[Donovan Dow]

Evening All

I view Run Ryder daily.

I view Heli Freak once or twice a month.

take care
don dow

[OICU812]

Helifreak is FAR better than the Money grubbin communist Mark Ryders site imho. As soon as the galleries are done and the final site updates on the freak are done I see next to no reason to visit RR much anymore.

[HeliDoc]

They both have advantages and disadvantages.

HeliFreaks is a far smaller group then RR. Consequently the biases become a bit too prevalent and the information can be a bit limiting. I visit it daily, but it doesn't take too long. It has very limited info on many brands, models and subjects (e.g. Scale, turbines, gassers,AP and electrics) compare to RR.

RR has been around a lot longer and has a lot more info. That also means there may be more to sift through to get to the info you want, but it is always there. They have many more different forums, that cover almost any brand, model, or subject. I find it much more informative. I always go there when I am searching any particular subjest first and monitor them daily.

One not mentioned, is RC Groups, which may not be as informative relative to Scale, Nitro, Gasser, or Turbine helis, but is THE place to go for electric helicopter information with special forums for micro electrics (230mm to 290mm mainblades), mini electrics (310 to 425mm blades, and the larger ones that use 500mm and longer mainblades.

[OverTemp]

For my interests (TRex 450SEV2 and TRex600E) Helifreak is far superior to RR. I believe Helifreak started out biased towards electrics and has expanded to include the other stuff, but don't quote me on that.

For me, the RR TRex forums are dead. The people that do post seem more opinionated than helpful and threads often digress into arguements (mine's the best because) rather than conversations (here are the pros/cons).

I can't speak to glow ships, etc... I gave up slimers a long time ago.

[Randy Brown]

As you people have done a take over basicaly, when you going back to John main questoin<G>

[OverTemp]

You moderating now?

[Donovan Dow]

Afternoon Randy

Being the expert heli guy that you are please answers John's question.

thanks
don dow
------------------------------------------------------------
John Davidson

Don't hesitate to ask me or others with your questions.

I am not an expert but perhaps a quirt under pressure.

I have been involved with helis since 1971.
Be it electric, glow, gasoline and kerosene.

I am giving off most of my electrics except for the Trex.
The glows and gassers will also be given off.

Will be going to the latest turbine stuff as I am trying to die broke.

cheers
don dow
(Claresholm)

http://www.rideauflyers.com/

[rscamp]

Originally Posted by Vulcan1

I have been into aircraft for years and always wanted to try a rotary wing. I have no experiance with models but have about 1000 hrs on Hillers,Kiowas, and Hueys as observer navigator. I purchased a Century 3D pro from Randy last week to start. Thanks Randy The terminology is basically the same but I have a question on parts. I was checking sites(Canada) for them but do not see much for listings. Where can a guy purchase them? The other question for starters is rotor blades. Most small blades are 325mm for length that are advertised. Can they be cut down and rebalanced? At 325 mm it would be a tail rotor strike let alone a boom strike if they can flex that low.
Being new to this I know I am going to need some parts before to long. I made a set of training gear using 3/16" dowel and machined a plastic centre piece to start. I set up my radio(EVO12) which was also different from the norm. Some trial and error but at least I have it close for a start.
Thanks in advance for any info.
John

I have one of these and it still flies. I kinda view it as a throw-away heli these days as it has been eclipsed by other small helis.

If it helps, this is what I did when I was actively flying this heli:

- Parts were ordered directly from Century
- I ordered a crash kit which was available at the time
- I used the stock blades

Other suggestiions:

- Think of this as a starter heli - don't spend too much time or money on it but you may find a belt drive tail worthwhile if you have a tendency of striking the tail.
- It is hard finding a good tail servo for this size of heli. I don't know of anything fast, precise, reliable and small. I use an HS-50 which meets one of these criteria very well, but...
- I used an oddball 4s setup so I can't provide much help on the more common 3s setups.
- Have an experienced person set it up and trim it for you with calm cyclic/collective.
- The canopy cracks easily at the grommets - you might want to reinforce it with filament tape

[Vulcan1]

Thanks for the info. I bought it for learning as I know it will get dinged before to long. Have not touched it for a bit (grandkids & Christmas) but will get back at it. My experiance with my observer course with the military gave me a quite a bit of background on the mechanic's. A lot of it had to do with pre flight so I have a bit of knowledge. Because of the knowledge is probably why I have not tried one. I needed a big taramac to hover as I was always behind it.
I know I will have more questions before to long. It also has me interested in machining some parts or making one in a lot larger scale. It would keep me busy.
Thanks, John

[BimBim]

uh-oh..