We laugh together, we cry together. Happiness is Family

[Colin Southern]

Together for the very first time!

[Andrew76]

My little guy looks so small!

[Colin Southern]

My little guy looks so small!

Be grateful - small is CHEAP

The one on the left is the reincarnation of the one I crashed into the sea (new FBL controller, receiver, ESC/BEC, LED switch, Motor, batteries (now 6S), bearings, boom, mainshaft, blades, tail servo, pushrod, tail gearbox & tail blade holder, canopy ...) (the list goes on).

Can't even re-maiden it today -- too windy (all I've managed is a couple of shakedown runs in the double-garage).

[David547]

Nice one ...

[Colin Southern]

Nice one ...

Thanks.

Can't really say I "get" this 6S thing though - perhaps a little more torque, but motor is hotter and runtime is about the same, despite bigger battery.

So much for more efficient eh?

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[Colin Southern]

Nice.

Thanks John,

I said to the (real) family earlier "it's getting late -- time my girls were tucked up for the night". They protested that it was too early for them to go to bed, but I informed them that I wasn't talking to them!

[Colin Southern]

If anyone's interested, here's a clip of what this class of heli can do in the hands of a good pilot (sadly, not me) (yet!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0E-7u2TymM

[Shadowman]

Shouldn't the controller be wearing protective gear.

[wlou]

Great video Colin. Just amazing what a good controller can do. They are more manoeuvrable than the real thing my friend
said. I reply that human pilot would have a hard time surviving the "G" forces of all those attitudes changes. Good show.

[FrankMi]

If anyone's interested, here's a clip of what this class of heli can do in the hands of a good pilot (sadly, not me) (yet!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0E-7u2TymM

It is amazing that it could survive those movements even if it didn't hit something!

[Dave Humphries]

May be it is the railway modeller in me (where I strove for realism - about 45 years ago!), but that kind of flying just doesn't appeal to me.

In my personal opinion, a good RC pilot would be able to fly an RC chopper so that if recorded with no reference to scale, you would struggle to say whether it was a model or the real thing.

If I had this as a hobby, I would want to give my pretend passengers a smooth flight, not concussion, whiplash and other G force trauma

Colin, when do you get a big enough one with a gyro stabilised mount for the 1DX?

[Colin Southern]

Shouldn't the controller be wearing protective gear.

Normally pilots don't. It's safe enough PROVIDING they keep the bird away from them. It's a hot topic in RC forums; 450 class birds like that can cut you to the bone, but would be unlikely to kill (never hear of it), but bigger birds like the 700 and 800 series with a disk diameter of around 6 feet can and HAVE killed; they literally have the energy in the rotor to take a head pretty much clean off ... so obviously one doesn't want to come into contact with it (protective gear or not). To me that suggests "flying the damn thing an appropriate distance away", but there are always some with the attitude "no body is going to tell me how to fly".

As with anything in life we probable just need to let them remove themselves from the gene pool. My biggest gripe is when spectators are involved, as they won't understand the risks.

I'm safety conscious, and to be honest, it is a source of irritation when top pilots whizz a large heli past other folks at around 100 MPH @ 6 feet. I mentioned this once to the father of the current world champ online, starting my post with "I hate to be that guy, but" and the reply came back "I'm not going to comment because I believe you LIKE to be THAT guy". They're quick to accept the praise, but not so quick to accept any safety concerns.

Here's the luckiest SOB on the planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ZGta2El_I (he killed the engine a second before, and only the blade root got him - that could have ended SO differently).

[Colin Southern]

Great video Colin. Just amazing what a good controller can do. They are more manoeuvrable than the real thing my friend
said. I reply that human pilot would have a hard time surviving the "G" forces of all those attitudes changes. Good show.

Yeah - for sure. Those top pilots have thousands of hours (that guy wasn't even THAT good, compared to professionals like Nick Maxwell and Alan Szabo and Tareq Alsaadi)

Try this one for size:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I3_pUT7D5w

or this for a bigger one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn5rMt-LmDQ

Real heli's don't have anywhere near the same power-to-weight ratio ... heck, they can't even fly inverted

[Colin Southern]

It is amazing that it could survive those movements even if it didn't hit something!

Yeah - I hate to think of the G-Forces! They're tough little buggers though.

[Colin Southern]

May be it is the railway modeller in me (where I strove for realism - about 45 years ago!), but that kind of flying just doesn't appeal to me.

In my personal opinion, a good RC pilot would be able to fly an RC chopper so that if recorded with no reference to scale, you would struggle to say whether it was a model or the real thing.

If I had this as a hobby, I would want to give my pretend passengers a smooth flight, not concussion, whiplash and other G force trauma

Colin, when do you get a big enough one with a gyro stabilised mount for the 1DX?

Hi Dave,

I know what you mean. We have several different types of flying; you're talking SCALE flying - then there's SPORT flying (like a plane doing aerobatics) - then there's 3D (like getting it doing flips and other convolutions on the spot), and then there's SMACK which is the very aggressive / rapid change direction stuff.

This one might appeal to you more ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qSlAhjDe-o

[Shadowman]

Normally pilots don't. It's safe enough PROVIDING they keep the bird away from them. It's a hot topic in RC forums; 450 class birds like that can cut you to the bone, but would be unlikely to kill (never hear of it), but bigger birds like the 700 and 800 series with a disk diameter of around 6 feet can and HAVE killed; they literally have the energy in the rotor to take a head pretty much clean off ... so obviously one doesn't want to come into contact with it (protective gear or not). To me that suggests "flying the damn thing an appropriate distance away", but there are always some with the attitude "no body is going to tell me how to fly".

As with anything in life we probable just need to let them remove themselves from the gene pool. My biggest gripe is when spectators are involved, as they won't understand the risks.

I'm safety conscious, and to be honest, it is a source of irritation when top pilots whizz a large heli past other folks at around 100 MPH @ 6 feet. I mentioned this once to the father of the current world champ online, starting my post with "I hate to be that guy, but" and the reply came back "I'm not going to comment because I believe you LIKE to be THAT guy". They're quick to accept the praise, but not so quick to accept any safety concerns.

Here's the luckiest SOB on the planet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ZGta2El_I (he killed the engine a second before, and only the blade root got him - that could have ended SO differently).

Very lucky, the kid had the right idea to get out of there and I could swear his friend went to check on the condition of the helicopter before checking on his friend.

[Marie Hass]

Amazing. I do not know enough to even comment intelligently.

Marie

[Colin Southern]

Very lucky, the kid had the right idea to get out of there and I could swear his friend went to check on the condition of the helicopter before checking on his friend.

Smart kid

The guy went to ensure the heli was safe to approach though - that bit was good cool thinking.

[NorthernFocus]

Looks like a couple of nice lenses to me