[gi1mo2]

I'm turning 59 this year and thought I was too old to get into this hobby a few years ago. Helped teach the brain new tricks. Thanks for making me feel young again

[JamesBC]

You are only too old, when they stack dirt over you. I am 64, can't fly yet, do alot of hovering and rebuilding but love every minute of it.

[gi1mo2]

As a friend said... If you wake up in the morning and it doesn't hurt anymore, you are dead. Having said that, leaving for a 2 week bicycle trip in Croatia on Friday (only 2 days to go...)

[xv-townboy]

Pushing 50 here (young compared to alot of you old farts) I can barely hover and been at the heli thing for over 15 years lol.My health isnt what it was but I enjoy all aspects of the hobby as much as ever.Like Bensidus here i have kinda gone it alone so i can relate to the guy and all the ups and downs he has had with these flying egg beaters
Still having a blast mucking around with this stuff and you wont be prying this radio out of my hands anytime soon

I think i'll take Phil Noel's advice one of these years and get help for that near perfect set up

[Phil Noel]

XV-townboy,

I will be happy to help

As for age - I am 60 and been flying helis successfully since starting in the late fall of 1985. In those days we had very basic radios, relatively poor servos, mechanical yaw rate gyros, low powered motors and no such thing as governors.

With all of these handicaps, we certainly had to make sure the helis were set-up rather well or they would be real beasts to tame in the air. But once set-up, they could be as easy to fly in normal flight and basic aerobatics (no 3D back then).

Here is a video of me doing some basic hover practice (tail in circle around pilot, left/right hover, for/aft hover, high/low hover etc.) with my first heli - the original Blue Shuttle with the "X" head in the spring of 1986.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuM8kK3ry8I

Back then, we would read every article in mags such as MAN and RCM that had anything to do with how to set up pitch curves, throttle curves and gyros.

Once I hit 50 or so, I started to realize that there was no way I could keep up with the younger fellows now entering the hobby, relative to learning the more complex 3D extreme maneuvers. But I still enjoy learning more, even though, now with by slower hand eye co-ordination and poorer eyesight, it takes much longer to learn any of it.

But as long as I continue to have this much fun with them I will keep at it.

[MarkToo]

Originally Posted by Phil Noel

But as long as I continue to have this much fun with them I will keep at it.

You said it Phil.

p.s. Great video! Nice Jordache's LOL

[bensidus197217]

Well a new problem arose. In another post I stated that my speed control or motor fried so I ordered another of each . I checked the motor first for resistance at the connections and found two with resistance and the third with no continuity . Naturally I figured that was a sure sign the motor failed so I went to remove the terms to reuse them . The first one I took the heat shrink off fell off the wire so I used flux and soldered it back on solid. Tried it again and all worked great , so moral of the story is if you don't do it yourself it's not done right.

[Max]

Originally Posted by bensidus197217

.....
The first one I took the heat shrink off fell off the wire so I used flux and soldered it back on solid. Tried it again and all worked great , so moral of the story is if you don't do it yourself it's not done right.

I hear you on that! Glad to hear you got it working again!

[bensidus197217]

Well I got it together flew it then all of a sudden major vibration. Checked it out and found the bottom mainshaft bearing blown right out of it. Thinking that maybe I had the servos in the frame too tight , they were tight together back to back and were 1/16 too big for between the frames. Now when I crashed it due to the main gear not being damaged I thought the crash wasn't severe, boy was I wrong. As I was taking the motor out I noticed a wow in the airframe. It was bent and putting pressure on the mainshaft bearings. Now that I'm doing a more careful non rushed build I won't get fooled again , I hope.

[len mosissette]

Wow!
with the title "The wonderful thing about getting used helis"

I just though I would put in some good .

I've got three very good used heli's in the pass few years. the last one for $200
Cheep ,with transmitter jp xp6102 ,books, fuel,strater,fuelpump,fieldbox, a Venture cp 30
like new,
the heli came with the wrong tail drive gear on it from the factory?? so no one ever flew it. took me, a little hair pulling and a few new swear words, to see what was wrong with it and $15 bux to fix it. flys good now.

Next was a hawk pro 30 with an older jr x347 transmitter still works " after I found out how to program in the swash, not setup from the fractory " , 17 extra servos ,4 recievers ,a stand for it,starter, some spares and 2 brass boat props, $200

this heli had some time on it ,but was in good shape, other then the bad wobble and shake it had ,hence "the reason he sold it to me" and told me about.

the only thing I found wrong with this bird ,was the blade grips were on wrong [ flipped over backwards ] This took me about two days to find ,going over and over the book untill I see a photo of the head and realized what someone did wrong. flys good now Too .

third and not my last I will buy , is a hawk se 30 $125 no blades,no gyro,I had a spare set of blades, and got a used 401 gyro for $70 ,and its up and running now.

So as far as I see it, I did good on them deals.

you just have to take your time, do some research ,dont buy an old one that need all kind of parts ,be willing to travel [Look at what your getting in hand helps ], try to buy the same type's of heli's ,when you find one you like. and parts are available.

I did buy a lemmon , I will say $160 for a concept 30 dx and another jr x347 transmitter ,in good shape and all, but no blades on this bird . Hence the problem

the blades grips are so small ,8 mm at the root , I cant find cheep wood blades for it ,only cf blades for $90 or so, without changing the head on it .this bird will likely, never fly for me ."bigger better birds to pluck"

My bad [ no research ] on it, before I got it . O well, it looks nice.

good deals are out here everyday.

Thats my two cents on it .

Regards len