Saturday, June 11, 2011

Having Fun With an Indoor RC Helicopter

For many years remote controlled airplanes have been quite common but an indoor rc helicopter has always been beyond my imagination.

The technology involved in model helicopters is of a much higher level than what is needed for planes or cars.

This hobby used to be reserved for people with plenty of cash and the willingness to persevere in learning how to fly them.

As electronic parts are becoming smaller and cheaper, the specialized controllers are not reserved to the military anymore but are now available for RC toys as well.

I have always considered it a disadvantage for larger gas driven models that you need a lot of space and they are noisy and polluting.

An electric micro helicopter can be flown any time in a rather limited space. For a beginner it is advised to practice at a safe distance of grandmother's fine china. A backyard is perfect on a day without any wind. Later you can move your combat missions to the living room.

You can expect to hit a few objects when you just start out. The tail rotor will need some trimming to keep the heli from spinning. In the course of your experiments you risk breaking a few rotor blades. There must be a reason they sell spare rotors in six packs!

One property you may not like is the short battery time on the smallest models. To save weight the battery has been kept small. The batteries are usually charged by connecting the heli to the remote control and it easily takes fifteen minutes for a full charge. After that you can fly for about four to eight minutes.

Larger models usually have a removable battery that lasts longer and a separate battery charger. This makes it easier to prepare for your flight. Especially if you have some spare ones you can play around for a long time.

But I suppose an indoor RC helicopter is just the first step. With experience you will definitely want to save up for a larger one!

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