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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 3, 2012 21:34:02 GMT
Without a shadow of a doubt.... it's the Walkera LM180D01 I only had about a minute in the air with it before destroying the tail and blades but I could tell (during that minute) that this is one QUALITY piece of helicopter. My friend (Pete) had only just got it and wasn't quite sure about the controls so I took her up for a flight... as smooth as silk and VERY responsive for a co-ax... in fact it's a flybarless co-ax.... he was as shocked as I was when the sun (yes SUN) hit me full on in the face and I crashed into a dremel in the workshop I lost sight of it, was blinded by the sun. Anyhoo.... long story short... I told him I'd get him a new tail etc. and not to worry.... turns out nobody in the UK stocks this helicopter OR parts for it After a LOT of searching I found a German seller who keeps all the spares and sells the 'copter.... whilst I was at it I ordered myself one of these puppies.... It differs from his (which he got from the US) in that it has a video camera built in (ooh err missus!.... peeping tom cam) and the German price is apparantly a LOT lower than the price he paid (with duty) from the USA without camera attached. I seriously RATE this helicopter... it "looks" like it cost hundreds (and feels like it).... spares are expensive, none in the UK, blades disintegrate on impact (they are a composite type) and the tail frame is a weak point (if you whack it into a dremel) BUT...... this is one Rolls Royce of a machine..... the e-flite / ESKY helicopters just look cheap and nasty once you've seen one of these beauties... seriously guys, trust me on this one... this thing is CLASS! Not only the bird, the transmitter too.... it's like a DX6i, you can dial in mixes etc..... It's a Devo 7 that comes shipped with the Walkera. This is the German outfit (check out their shop) cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260953144510&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:1123
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 7, 2012 20:05:34 GMT
It arrived today! (a birthday present to myself) WOW! what a beautiful machine she is and the Devo 7 is one kick arse transmitter! After what I did to Pete's LM180D01 I have been VERY frightened to get her into the air... had her up for about 30 seconds and landed it! I'll be taking it along to my local village hall on Sunday and hopefully won't be as nervous flying it in a bigger space.... Would you like to see pictures before I wreck her?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2012 20:23:19 GMT
Well, we must have pics!!!! It sounds nice. I do like the look of the Walkeras, Mike. I like the blade grips being metal on them.
Happy Birthday in advance. Nice that you got yourself a really nice heli.
Take your time with it. No rush. Personally, I'd be a bit cagey taking it to the flying club. With an audience, you're under pressure and it may help you crash!!!!
I don't film mine unless I'm secure. The trickiest one I did was the MCPx. I'm still just taking off, landing, hovering and working on slow turns with it indoors. I can just about get it round the room as long as I'm following it.
Outside is easier with more space. But I', in no rush, or else it'll be a repair job.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 7, 2012 20:28:51 GMT
Holy crap.... the German outfit have increased the price from 171 Euros to 229 Euros in a matter of "days"... wtf? My one was 179.65 Euros shipped... they are now asking 236.90 Euros... that's some hike!!
Absolutely SUPERB firm to deal with though, typical German efficiency... the package was "real time" tracked (DHL) and arrived in a bullet proof box.....
Can anybody speak German here? Would be interesting to know why the price has gone up in a matter of days.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 7, 2012 20:43:18 GMT
Not so with me Ian I tend to relax with an audience and do things I normally wouldn't... ie: "crank up a notch or two".... audiences don't phase me, I actually perform better when I've got people watching me.... I sent an email to the guy who runs the flying club telling him about this Sunday (I've hired my local hall for three hours) and his reply: "Thank you very much for your offer, if its OK with you, I will forward your email to the rest of the flyers. It was a hoot last week, I thought our guys were going to show you how to fly, and the reverse was the case. OK to forward your email ?"hehe I'm "less" nervous when there are spectators... I just let rip and the adrenalin kicks in... when I'm on my own I am VERY self critical and reluctant to push the envelope.... pretty weird but that's the way I have always been... I seem to be able to perform in public places (assertive, free flowing, confident etc.) but when I'm on my own I'm a pretty self critical type of animal. Not talking "helicopters" here either.... it's the same with everything..... if there is an audience I'll up the gears (on auto pilot / almost sub consciously) if it's just me in the room I'll beat myself up something rotten..... Strange old world and nothing stranger than the human mind
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2012 21:12:26 GMT
Mike, why has the heli club stopped? I thought it only started up again in January. Seems quite strange that you're hiring a hall and they're all going to pile in 'cos their club has closed!! It's quite funny that no-one is flying the MSRx yet. Especially as one guy took it there!!
