Flybarless helicopters have been out for a little while now and are becoming more affordable and more popular than ever before.
So what’s a flybarless RC helicopter you ask?
Simple answer: A helicopter without a flybar.
Instead of a traditional flybar, flybarless RC helicopters use as series of gyros and software controlled mixers to take [...]
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If you are a person who hates the cold, winter flying may not be for you. But if you are a die-hard heli enthusiast that will let nothing stand in your way for getting a good flight in, there’s a few things you need to do differently to get your RC helicopter ready for flying [...]
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The mechanics of how a turbine engine in an RC helicopter works is really quite simple. Air is sucked into the turbine and compressed. Fuel is added to the air and the mixture is ignited. The result? One powerful little heli engine!
When the compressed fuel and air mixture is ignited it expands quickly, and of [...]
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When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand why someone would spend 100’s of hours building a scale model then get up the nerve to fly it.
That was until I put together my first RC helicopter and realized building them is as much fun as flying them.
Planning, creating, machining, building and sculpting a scale model [...]
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Gyros or gyroscopes are used in everything from full computer mice to the navigation system on the space shuttle to RC helicopters.
So what’s a gyro? In lamans terms, it’s a device that can sense and measure rotation or how quickly an object turns.
In helicopters, gyros are typically used to dampen the tail movements or [...]
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Whether you’re a beginner who’s learning to fly, or an expert who wants to try out a new move, a good RC helicopter simulator is an invaluable tool to have in your arsenal.
Let’s face it, crashes in real life are expensive – and they’re discouraging
A single crash of your RC helicopter is likely to cover [...]
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If you’re out flying your RC helicopter or even up in a real one, what happens if the engine fails?
Luckily, chances of plummeting to the ground like an rock are slim. Thanks to the art of an autorotation, a skilled pilot can safely glide their helicopter in for a smooth landing.
An autorotation is simply the [...]
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The only ‘lube’ in your house is for your swashplate.
You’ll drive an hour to the flying field, but not 5 minutes to pick up milk.
Your idea of a good time on a Friday night is staying home and trying to get rid of a pesky vibration.
You have more pics of your helicopter [...]
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You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law, “If anything can go wrong it will.” and with RC helicopters, nothing holds truer.
RC helicopter are complicated pieces of machinery and parts wear out, pieces break on hard landings, batteries go bad, glue dries out and so on – and if nothing’s done about it, it will inevitably lead to [...]
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Mini or micro RC helicopters have become vastly popular over the last couple of years, mostly due to lighter lithium polymer batteries and cheaper technology.
Throughout this article, I’ll use the words ‘mini’ and ‘micro’ interchangeably because as far as I’m concerned, they both mean very small – palm sized in the world of mini RC [...]
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Tail vibration or shaking is one thing many RC helicopter pilots are plagued with at one time or another and can be at times difficult to diagnose.
One of the reasons it’s so hard to diagnose is that there are so many things that can cause ‘the shakes’ and something that is seemingly a small [...]
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Lithium Polymer or LiPo batteries are a great new way of storing energy for portable devices from cell phones to RC helicopters.
They’re great because they can store 350% (approximately) more energy than a typical Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) battery pack and weigh 10% - 20% less. They can also discharge much more current than a NiCd [...]
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There are many ways to enjoy the aspects of RC helicopters as a hobby, but some people have taken it a step further and turned their hobby into a viable and thriving business.
What I’m talking about, is using your RC helicopter for aerial photography and videography.
Aerial Photography (AP) is the art of taking photos from [...]
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It’s been a long standing debate for a many years… do you get a gas or electric heli?
5 – 10 years ago at the flying field, it was no contest. 9 out of 10 choppers were nitro powered and for good reason. Way back when, a .60 size gas, or nitro RC helicopter could well [...]
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Helicopters are one of the most versatile modes of transportation in existence and give the pilot complete access to a fully 3-dimensional space. Because of this, helicopters, whether RC or full size, are one of the most difficult vehicles to learn to control.
For example:
A train can travel in 2 directions: forwards and backwards.
A car can [...]
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