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Revolution Models . CarbonXtreme . Midland Helicopters

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Antiques or Out of Business > What was your first RC Heli??
 
 
pudge
Heliman
Location: Kentucky

My first heli was a Kalt Baron 28, bought it in 1985 while stationed in Guam and Japan. I'd love to find another one for old times sake.
10-29-2005 Over year old.
 
 
V8Buggy (passed)
Veteran
Location: USA

Kalt Baron 50,...

mid 80's. Hiller only control, no gyro, well until I found one of the early Kraft units. It had a carbon fibre tail boom that was tapered the full length, I still think this was a very cool idea. 4 CH airplane radio 4 servos, lots of linkage and bellcranks to get throttle to pitch set up. First time I actually used the Trig. I learned in school! Later I added 5th. servo and "Y" harness. I remember this old airplane radio had a ale. to rud. mix, so I went inside and reconfigured the chanels where I could use this mix for col / thrt to rudder, wow was that great!
11-17-2005 Over year old.
 
 
erichevy
Veteran
Location: Zevenhoven The Netherlands

Graupner Bell 212 was my first.

Hello everybody!!
I started with a Graupner Bell 212 scale heli. Heli was manufactered in 1973 and one of Graupners first rc modelheli's.
It had a rotor diameter of 1.60 meter and a HB stamo .60 engine.
And because of it's "size" I've got interested in RC helicopters.
I bought it sec. hand with a mech. gyro and graupner servo's
What I disliked about the heli was it's lack of power (running hot) and most of all the NOISE it made was huge!
I have try'd to make an exhaust by myself but then it lacked even more power.
After a while I got to learn people in this hobby and was advised to begin with a Hirobo Sceadu with OS .50 which I bought at a local shop.
And with the Sceadu I've flown around 40litres of coolpower 12,5%.
Eric.
11-18-2005 Over year old.
 
 
dialarotor
Veteran
Location: Traverse City, Michigan

first helis

1989 original blue Hirobo Shuttle, OS 28, GMP gyro, Futaba 5NLH radio.
1990 Concept 30 DX/SE with OS .32, Futaba 154gyro, Futaba 5NLH radio.
1991 Hirobo Shuttle ZX Enya .35, Futaba 5NLH, futaba 153 gyro, 1991 Kalt Enforcer, Enya .35, Futaba 153gyro.
1992 Kalt Enforcer ZR, OS.32, Futaba 153 gyro.
1993 Concept 60, ST. 61 heli, Futaba 7UHF, Futaba153 gyro.(first computer radio and glass NHP blades.
1995 2more Concept 60, OS .61 SF and .61SX, Hatori 669, G-Blades
1997 Concept 60SRII, OS.61 SX-H, Hatori 669, G-blades, 2nd Futaba Super 7UHF, 153gyro.
1998 repower Concept 60's with TT.61ABC, and first CSM360 gyros.
2005 EBAY purchased NIB Concept 60SRII, TT.70ABC.
Present 2 remaining Concept 60SRII's. Futaba Super7UHF, CSM360,Airtec glass blades.

Time to move on and step into the present. Raptors, EVO's, Digital servos, CSM 720 HH gyro's, Throttle Jockey gov. Better get back to work to fund this plan.

Carbon fiber paint stick maker
11-18-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
tiny-flyer
Senior Heliman
Location: Houston, Texas USA

My first heli was a t-rex v2

" your never to low until you hit the ground ''
11-19-2005 Over year old.
 
 
Intrepid175
Heliman
Location: Texas City, TX

For me, the first heli was bought in 1982. It was a Horizon. A 60 size, collective equipped, flybarless model, "all" metal construction, even the main drive gears which were fine toothed and very sensative to proper gear mesh. You literally had to build the main rotor blades. They were a hard wood leading edge and balsa trailing edge that fit together via a tongue and groove after you eqoxied the three ounce lead weight in the leading edge. You then had to glue the root reinforcers on the rotor blade and, using the supplied aluminum jig, drill the main blade mounting bolts. Afterwards, the root end of the blade had to be sanded down until it fit the main blade grips. There was an extensive proceedure for positioning the main blades within the blade grips that had to be done precisely before the rotor blades were "locked" in the blade grips. If you didn't do this right, it would shake to high heaven and back. The control system placed the cyclic servos on a rocking servo tray to effect collective inputs. The tail rotor servo was also mounted on this tray, just not as high as the cyclic servos were so it had a mechanical tail rotor compensation which worked extremely well for it's day. Gyros were just coming on the market as far as I know and radios didn't anything anything close to the revolution mix capabilites that we used for so many years.

I flew it with an OS61 ABC pattern engine w/tuned pipe and a 6-channel Futaba FN series radio that came with three S26 servos and one S26L servo. No servo reversing in those days. The system was an AM radio transmitting on channel 40 and I never once had a glitch with this system.