The Walkera reminds me of a flybarless Esky V3. It looks rugged. The two sets of blades are quite close together but that blade slap that you can easily get with the bigger coaxials is often because of the floppy blades.
It's a pity that they don't copy the MCX set up where the blades are straight across with left and right being the same piece of plastic. My CX3 and CX2 are like that and they are far better with regards to blades hitting each other.
The Taxi is too prone to it but I have been pretty lucky with it. I had a cracker when I had to bring it down about 100 yards away and with the distance, you lose close contact for gentle landings and I came down a bit hard so the blades make a nice crack on landing. It has to come down slowly.
The Walkera looks quite whippy for a coaxial too.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 8, 2012 9:17:25 GMT
Got an e-mail back from the German guy...... "Hello, the first price (171?) was wrong. We had a technical Problem with Ebay. The normal Price is 259? and our special offer is 229?. I hope you understand it." Awesome! Got mine at the wrong price
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2012 11:52:52 GMT
Brilliant. You got a bargain!!
A flybarless coaxial too. Very nice. Can you fly it indoors or is it risky?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 8, 2012 22:48:02 GMT
Brilliant. You got a bargain!! A flybarless coaxial too. Very nice. Can you fly it indoors or is it risky? Risky flying it in a toilet (toilets, especially public ones, are always risky when choppers are involved)..... It's doable in a living room, basically a VERY "pokey" MCX2 with a HUGE blade span.... you are "essentially" flying a much larger spinning circle about the place. Ian, it's a coaxial, it's a piece of piss to fly (it really is).... it's the thought of CRASHING that is holding me back.... it's an expensive bastard when it comes to new blades / tails etc. Think of it like this.... the MCX2 "IS" like a superball, it keeps bouncing back.... the Walkera LM180D01 is like hard icing (on a cake).... any impact and it breaks.... it is SERIOUSLY that fragile..... and running / repair costs are HIGH. Having said that..... "IF" you have space or IF you are a good flyer in a confined space then it it possibly one of the best flying experiences you can have for the money..... I "do" value money and "don't" want to wreck this beauty.... she's something special.... She makes the e-filte 'copters look like plastic bubbles..... No going back yet reluctant to go forward for fear of crashing..... I'll have a small audience on Sunday so will let her rip.... looking forward to it.... I'll get Shaun to take a vid... crash or not crash, I'll go for it full on
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 10, 2012 22:05:13 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2012 22:25:49 GMT
It looks friggin' gorgeous, Mike. I guess it's fragile with the bodyworks, but an unstable coaxial? The stabilisation should be built into the board. (Like the MSRx)
Quite a few people think the MSRx is unstable, but once you get a grip, they hover like a gnat.
Take it in small steps, Mike. Especially with the difficulty of getting parts.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2012 11:41:37 GMT
Mike, I just looked at the blades on that heli - they almost look like CP plades. They're pretty flat so I guess the head speed must be pretty fast?
That means that it will be better outside and also it should be very responsive. I presume they're plastic?
Looking at it again this morning - it really is a nice looking heli. It does look like it'll move as well. (At least for a coaxial)
It's not a CP coaxial or something is it? The blades are really quite flat. (Or maybe it's the angle of the shots?)
Also any signs of blade slap?
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 11, 2012 23:55:05 GMT
Mike, I just looked at the blades on that heli - they almost look like CP plades. They're pretty flat so I guess the head speed must be pretty fast? That means that it will be better outside and also it should be very responsive. I presume they're plastic? Looking at it again this morning - it really is a nice looking heli. It does look like it'll move as well. (At least for a coaxial) It's not a CP coaxial or something is it? The blades are really quite flat. (Or maybe it's the angle of the shots?) Also any signs of blade slap? Blades are composite FOAM.... £20 a pop (per set).... leave it with me.... weak area is the blades.... they shatter on the slightest impact.... tail is also weak... any HITS (however minor) equal MAJOR wallet damage.... two of them at the helicopter club today and the "combined" damage equates to £80...... they are fekkin' EXPENSIVE to crash!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2012 0:24:25 GMT
Bloody hell ! You can by a whole bottle or plastic squeeze bottle for around $2 at a supermarket. They wouldn't have paid retail prices either.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 12, 2012 2:47:15 GMT
I've never had to PAY for it in my life! It normally comes FREE if you buy chips "would you like sauce?"...... erm... "yes please".... it's a given... an unwritten rule.. free sauce / vinegar / salt accompanies chips..... since WHEN did salt / pepper / sauce / vinegar become a side dish?
