New millenium new challenge, well this is my new challenge, after several years of fixed wing flying I've decided to have a go at Heli flying.
The model is a J.R. Ergo 30, I was encouraged to buy it by a friend in the the Rhyl club and it also came highly recomended by Hobby Corner in Wrexham from where I bought the kit. It was enjoyable to build and no problems were encountered with the construction.
Then with the aid of said friend R. Badham I set about learning to hover the Ergo, having to learn to switch off some of my fixed wing habits which do not help when flying Heli's. A couple of small accidents (crashes )later I think I've got the hover licked, but as winter is upon us I'll spend the winter months on the simulator learning to fly circuits.
Over the coming weeks I'll try to expand this page but with a definate leaning towards the Heli enthusiasts amongst us. I hope to have a photo of the new North Wales Police helicopter taken on the recent Rhyl model club visit to the polices heli base. Whilst on the subject of the police heli their new heli base near to the Rhyl flying field is coming on apace, we'll have to watch our p's and q's once they're operational. I believe the model club has some safety plans for when the police go operational from the new site.
Fun!-----Fun!------Fun! and that's just the Music
My Wife Jane and son Stuart have bought me a C.S.M. flight simulator for Chtistmas, lucky devil that I am, I had a little trouble setting it up but have now got it working fine. I selected the JR Ergo from the data files and programmed in the same pitch curve and set up that I have on my model, and I was absolutely amazed at how like my model that the smulator was to hover. I've now progressed on to flying circuits on the simulator, which at first I just could not do and I'm very grateful that I din'nt try this with the model. I must point out that I did have access to the sim about 2 weeks before Christmas I did'nt have to wait for Santa.I can now fly circuits on the sim so we'll have to wait for the better weather to see if I can do it with my model. I have experimented with the sim on fixed wing but it seems more aimed at the helicpter fraternity although none the less it is very good in both modes. I wish they could make the sound a little more realistic, perhaps this will come with a later update. Thats all on the sim for now I'll fill you in when I get back to proper flying in the real world and let you know how useful it's been on my learning curve.
It's now late summer 2000 and about time I reported on my progress with the heli, the simulator proved extremeley useful in helping me progress from the hover, which I had just about mastered at the end of last season, onto flying circuits at which I'm now fairly proficient. I've a long way to go yet i.e. mastering nose in hover autorotations, and basic aerobatics but I hope to put the C.S.M. simulator to good use in mastering these over the coming winter months.
The photo above shows my latest addition to the heli hangar a Kalt Alpha G.S. which I bought as a second hand deal from hobby corner of Wrexham .
If like me you buy the Ergo 30 CCPM ( collective & cyclic pitch mixing), and like me you do'nt have a CCPM equipped transmitter you do not have to change radio you can get an elecronic CCP mixer ( see photo ) from Quick U.K. Theres a link to their website on the above photo of the MD500 Heli.
The mixer unit shown above fits between your reciever and servos and saves you the considerable expense of changing your transmitter because at the moment all trannies with CCPM are at the top end of the price range. I have one of these mixer units in my Ergo and to date it has given me no problems at all.
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Above is a photo of the sim screen and I think you can see how much like the real Ergo it is.
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HerHeres the picture of the North Wales Police helicopter it was taken by Gary Jones on the Rhyl clubs recent visit to it's base at Kinmel camp.
