Marshall Banana’s RC Action

Time For Something Different

So for a while I’ve been thinking about getting an RC Helicopter. In fact, its been a long while, but the thought pattern always ended up the same, I’m gonna crash it. For some reason, this time was different, and I ended up purchasing an E-flite Blade 400.

I have read alot of reviews, and it seemed like the Blade 400 was the best way into the hobby for the value. It is an intermediate to advanced helicopter, but forums and reviews had ways to “tame” the beast so that it would be a nice trainer. I could have gone a coaxial helicopter like the E-flite MCX, but ultimately i didn’t want to buy something that you couldn’t grow with. The Blade is an RTF, and comes with a Spektrum Dx6i radio, car charger and a 1800mAH battery, everything you need to get flying.

So after reading the manuals and getting some tips on how to tame the beast from http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/ I ventured out for my first flight.

Now i’ve never flown a heli, and it was obvious from the start that this was the case. Its all very exciting! You’re standing there, you do the pre-flight checks, then apply more and more throttle. The heli starts to bob and then all of sudden, BAM, you’re off the ground. As soon as this happens, the first thing i thought was shit, how do i get this thing back onto the ground without crashing. Well, that didn’t last long as heli and earth make contact, throttle is cut and part of the training gear goes WHOOSHING off into the distance. That was awesome.

More tries with varying success. Sometimes it kinda bounces along the ground, other times it seems to skim, and on one or two occasions it takes off and starts to chase down the photography crew (Mick).

On one occasion it took off, went up to about, say 1-2 m in the air, did an arch and landed nicely. I was astonished. Mick was astonished. Man I wish i knew how i landed it.

By the end of the first run, i was starting to feel like i could almost control it skimming across the ground. It was a great feeling.

This heli is going to be alot of fun to learn and alot of fun to fly. It was alot harder to fly then I had expected and I might be investing in a simulator for training on windy days. It’s something different, something really fun, and eventually its going to look really awesome when it can take off, do a spin and land without bystanders running for cover. Lets just hope it keeps coming home in one piece.