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Century Helicopter . MTA Hobbies . Model Rectifier Corp

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e-Century Hummingbird - Swift > Hummingbird finally flies in the Mile High City!
 
 
sultan68
Senior Heliman
Location: Broomfield, CO Elevation 5420'

In my thread entitled "Hummingbird Woes," I mentioned a problem with the helicopter not getting out of ground effect. I attributed it to the elevation here that I fly at (over 5600 feet!)

Anyways, I wound up buying a nicer charger to take care of all the battery packs I have and it loaded the stock Bird Seed NiMH battery that is rated at 600mAh to 650+mAh! Now that I have a full charge, the little heli is highly responsive and shoots to the ceiling pretty darn quick considering the elevation here in Denver!

The $8.95 charger I bought from Century (the one for the Bird Seed batt) recommended a charging time of 1.5 hrs. This didn't fill the battery to capacity, and a gentleman named Intruder here on the RunRyder forums spoke to the fact that it's a known issue with their chargers that they aren't filling the batts to capacity! How ridiculous! I called Century and they recommended I twist the blades (which I did, and one snapped--maybe twisted a bit too hard..hehe) to change the pitch of the blades and generate more lift but that didn't do a thing. They didn't even ask me about my ATV settings (which I didn't have to adjust after all once I got the charging issue fixed!) and wound up recommending that I call back early this week and speak to someone else in their support dept.

Century, I hope you are reading this. I shouldn't have to buy a $120 charger to get this little heli in the air. It's a nicer charger, mind you but still... It should work with the factory wall transformer charger.

Anyways, this little heli is as awesome as everyone has stated and when you folks DO get one be sure and straighten out the silly gear! It sits lop-sided because the right gear is shorter than the left. Century did this because they say it pulls hard to the right otherwise, but I didn't notice a thing when I put equal length gear on that I scavenged and pieced together from their crash kit which includes the main blades, tail rotor, battery tray (!??!?!) and landing skids.

Aside from this minor charging issue, GREAT WORK CENTURY!
04-02-2003 Over year old.
 
 
jeffs555
Senior Heliman
Location: North Carolina

Chris,
Thats great, glad you got it going. As for the uneven gear legs, I was about to ask how many people have evened them out. I am still just learning to fly heli's. With the training gear on, at first I had problems with it sliding to the right on the ground, because of the uneven gear. I put a piece of balsa under the shorter leg to level it out. I have had no problems keeping it strait after liftoff, just a little right cyclic. I plan to cut the longer leg to even out the gear when I take the training gear off.

Jeff
04-02-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Keyrock
Heliman
Location: FT. Walton Beach Florida

Hey thanks for the info. Hey I just have a question about what the brand you charger you bought was. And does it charge any faster than the stock charger. I havn't recieved my bird yet. I live in florida so I don't think there is a problem with altitude here..LOL but I would like my batteries to be charged completly. I'm also new to flying helicopters. I bought 3 extra batteries and the crash kit along with the training gear. Is this your first time flying heli's and if so did you use a simulator to practice first. I think it can be done with out a simulator just take more time probably. Thanks in advance for your time!
Scott
04-02-2003 Over year old.
 
 
eSmith
Veteran
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ya, more time, more money, more trips to the hobby store and don't be suprised if you go home empty handed often, these hummingbird blades are getting hard to come by. It's your cash though, squander it as you see fit.

-eSmith.

http://www.edmheli.ca
04-02-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
stevem
Senior Heliman
Location: Oklahoma

I straightened mine out after the first couple of days. No problem that I notice. You will get a bit of tipping left when slowly powering up but once you are off the ground, it's not a problem.

If you think you like it now, give a set of E-Tec 1200mah Lithium Polymer cells a try! Over 20 minute flights and better performance due to less weight. But get a couple of 2 cell packs because it takes about an hour to charge.

Re - Blades:

I managed to pick up 2 sets from Helihobby but they quickly sold out. I left my repaired blades on though. I'll only use the new blades when I need to show it off

I'm currently trying to come up with a cheap alternative to the stock blades. The wavy fiberglass panels have too much pitch so I am workign on that blade shape. I have a few blanks cut from 4" diameter thin PVC that I hope to play with soon. If I could only find a very thin 4" plastic pipe (or bucket) then we may be able to get there from here.

Have fun with it. It's a great little heli!

Steve M
04-02-2003 Over year old.
 
 
sultan68
Senior Heliman
Location: Broomfield, CO Elevation 5420'

Keyrock, I bought the SuperNova 250S by FMA Direct. It was a hard call between that one and the Triton by Great Planes! I bought the SuperNova because they both pretty much had the same features and I didn't much care for a jog dial. Otherwise, take your pick...

stevem, you are paying $14.95 for a set of blades from HeliHobby, right? For $10 more you can get the entire crash kit from Century direct (HH, I believe, is sold out of them) which includes the blades, tail rotor, battery tray, and landing skids! Just FYI... Century has everything in stock and they ship USPS priority... I ordered my crash kit after 3pm PST friday and it was at my door monday! That's some pretty speedy service!
04-02-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Twobeers
Key Veteran
Location: Toronto, Canada

I was hoping to see a wee video of it flying at your masterfull hands.

I lost my infamous tag line.
04-02-2003 Over year old.
 
 
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e-Century Hummingbird - Swift > Hummingbird finally flies in the Mile High City!
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