Would you like salt? erm.... NO, I'll take my chips down to the sea and drown them in salty water.... of COURSE I'd like salt you idiot.... what the hell is going down here?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2012 2:56:25 GMT
I've never had to PAY for it in my life! It normally comes FREE if you buy chips "would you like sauce?"...... erm... "yes please".... it's a given... an unwritten rule.. free sauce / vinegar / salt accompanies chips..... since WHEN did salt / pepper / sauce / vinegar become a side dish? Would you like salt? erm.... NO, I'll take my chips down to the sea and drown them in salty water.... of COURSE I'd like salt you idiot.... what the hell is going down here? Mike I totally agree. With meat pies though, a precedent seems to have been set many years ago, at least here, where you pay for a satchet of tomato sauce to go with the pie.Seeing even take away meat pies are so expensive these days, why should you be slugged extra for a tiny bit of tomato sauce from a caterer's sized container ? Alex
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2012 6:49:55 GMT
Blimey, Mike, it seems like WW3. Helis and planes coming down like nobody's business!!
The blades of the Walkera don't even look like foam. However, the Big Lama seems to be doing a good job of mowing a path through the copters and planes!!
It was such a nice day down south yesterday that I took everything out into the garden and flew them, big and small!!
I sent the 120 sr up and away so far that I couldn't really see which way it was facing. That was hairy for a few seconds, but I managed to get it back and identify what it was looking at in the end. Makes you realise the point of the big ones. You really can't see the little 'uns further up or away.
The Sky Taxi was easy to see but the coaxials just don't have enough poke in them even for a slight breeze and can be a bugger to fly against the wind. The 120 sr coped easily while the Sky Taxi hovered staionary on full forward throttle. To get it back, I had to keep cutting and revving the blades so it looped through the breezes. Sometimes even flying at 45 degrees.
If it had more thrust, it would be great outside but you do have to be careful. The 120 went right up high and then I did a banked turn and boy, did it go off. It dropped in seconds from a great height towards the ground and a HUGE rev from me brought the nose up and it swooped across the front of me at a helluva rate of knots before going back up again. (phew)
Then I gingerly brought it down.......
Must have flown about 40 batteries yesterday in the garden. Really nice and (fingers crossed) nothing wrecked!!!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2012 9:06:32 GMT
Bloody hell ! You can by a whole bottle or plastic squeeze bottle for around $2 at a supermarket. They wouldn't have paid retail prices either. Robbing bar-stewards I'm obviously doing it all wrong then. Roughly half of our entrees are automatically served with soy sauce and sweet chili sauce. If a customer asks for a hot chili sauce, that is also given without charge. These aren't any old sauces either, the pukka Thai stuff wot ain't cheap guvna'! RANT mode ON; On the flip side you do get the tight arsed chancers, "What comes free with the dish, noodles or rice". Neither you (insert expletives of choice)! That's why it's listed in the menu with a price next to it. Does my supplier give me free rice/noodles when I spend piggin' hundreds on other stuff, NO! Does he get it free, NO! Do the farmers obtain it for nothing (maybe nearly ) NO!. So why should you? What? They give it free in Switzerland. First this ain't piggin' Switzerland, secondly we don't charge Swiss prices and thirdly they have already built the rice into the dish price you dumb $#?%! RANT mode OFF; Ahhhhhh, I do feel better for that
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 14, 2012 20:28:00 GMT
Blade balancing... another thing I have learnt about. After a crash into a wall I fired a new set of blades on and the 'copter vibrated SO badly I thought I'd fekked the central pillar or something.... Sam gave me a good demo on how to balance the blades (statically) and I thought "no way will adding a few bits of sellotape to the blades stop that vibration".... erm... she flew as smooth as silk! He explained there are two stages in balancing... firstly "static" and then dynamic (with the blades on the helicopter).... dynamic is pretty much fine tuning the static balancing with the blades spinning (trial and error) to get UBER perfect balance. All this was done pretty crudely so I have bought one of these will let you know how I get on with it when it arrives. Seems to be quite an important thing though.... blade balancing
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2012 21:36:07 GMT
That's something I need to get into as well, Mike. Not completely sure how to go about it. Also, blade tracking. It's a matter of time before something gets the shakes!!
