs, and a separate
channel for switching gyro modes and gain
settings.
If you don’t connect the gyro mode
channel, they default to tail-lock (headinghold)
operation. Tail-holding power is
extremely good, and the instructions are
excellent.
Telebee continues to hold the lion’s
share of the low-priced heading-hold
market with its 701 model. It has just
announced a new model designed for
optimum performance, with slower servos.
The 701 offers excellent performance,
but the instructions could use
improvement.
Those are most of the major items I’m
aware of. If I missed any new stuff,
manufacturers or importers can feel free to
drop me a line!
now for the other fun part of the hobby:
flying!
It seems that most people want to be 3-
D (three-dimensional) pilots. This means
learning to master aerobatic maneuvers in
all attitudes—upright, inverted, tail-first,
sideways, etc.
The two primary results of this trend
are an increase in the number of really
good pilots across the country and an
upswing in orders for repair parts.
Another result of the 3-D trend is very
good equipment. The dominance of
heading-hold gyros and fast-tail servos is
almost entirely because of the demands of
3-D maneuvers.
For normal flying and aerobatics, the
“old” piezo gyros work fine, with a revomix
and stick-priority gain mix dialed in.
You don’t have to have a hot tail
servo and heading-hold gyro to learn 3-
D, but you will be at a disadvantage
without them.
Nor do you need an eight-channel or
better radio, but you’ll certainly feel the
limits of your six-channel set when you
need equal control response upright versus
inverted, and also need a mixer or two.
Assuming you have equipment that is
up to the task, all that is left is the usual
weak link—the pilot. I’ll offer a couple
tips that have been passed on to me
throughout the years.
The first hint has to do with mastering
the tail-rotor control. The majority of
pilots start by learning to fly with the nose
pointed away from them. Learning to fly
nose-in is a major challenge that each
helicopter pilot should master.
Each 3-D pilot needs to master the
added “control reversal” issues that go
along with being wrong-side up.
The following tip should be your
mantra, repeated to yourself before each
session that requires reinforcement:
When your model is upright, you
“rudder” the far side of the helicopter.
When inverted, you rudder the near side.
Nose-in, tail-in, side-on—it doesn’t
matter. When you are upright, the rudder
(tail rotor) stick steers the far side of the
helicopter the direction you push the stick.
If you are tail-in, a right stick command
pushes the nose (far side) of the helicopter
to your right. When you rotate to nose-in,
a right stick command moves the tail to
your right.
When the helicopter is inverted, your
perception of which way the rudder works is
“reversed.” When your model is inverted
and the nose is pointed away from you,
moving the rudder stick to the right makes
the nose of the helicopter move to your left.
It’s difficult to remember that “the tail
works backward when I’m inverted,” but
it’s very easy to remember that you simply
need to “rudder the near side” when
inverted.
There are other “control reversal”
issues when your helicopter is inverted—
basically everything except ailerons! I’ll
tackle those in a later column. But here’s
another training aid that may come in
handy when you are learning advanced
helicopter flight.
Try to get your “panic” mode to default
to “both sticks at center.” If you become
seriously confused during any maneuver you
are learning to master, put both sticks in the
center and think for a second. Look at the
helicopter and decide on right control(s),
then apply it (them) smoothly.
You are better off having no control
inputs and the pitch at zero, than having
the wrong cyclic command and the thrust
pushing your aircraft into the dirt!
You should always fly your model at a
high-enough altitude for a good chance to
recover if you get disoriented.
I’m out of space before I’m out of talk.
Until next time, happy rotoring! MA
