Thought we'd start off small as the parts for this little fellow are not as expensive as the larger ones when one is learning to fly and damages parts when crashing into walls. It's winter and not conducive to flying outdoors in southern Alberta. I've since bought and attached a training set. We did discover during one of our visits to the hobby shop that the smaller ones are MORE difficult to fly! So I'll be an expert once I master this baby. I'm on my 3rd set of blades already... so have a couple in stock and ready to replace when necessary. I have to say that I am getting better at this flying - the quonset hut is a great place to practice when it's not too cold. The basement just doesn't cut it.

April 9/12

As I was having some difficulty flying the Blade Pro 2, we decided that the co-axle version would be an easier helicopter to learn to fly with. So, this is my 2nd heli and I have to say that I'm doing very well with it. We just don't have enough calm days down here in southern Alberta for me to really get out and practice.

click image to view movie

My husband, Waldy, bought this really nice heli.. here's his story:

"I always liked helicopters, but never got around to building or flying a RC helicopter. The furthest it went with helicopters was plastic models (see that page too). I almost got going at one time in Germany, I bought 2 books about other people's experiences flying RC helicopters (Hubschrauber ferngesteuert by Dieter Schlüter, and RC-Model Hubschrauber by Edwin Friedrich). I'm older now and running out of time and I went and jumped the gun. So I purchased this Align T-Rex 450 which I built from the kit. I always enjoyed building things (see my former slot car hobby pages) and had great fun doing it.

The directions were very explicit and easy to follow. The setup of the transmitter and adjustments on the helicopter was more difficult and I had to go online to get advise from 'the experts'.

After a few start ups moving the helicopter around at ground level, I decided to get more experience with smaller helicopters. I'm now flying the Blade CX2 and the Blade CP Pro2. I'm still toying around with the T-Rex 450 waiting for spring so I can fly it outside."

April 9/12	April 16/12
April 16/12	April 16/12

The building process.

Waldy here.. my co-axle heli which I am using to practice and hone my skills. I have been flying this heli in the quonset hut and wasn't paying too close attention one day and flew into the ariel on top on our 5th wheel. I managed to do a 'controlled' crash landing if there is such a thing. I kept the damage to a minimum and ended up replacing two blades, the lower rotor head set, and the swash plate set.

click image to view movie

Waldy here again... this MCX Tandem was a Christmas gift from my wife. As the box says "Fun, Exciting, and easy-to-fly".

This micro helicopter is from a friend. It is very forgiving when crashed and I don't know how often I've bounced it off the walls. It has lots of flashing lights. I had to replace the battery once because it wouldn't recharge anymore. I had to substitute for a different battery because I couldn't get the original. With a little modification and a heavier battery, it flies just fine.

click image to view movie

New battery where the red and black cable comes out.

We still have some of our plastic model helicopters that we built years ago while living in Germany and Calgary.

Airwolf

Bell AH-1S

Bell UH-1C

Hughes-AH-64 Apache

Bell UH-1D

Bell UH-1D

Bell UH-1D

Bell UH-1D

Heli Trainer: Waldy built this trainer to help me to learn how to fly without crashing into the walls. The helicopter can move up and down, rotate, pitch and roll. It was too hard on the electric motor so I don't use it anymore. Waldy is now using the flight simulator on the computer to help control the helicopters.

Computer flight simulator

Controls for flight simulator.