In retrospect, it's amazing what we got away with back then!

Fly Safe,
Steve R.
11-20-2005 Over year old.
 
 
Spawndn72
Heliman
Location: Nashville, TN

My first heli was a Morely Bell 47G. I bought it used in 1991. Crashed it on about the 4th hover attempt. I then went out and bought a Kalt Cyclone II. I put about 30 gallons of fuel through that thing before I decided that it just was not worth putting back toghther after the last crash. I learned hovering and forward flight with that one though, so it was a great chopper. I then got a Kalt enforcer ZR and a X-cell 60. I then quit the hobby up until about two months ago. I still have my X-cell and my ZR, to bad Kalt is not around anymore
12-10-2005 Over year old.
 
 
DOKEY
rrProfessor
Location: Northampton UK

My first heli was my fathers old Hirobo falcon 505, moved onto a Kalt Cyclone2 and then did the rounds on most of the Kyosho concepts helis.



Check the gallery!
12-10-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
joeycoates
Senior Heliman
Location: Dallas, Texas

Jees this brings back some memories....

First Helicopter was a GMP Cricket. It came from a hobby shop when we were in Lubbock Texas, but not Lonestar Hobbies. Anyway, it had a Kraft single stick with some huge mechanical gyro that did not do much, and a KB .25 airplane engine that had a heatsink attached to the head. I never could get it to hover as I was 10 years old (really pissed my father off when I took it out in front of our house one day and tried), but I firmly remember my father getting it up and into forward flight right up until he flew it into a tree. A neighborhood friend went up the tree to get it and promptly burnt the crap out of his hand when he tried to pull it out by holding on to the heliball muffler!

Next was a GMP Competitor from the same shop. Airtronics single stick, mechanical gyro, and HP .61 goldcup engine with a funky slide valve carb. Best memory of this beast was of my father, myself, and our good friend (same one who went up the tree) sitting in our four car garage, doors down and three bays empty with the last one full of motorcycles and three wheelers. He had been planning to just get the rotor up to speed to check the tracking. Well, my father noticed that the tail rotor was reversed so he flipped the tranmitter upside down to take the cover off and flip the servo reverse switch. He then set the transmitter down, pulled the throttle back with the trim up and proceeded to stick the starter with the big wand on it to the shaft and start it up. It started all right, started and went to full throttle/full collective immediatly. What he had failed to notice was that he had reversed the throttle/collective, not the tail. I vividly remember the rotor spinning up post haste with the body spinning in the opposite direction, we did not even reach for the transmitter, we were running..... It took off and started to tear bits of crinkle stuff and sheet rock up, as it meandered around the garage bouncing like a yo-yo off of the ceiling. It must have bounced off of the ceiling 7-8 times before it found a cardboard box on top of the freezer and somehow lodged itself in it while still screaming away burning up the clutch. It finally stopped and we all came up out of the motorcycles and three wheelers where we had been hiding to take stock of the damage. Anyway, my father gave up the R/C helicopters soon after that.

My first helicopter was a Concept 30 arf with the OS 28 and a JR 5 channel radio w/mechanical gyro. It was a Christmas present in 89 or 90, whatever the first year of the concept was. Anyway, I spent the rest of my Christmas vacation behind the hobby shop in Corsicana with training gear learning to hover with the help of the owner of the shop who flew a GMP King Cobra if I remember correctly. I flew it for about 2 years before the radio died in flight and it was destroyed. Being in High School at the time, I did not have the money to repair. I have stuck to fixed wing until recently. I actually rebuilt and flew the Competitor as well for a while, with all of the original equipment to boot!

Oh, and I just bough my father a BCX for Christmas yesturday, he ought to be able to handle that. Maybe it will rekindle old fires.

And thanks to whomever started this thread, it has brought back a lot of good memories.
12-11-2005 Over year old.
 
 
Bender
Heliman
Location: Timmins, Ontario,CANADA

My first heli was a controline thingy I got for Christmas in the "50s. It had a hand crank with cable in tube going to the machine that spun the rotors. Don't think it had a tail rotor. Once hovering, you could go into forward or backward flight, round and round you by twisting the handle. It really worked and was kind of neat for a kid to play with. But maybe that don't count.

Many years later, a DuBro Whirlybird. No gyro but I learned to hover.

Then it was a DuBro Hughes 500. Still no gyro but I learned to fly around in left hand circles.

Next a GMP Competitor. Gyros came out about then and I learned some decent forward flight along with stall turns and the like.

Finally, a LiteMachines. Nice bird, no collective though.
12-14-2005 Over year old.
 