One of the worst problems I have odd my eyesight. The parts are so small and it can be a real strain to see what you're doing.
I've played around with the MSRx and had to change the blade grips twice!! They're so fragile if you fly aggressively outside with it.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using ProBoards
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 15, 2012 9:53:17 GMT
I think it could become quite obsessive, balancing them to the last "nth"... I would imagine that blade balancing on the msrX would be paramount... it's hard enough to fly as it is, waltzing about all over the place! Sam had it under great control on Sunday, man it don't half move when it gets going The Solo V2 would have a tough job keeping up with that in a race. The LM180D flys better with balanced blades.... four of them to balance every time too.... gotta be very careful with it too as "one" knock will take the tail and blades out (think £35 per knock!) I went one further and even smashed the canopy so that "one" very gentle crash has cost me £45.... it's really more for show than go, more of a fragile scale model with motors.... I'm only going to hover from now on, not even going to attempt flying it around the hall... it lulls you into a false sense of security and you think "hey, this is easy"... next thing you know it has bolted off into a wall and time to get your wallet out Bad enough smacking your OWN one into a wall but I also smacked someone else's LM180D into a wall with my signature "new tail and blades required" crash.... At this rate of knots I'll soon become the world's expert LM180D tail and blade fitter
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Post by PinkFloyd on Mar 23, 2012 22:27:42 GMT
Got her back together after the last "smack" into a wall (still have to balance the blades) and have decided to go "small steps" with her this time... it takes me a good 30 seconds just to get her into a steady hover but I am battling against the wash... it's an absolute NIGHTMARE if you crash it (cause you'd be cheaper replacing it with a brand new one) and absolutely nerve wracking when you're flying it because you're in fear of crashing it. I totally wrecked my Big Lama last week... took out the blades and both shafts... repair bill = about £15 and a few hours setting it up again. Spares are only a phone call away and generally "next day"..... Take out the LM180D and you are looking at 2 to 3 weeks downtime (no spares in the UK) and anything from £25 - £100 per "hit" to repair it... it's fekkin' expensive if you crash it!!!! Tail is the weakest point (it SHATTERS), blades will eat themselves if they so much as "glance" at a wall, canopy will crumple if you sneeze in it's general direction.... skids AND battery cradle will SNAP off it you dump her down too hard... it REALLY has to be the most brittle helicopter there is. Having said that.... is the time in the air WORTH it? Hell yes! The world's "only" flybarless coaxial... it's a party piece (great fun for your guests if you wreck it in front of them)..... probably the world's "only" flybarless coaxial for a reason.... aimed at IDIOTS with more money than sense who don't know better.... £50 per WEEK in spare parts, quite an earner for Wankera No no.... I can't blame the LM180D for crashing, I was treating it like a Nine Eagles Solo V2 and when it didn't respond (and smashed into a wall) I blamed it..... (it was lucky I didn't stamp on it too)..... thrash it with a bush type thang...... It's actually a VERY nice bird to fly BUT you have to treat it with respect (or smack it into a wall, your choice)...... You can tune her on the receiver (under the hood) to give you less servo travel and this helps when you're getting to know the LM180D..... Not fully balanced (blades) but am getting used to her peculiarities.... I'm taking her to the (now growing) local village hall Pink heli club this Sunday and hopefully will have the guts to throw her about a bit
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2012 8:53:08 GMT
It's really under control in that video, mike. Similar to the way I fly the Taxi - dead slow!!
I take that outside a lot when it's still and let it wallow around in the air. I always come down dead slow. It looks brilliant at long distance - very realistic.
The crashing fear is the same with that as well. It'll smash to bits easily. So far, I've only had blade hits and even that has become rarer now.
The big coaxials are nice. Biggest problem with them is outside and the wind. I do fancy a Big Lama but I suspect it's pretty similar to my blue cx2/3 rebuilt heli.
Glad you're getting on better with it.
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