Why didn't anyone tell me that micro R/C helicopters are so much fun?

Perhaps I wasn't paying attention.

I wanted some new diversion for my little brother and myself to mess with, and as a sort of Christmas gift to both of us, I decided to buy a micro r/c helicopter. I opened up the box, you know, to charge the batteries ahead of seeing him tomorrow, and in the meantime I read in the user manual that the battery should not be left fully-charged.

I would hate to sabotage the battery, so of course I had to fly it around the house. Amazingly intuitive, and surprisingly stable, it is a lot more than I expected to get for $40. Even better, the hobby store has all of the replacement parts. I just need to make sure I don't break it in the meantime.

I definitely need to pick up a mega-pack of batteries from HF tomorrow.

Ha, that rules. You know, the front room of our house is like 2.5 stories tall....

RC choppers are very cool, no matter how small. Seeing this made me want to build a quadcopter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qchy7BVid9Q

Keith Tanner wrote: RC choppers are very cool, no matter how small. Seeing this made me want to build a quadcopter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qchy7BVid9Q

Gorgeous footage. I'm trying to rig up a cheap little drone. I just took the fusilage off of one of these to save some weight and used the helicopter to lift one of these indoors.

Next up, the outdoor test.

I bought one of those at Circle K a week or so ago. It is surprisingly addicting, I fly it at work whenever I don't have something to do.

Yeah, theyre fun as can be. I hoon around with my nephews cheapo rc helicopter all the time. It survived both our learning curves, and still flies like the day it came out of the box.

More automotive companies need to start using Tamachiro mfg LTDs manufacturing processes...lol

Next up for me is a quad rotor that you can fly with your phone

I have one of those, the tail rotor motor gave out after a couple of weeks, never found a replacement

I've got a $20 cheapie that works with an IR dongle off my iPhone. It's fun but the control interface leaves me wanting more, if I did it again I'd go with a traditional stick controller and not a cheap IR one.

Can this be done with Legos?

Sign me up for a quad as well, those things look amazing.

N Sperlo wrote: Can this be done with Legos?

Sort of:

http://www.suasnews.com/2012/12/20276/drone-made-of-lego-takes-flight/

dammit, I needs one 'o these

no... gotta be moar bigger

JoeyM wrote: Next up, the outdoor test.

DO NOT TRY TO FLY IT OUTDOORS. It will VERY quickly accelerate towards wherever the wind takes it and your best option at that point will be to let it crash gently into the ground. Those counter-rotating main rotor + pitch-control tail rotor types have no roll control and are practically impossible to fly with any wind.

I have an Air Hogs brand heli that I fly around the office. I wouldn't call it easy to fly though. Mine takes a careful mix of throttle and steering for a stable flight. Of all my R/C toys the heli is the most challenging, but most rewarding.

GameboyRMH wrote:

JoeyM wrote: Next up, the outdoor test.

DO NOT TRY TO FLY IT OUTDOORS. It will VERY quickly accelerate towards wherever the wind takes it and your best option at that point will be to let it crash gently into the ground. Those counter-rotating main rotor + pitch-control tail rotor types have no roll control and are practically impossible to fly with any wind.

I have flown mine outside with just a gentle breeze.. but I would not try it with anything more than that

I know when I used to fly mine indoors I'd have to turn off fans 20ft+ away or it would create zones where the chopper was barely controllable.

I want this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkMiIT1VG98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijb-hej2PuE

David S. Wallens wrote: You know, the front room of our house is like 2.5 stories tall....

If you don't already have one of these then, I'm disappointed in you my friend.

all I can think about when someone talks about quadcopters is that helicopter cat.

I bought the iPhone one too. It was a lot of fun until it didn't work

The battery won't take a charge anymore. Never tried it outdoors because even with a window open it was uncontrollable.

Now I want moar power!

GameboyRMH wrote:

JoeyM wrote: Next up, the outdoor test.

DO NOT TRY TO FLY IT OUTDOORS. It will VERY quickly accelerate towards wherever the wind takes it and your best option at that point will be to let it crash gently into the ground. Those counter-rotating main rotor + pitch-control tail rotor types have no roll control and are practically impossible to fly with any wind.

I've flown it outdoors (with fusilage) in the past, but only in very still air

fasted58 wrote: dammit, I needs one 'o these no... gotta be moar bigger

My assumption is that smaller = smaller impact when it inevitably crashes, and less bodily damage when I attempt to land it on my head (which I have of course already attempted to do). I like the idea of flying indoors; I can attempt to land on all sorts of surfaces, go through obstacles, and other things that will lead to my enjoyment and its destruction. I did manage to break the rear rotor off already when seeing just exactly how close to the ceiling I could hover, but some epoxy fixed it right up. I may buy a replacement tail section at the hobby store anyway, so long as it isn't too expensive. Famous last words, right?

I bought the S157 for $25 like two years ago off amazon. Its awesome. Must've crashed like 200 times before the tail rotor cracked. It came with a replacement, so I just plopped it on and kept on crashing it :)

Its amazing how far RC technology has come since I was a kid. My first "remote" controlled car had a cable connecting the remote to the car and could only turn left in reverse or go straight going forward.

This is what I have been trying to learn how to fly.. thing is everytime it crashes.. it costs money to replace the broken parts. At least I got it for free

re: Ares Nano Micro Chronos CX 75 RTF

Looks great and for $40 I'd take a shot at that, but wait... is there a better entry level/ noob rc heli reasonably priced I should know about w/o spending the countless hours researching online?

that'd be a blast on midnight shift