RC India

i got this trex 450 clone on ebay from hongkong last week and finished build yesterday... with shipping the cost was USD 50 (with best offer option). yes its a clone and built with cheap material but it hovers and does some decent sport flying (with motor,esc,cyclic and tail servos and gyro from Hobbycity which came to another usd 90 - 100) given this cost it could be a good one for beginners to get into this hobby... am not sure about the customs charges in India but even though am sure it would be cheap.
below is the link to the site
http://cgi.ebay.com/ARF-HK-450-CCPM-3D-Electric-Align-Trex-Helicopter-Kit_W0QQitemZ280378539153QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRadio_Control_Vehicles?hash=item4147dcfc91

or you can type
ARF HK-450 CCPM 3D Electric Align Trex Helicopter Kiton ebay and you will get this supplier..

thought i will let you guys know about this.

It is available for almost a similar price at Hobbycity. 

The CopterX version is a much better choice though (http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=334_174&products_id=5578), with all the problem parts upgraded to metal, and still within $60 for the frame.

Discussed here :  http://www.rcindia.org/helis/looks-like-a-great-deal-on-a-450-clone-heli/

Having done that (starting in the hobby primarily using a Trex 450 heli), my feeling is that it can be quite twitchy for a beginner.  Unless there is significant time spent on a sim and easy access to spare parts, the 450 is most likely not a preferred option for someone's first ever RC aircraft.

I agree, any 6 ch 3d heli is not for beginners as its very responsive and it requires lot of adjustments like the tail servo 90 degrees, etc..

I recently got a HBK 2 after getting comfortable on Honey bee CP2 heli (similar to an FP) but I crashed badly :banghead: today the tail boom is bent, flybar is in shape of u turn, main frame broken, metal head blade grips broken, blades chopped in pieces  :'(. I don't have the funds to repair it so I am just going to lock it away for a while and pracitce on simulators. I guess :-\

No more
Hellyflyer

Sorry to hear about the crash  :'(   What happened ?  Just bad thumbs ?

I hope you treat this as a temporary setback only, and continue to fly helis (as I have seen many flyers quit flying helis after their first significant crash).

Yeah I was thinking on quitting on it. ???

The tail started spining suddenly and the thing crashed. I don't know what happend, electronics is working fine but will have to order the plastic stuff.

Anwar I see myself as a good flyer but the heli's just quit on me which is out of my control and crash and then I  hate refiguring out the settings and blade pitch etc etc. I really want to fly something which will not quit on me like this. what would you suggest should I go for this Trex clone and build my self or what should I do as These spare's also take a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng time to come. Do you any any or your old birds lying that you wanna dispose off (along with some spares :)).let me know

Thanks
Amit

Amit -

Bear with me if I say something below that seems awkward.  What I am saying is not directed at you in particular at all.  If you find any resemblances to your situation, I hope you take it in a positive light.

First of all, being a heli flier is a different class of aeromodelling. I have got into fights with people here over this, but it truly is a class that requires minute attention to detail.  Helis are not at all forgiving when it comes to any errors in build, setup and periodic inspections.  And even when you do all of these diligently, they may still die on you because of parts failure etc.  This is the nature of helis, as there are many more small moving parts.  Unless someone has tried building a heli from a kit and fly it for three to six months (let us say about 50 flights), they will not understand the effort involved, the fun that can be had, and most importantly the patience that is needed.

Here is a thread about HBK2 durability:  http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694302 . There are many others like this.  One of the issues discussed is the tail belt coming lose over time, because of even a 1mm height difference between the pulleys on the two ends. Do people notice such issues, unless one is fairly diligent about periodic inspections ? If the belt becomes lose, you tend to lose tail authority, and the heli spins on its tail, which is a very likely scenario in your case.

Aren't the buyers of that model supposed to do their homework, and seek out common issues with this particular model, all of which have workarounds/fixes, and apply those fixes during the build itself or during periodic but frequent enough inspections ? 

Most importantly, while the heli seems to quit abruptly on the user without any seemingly valid reason, is it really the fault of the heli, or did the owner do periodic inspections to see if any part has started coming lose ?

In short, heli flying requires much greater diligence than flying airplanes, based on my personal experience and the experience of all others that I have come across who have done both. Helis are very unforgiving, and crashes get expensive real quick. 

So Amit, if you are looking for significant peace of mind, a somewhat care-free/hassle-free time in the hobby, and a forgiving platform, airplanes would be your best choice.  But if you feel you are upto the challenge of inspecting your aircraft after every 3 to 5 flights, a very careful build and setup and a nice amount of time on the sim before you think of trying anything new in the field, then helis are for you  :)  I haven't crashed a heli of my own in about a year now (touch wood!), so it is not the case that flying helis frequently will result in crashes (or crashes are just waiting to happen).  I did crash two helis belonging to others in the past year   while test flying them, and in both cases, they were newcomers who insisted on building them without supervision, and left out important details which are hard to notice just by inspection (lack of appropriate thread lock and use of wrong servo arms).  In both cases, the damage was fairly minimal, as I used the throttle hold function to stop the motor from driving the main blades before the heli hit the ground.

I had a Trex 450 SE that I learned everything on, which I crashed about 20 times. During my last trip to Bangalore, I gifted it to a dear friend, in full 3D flying condition (even flew it couple of times at Jakkur with him).  I still have a Trex 450 SE V2, which I fly occasionally, and it is the bird that I take with me on trips.  So I have no birds to spare currently.  I am thinking of upgrading the V2 to a Pro, in which case I will put the V2 up for sale with tons of parts, but it may not happen in the near future.

If you are still serious about getting a 450 class heli, I would recommend the CopterX AE V2 kit, OR if you are looking for parts support in India, the Thunder Tiger Mini Titan (the MT parts can get a bit expensive). 

I am most curious about your next course of action  :)

i cant help but absolutely agree on what anwar has to say... i have been in this hobby for about 25 years.. first into aeromodelling and now in heli modelling and i find helis are more intricate to work with (again this is my personal opinion).. dont give up, practice on the sim as much as possible.

Get a new kit from hobby city dot com for 30 dollars and get started again

Not a bad interim solution.  But remember that these are not the best of kits in terms long term ownership (while being used frequently) as compared to some of the other suggestions; so take good care during build, setup and periodic inspections.  They are not bad either, just pay extra attention to details.

Hey Anwar,

Thanks for replying and I think I amd up for this challenge and will stick to Heli's but will ensure consistant preflight checks specially tail belt n all as planes is just not my thing primarly due to scarcity of big fields around my place.

Next course of action is repairing my HBK 2. so will keep eveyone posted of the on the progress. and will ask any questions

First one being I have joined the main frame with Feviquick bond and have replaced the blades but have not tried spining the blade should I try spining it or should I wait for the new mainframe to arrive. Also after inspection I have managed to straighten the tail boom and flybar. So now every thing looks ok just need to setup the pitch and then track the blades.

Reborn
HellyFlyer

I would recommend against flying helis that have been fixed with glue after crashes.  The amount of vibration on these things are pretty significant.  If you MUST fly, please use some extra material (like small piece of plastic, balsa, CF etc) to "splint" it with something like epoxy OR use some steel wire to ensure that the joint is rock solid.

It is pretty hard to really straighten tail booms to perfection, but you may be able to get away with it.  One thing that we all straighten and reuse are fly-bars, as they are fairly easy to work with.

They have one for $10 now :o

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11446

Ya, pretty cheap if u want to learn 3D. all u need is a good gyro. even a cheap chinese tail servo will do good for most sport flying if the gyro is good enough..