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Ever since the age of 10 I was interested in Model Helicopters, I saw a friends Jetranger that had the Kalt Mechanics. There and then I vowed one day, I would own and learn to fly a model helicotper. So in 2003 I bought my first Model helicotper a Raptor 30v1,off Ebay along with an Excell 60 Sport trainer.
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The british weather has not been too kind,this year or last year.
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With the winter upon us, i have been busy researching info and starting to build my first propper scale model. I set myself the goal of finding a propper scale model with properly engineered mechanics and with a two stage turbine that i can set to the head speed that is suitable for the machine i am flying. I was not impressed with the poor response in some of the large scale models i have flown, they fly like dogs, have awful tail authority and are right at the limits of the power band, and worse of all they fly on a single stage turbine that is locked and geared for one head speed due to the rotor head being unable to cope with anything more. After a tonne of research i decided upon the Longranger using the Zealous 2 mechanics. The zealous in pod and boom formatt uses 950/1.2 meter blades, and has a head speed of around 1280, which is plenty for this sized machine which is 1:5 scale. But the turbine has loads of power all i need to do is turn up the settings not send it back to Germany for 3 months!! The turbine is a two stage non governed Wren turbine with a specially desinged gear box from OZ, it is a beautiful engineered machine, the Rotortech 3 head sits on a 15mm shaft, which is supported in its own collar, much better than the 12mm unsuported shaft of my old XLV, the spindle on its own is a 10mm, this head is the beefiest and storngest head i have seen in the model RC Market.
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With the winter months now upon us and the great British weather being what it has been all this year—Awful, many wonder if they will forget how to fly due to the long gaps between flyable weather. I was down at a well known model last week, and was amazed at the growth of indoor helicopters that have been shipped across from China. Most if not all were under £100.00 and come with full set up pre built and ready to fly out of the box, they have been set up already on the TX, and are 2.4gig, making them ideal to fly around the home or back garden. The contra rotating system these helicopters employ make them ideal for just keeping ones eye in! They comes in all shapes sizes from the small pod and boom format we are used to some nice scale models. My personal favorite is the jet ranger and Airwolf, they also have an MD500 which comes with a miniature camera and receiver which you can plug into your laptop via the yellow composite lead or directly to your television. I have to say even at night I was impressed with the clarity of the live footage.. I managed to hover level with the top of my house using the chimney stack as point of reference, I was amazed at the detail and seeing my estate from the air… I am sure you could have some fun with this.. And be chased off by an angry neighbor! All of the current models represent good value for money and help keep your eye in whilst the weather is un flyable. They also make a good little learning machine if you want to try a hellie without the initial cash outlay.. You can learn the stick movements and even practice your nose in, I have found these machines very stable and good all round fun...
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Well it is May 2008, and finally my hotcat is ready for its first test flight, The biggest change on this one compared to my first one is this is 100% brand new, the turbine JETCAT PHT3 had Zero hours on the clock. So this was indeed a new build. The biggest change was the addition of the Quick UK Raptor 90 head, this head is one piece engineering, top quality and very strong. I did not like the Robbe head with the funny 45o off set, the raptor head is built for 12mm main shaft, something which Peter had to machine for me. We have managed to build it and i flew it for the first time last weekend Sat10th May 2008. Within in a short time 2 mins i was flying it side on, this is in NON HEADING HOLD, and doing small forward flights. I am very happy with this machine, it is currently sitting in my work shop, i have used 800 grit paper and gone over the canopy and fitted a sprin clip for the lid to fit onto the canopy. I am ready to add primer tomorrow.
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I had an excellent weekend in June, having some lessons OFF LEAD learning to fly a 1/4 scale turbine jetranger, I felt the pressure was off trying to prove mytself in comp flying, so i have now gone for a more relaxing skill to learn. Here some photo's of the jet ranger...
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I had got so disheartned with the constant bitching between th JETCAT and Wren, with so many Wren users getting themselves banned for breaking forum rules it seemd to get worse and worse, so i decided to sell my Jetcat SPH5 acrobatic, and buy a predator wren, purely to see if the NON GOVERNED way is just as good if not better than a governer. I have ordered all the radio gear, and have orderd the new Wren kit, BellBloke will be assisting me all the way, i have built the predator max 90 using some upgrades, list of which is below METAL A ARM UPGRADE, 14-13 TOOTH UPGRADED GEARS, HARDER DAMPNERS FOR THE HEAD, LONGER TAIL BOOM AND DRIVE SHAFT.
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After buying the Raptor, it became apparent that I needed to join a club, i found my local club by using the BMFA web site, i joined the Gravesend Aeromodel club back in 2004, at the time there was only 3 Heli pilots myself included. I was recommended to get lessons, so after doing a google search I found Dave Fishers Flying School My first lesson on the buddy lead system soon got me up and hovering, and this where the journey really began. I was exposed to comp practice, and other top UK F3C pilots who used Daves field for practice and sharing info and tips on set up manouvers etc.
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Due to family commitments i was unable to practice and attend comps as much as i wanted to, but i still wanted to enjoy flying in that style, After speaking to Dave he said "why dont you go down the scale route" So after doing some research we decided to utilise the Xcell ST mechanics i had in pod and boom and put them into a Centry Funkey fuse, the infamous Airwolf. I loved the 80's series and would rush home every saturday to watch it at 1.20pm So this is the route we went down.
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The only Fault i had with the Century fuse space was so tight, and due to my large hands it was hard work to adjust the mechanics So someone recommended the Vario Large Carbon Airwolf. I orderd a catalogue and DVD and was in Awe of the immensity of the Vario range. I searched ebay for weeks, and finally one came up, so i bought it. All i can is say is WOW, the size of the gasser mechanics was incredible.it had working guns, opening doors, slow retracts, it was the business.
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My Airwolf's First set up flight http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=13130722">
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But as with any new machine i had to learn a lot of new flying techniques, this model was heavier, so i had to learn to fly with the nose down i also had to learn to anticipate when turning down wind, the biggest learning curve i had was how to setup the mixture, as gasser engines unlike Nitro do not like to be messed around with. I put out a plee on Runryder and Dennis Stretton answered, an F3C pilot himself but a scale guru with years of experience, down to this day He is a respected scale pilot and will go out of his way to help- for a bottle of Scotch :-)
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Well after flying the scale airwolf i was at a comp for F3C and met up with Ian Contessa (Coolice) he was flying his turbine, the sound and the smell was aweinspiring. And it was the closest i would ever get to flying the real thing. I did loads of research and spoke to many people, i ended up buying a VARIO EC135 with the JETCAT PHT3 turbine. This machine was a class in its own, it had been built by a proffesional scale Builder and it did look the business. So i bought it and then the learning how to fly process started again. I had alot of trouble with the Fenestron tail, it would not hold, So Dennis Stretton tried to help, and we still could not get it to work. But i tried to fly it for a year all with no success.
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This was my first attempt at building a scale Cockpit.
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After a year and spening a lot of money on upgrades, different gear ratio's etc, i gave up, i had a PM from a runryder member, Peter Robertson, he offered to help me, well he struggled to get it working in its present state. So he came up with a deal, to take the turbine mechanics out, and put it into a pod and boom formatt, he had 2 HOTCAT kits, these were designed around the PHT3, i decided there and then to go for it. So i spent a lot of time with Peter down in Plymouth, i learnt an awful lot on turbines, picked up a lot of scale tips, and saw some lovely scale flying. I also met other scale flyers and was introduced to the full size world via one of Peters friends Phil George. So we built the HOTCAT
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