 
Intrepid175
Heliman
Location: Texas City, TX

Quote 
My first heli was a controline thingy I got for Christmas in the "50s. It had a hand crank with cable in tube going to the machine that spun the rotors. Don't think it had a tail rotor. Once hovering, you could go into forward or backward flight, round and round you by twisting the handle. It really worked and was kind of neat for a kid to play with. But maybe that don't count.


Counts in my book! I got one of those for Christmas back in 1964. I'd forgotten all about it until you brought it up and it brought back some fond memories. Thanks! My last memory of flying that thing, it was only the transmission and rotor hub. The fuse and tail were long gone.

That toy was litereally the seed that kindled my interest in rotor craft.

Fly Safe,
Steve R.
12-14-2005 Over year old.
 
 
flypaper 2
Heliman
Location: Kingston Ont. Can.

Can't remember the thing I had back in the early 70s. Torque reaction with ,I think, around a 25 or 30 bolted to the top of the blades. Blades could swivel on a tube and there were wires on the end of the blades with a weight on the end pointing forward. had it tethered down with strings and bricks. Don't think I ever flew it free. Maybe someone remembers what it might have been.
12-25-2005 Over year old.
 
 
furyeux
Heliman
Location: Europe France

Hello,
Miniboy shluter in 1982 ...
And I just found 3 almost complete
12-30-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Bender
Heliman
Location: Timmins, Ontario,CANADA

Can't remember the thing I had back in the early 70s. Torque reaction with ,I think, around a 25 or 30 bolted to the top of the blades. Blades could swivel on a tube and there were wires on the end of the blades with a weight on the end pointing forward. had it tethered down with strings and bricks. Don't think I ever flew it free. Maybe someone remembers what it might have been.

Flypaper,

This certainly sounds like the DuBro Whirlybird. Invented by a modeller and then manufactured by DuBro with the inventor hired to work for them. In Europe, they invited the inventor to fly at a big funfly. In the end, it was thought that they got him over there to prove that the thing really could fly. Many, like yourself had problems. I managed to learn to hover by ignoring their "tether" instructions and make up an "X" training gear with ping-pong balls on the ends. This gear was quite large and this really helped. I still have the machine and wonder what it would be like with a hot engine, fast servos and a heading hold gyro. May revive it someday.
12-30-2005 Over year old.
 
 
flypaper 2
Heliman
Location: Kingston Ont. Can.

Thanks Bender. That would be a classic by todays standards. Even a giro would have helped
12-30-2005 Over year old.
 
 
GMPCOBRA
Senior Heliman
Location: PORTLAND OR.

my first heli was a gmp cobra that i baught used at a hobby shop for 150.00
in 1987 i believe then baught all the parts fron tec to rebuild it and rebuilt it and never flue it as i baught a conscepts 30 srt and crashed it a fue times and flue it also i ended up traiding bolth for a guitar that i sold on ebay for 1600.00 i guess you can say i got my money back and had some fun to.
and here i am again
12-31-2005 Over year old.
 
 
JON Y
Senior Heliman
Location: Anaheim CA

First heli was a cricket. got stolen the day after dad and I built. Never off the ground by us. This was back in the 80's. Feb this year got a raptor 30 and now hooked I would say. Still need to practice though.

The more you crash the better you get
12-31-2005 Over year old.
 
 
Mode1HeliGuy
Heliman
Location: High Point Greensboro, NC

KOBE KIKO Hughes 300

KOBE KIKO Hughes 300 was my first heli back in Okinawa, Japan in 1981. Trying to hover with the yellow floats. Got out of the hobby for years. Started with heli's then started planes.
01-01-2006 Over year old.
 
 
chris daws
Heliman
Location: World Traveller, Back in Taiwan

My first heli was a Micro Mold Lark, it flew ok but hovering was nearly impossible because the cyclic response was so slow, generally engine overheated after a short flight so landings were controlled by the engine not the pilot. No gyro of course, but it was a heli and it flew.
My first real heli was a Schluter Champion, I class this as the first heli I really flew, and hovered, I had control of it. Bought second hand and it flew fine, still have it, now the mechanics live inside a scale Lynx, still has the old 3001 servos and 154BB gyro, webra engine, still flies fine. the old mechanics were heavy but lasted for ever.
01-04-2006 Over year old.
 
 
GWS
Heliman
Location: Hermosa Beach,CA

First Heli

My first heli was a Dubro whirybird. It had the engine on top with a counterweight opposite the head with a prop on top. The engine actually spun around turning the blades. It was dangerous to the point that it chased me once and I thought I was going to do me some real damage. Never really got it to fly with any kind of control. I believe Dave Grey of Dubro could fly it but thats about the only person. I also bought the Dubro Shark, a gas helicopter, that actually did fly. Problem was really no gyro's were in existance and hovering was impossible so immediate forward flight was your only chance. Anyone have pictures of the Whirlybird.
01-04-2006 Over year old.
 
 
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