Informational > Tips and Tricks > R/C Helicopters Beginner’s guide

The Electric Helicopter Beginner's Guide


Be sure to check the terminology section at the end if you encounter terms
which you don't know, such as swashplate, collective pitch, etc.

Use this information at your own risk!

Electric Helicopter Beginner's Guide Index

1. How helicopters work
2. Things you should know before entering the r/c helicopter hobby
3. First helicopter selection guide
4. Recommended beginner configurations
5. Brushless motor upgrade paths
6. Helicopter parts selection
7. Support equipment
8. Simulators
9. Transmitters
10. Helicopter construction
11. Soldering technique
12. Basic setup
13. R/C helicopter rules/tips
14. Learning to fly - the steps
15. Tail-in hovering
16. Side-in and nose-in hovering
17. Additional orientation exercises
18. Transmitter idle-up setup for fast forward flight
19. Entering and exiting fast forward flight
20. Banked forward turns
21. Figure eights
22. Backwards flight
23. Banked backwards turns
24. Backwards exercises
25. Maintenance and crash repair
26. Troubleshooting common problems
27. Useful equations
28. Electric helicopter & parts vendors
29. Terminology

 
1. How helicopters work

A helicopter is basically a rock with a propeller. The only lift it
generates is from the main rotor, and it uses a tail rotor to avoid
yawing from the torque generated by the main rotor.

The main rotor is composed of: the main blades, the smaller blades
are called the flybar paddles (or subrotor in some cases), and the hub
which holds the blades and paddles to the main shaft.

Beneath the main rotor hub is a device called a swashplate which
is connected by linkages to the flybar and maybe the main blades.
The swashplate is a mechanical device which transmits the mechanical
position of the servos to the main rotor hub parts which are rotating.
It allows the cyclic servos which are on the helicopter body to change
the pitch of the flybar paddles and the main blades as the blades
rotate.

The antirotation pin and the antirotation arm keep the bottom part
of the swashplate from rotating while the top portion rotates along
with the main rotor.

The cyclic servos are controlled by the radio, and control the tilt
    (and for CCPM also the position) of the swashplate. There are usually
either two or three cyclic servos.

In a CCPM (Cyclic/Collective Pitch Mixing) system, the swashplate is
connected via series of mechanical linkages to the flybar and the main
rotor blade grips. The tilt of the swashplate controls the flybar
paddle attack angle as it rotates, and the height of the swashplate
as it slides up and down the main rotor shaft controls the angle of
attack of the main blades.

In a non-CCPM system (like the Piccolo CP), the swashplate is connected
only to the flybar, and a seperate series of linkages controls the
pitch of the main rotor blades. The tilt of the swashplate controls the
flybar attack angle as it rotates, and the swashplate does not slide
up and down the main rotor shaft.

In a fixed pitch system, the pitch of the main rotor blades cannot be
changed, so there are no linkages which control the pitch of the
main rotor blades.

The tail rotor prevents the helicopter body from yawing when the
helicopter motor drives the main rotor blades. The yaw varies as
the speed and pitch of the main blades change, so the amount of
tail rotor thrust is variable to compensate for this.

Some helicopters use a fixed rotation rate/variable pitch tail rotor
system where the tail is driven by the same motor as the main rotor
via a belt, wire or tube drive. A tail servo changes the pitch of the
tail rotor blades to increase or decrease the tail rotor thrust.

On other helicopters, the pitch of the tail blades is fixed but the
tail rotor blades are driven by a variable-speed electric motor
to provide the variable tail rotor thrust.

 
2. Before you enter the model helicopter hobby - things you should know.

a. Helicopters require a SIGNIFICANT TIME COMMITMENT to
  learn to fly.

  A helicopter is basically a radio-controlled UNICYCLE. It takes
  a lot of time to develop a good sense of balance and orientation.
  You will learn much faster if you can dedicate at least a half-hour
  a day to practicing on a flight simulator.

  In addition, helicopters require significant amounts of time to
  build and isolate/fix various problems like vibration, tail wag,
  and other problems that will develop.

b. Helicopters crash, and they are somewhat expensive to fix.

  Some helicopters are more durable than others, and some are
  much cheaper to fix - these are good trainers. But, you cannot
  expect to learn to fly without spending some money for repairs.
  Be sure to allocate some money for repairs.

c. It is really frustrating to learn how to hover.

  Eventually, something will "click" inside your head, and you will
  "get it". For some people, this occurs all of a sudden and
  everything makes sense. For other people it seems to be a more
  gradual process.

  Basically, helicopters suck horribly. Then you get your first hover,
  and it's an incredible headrush, and you're psyched for a whole week,
  and you're hooked. :)

 
3. First Helicopter Selection

a. The three things to consider when selecting your first helicopter
  are:

1. Durability
2. Price of replacement parts
3. Availability of replacement parts
4. Size

The reason for this is: when you are learning to hover, you will crash.
This is a given. Everyone crashes. When you crash, you do not want to
spend a fortune repairing the helicopter, because everyone has limited
funds. When you crash, you do not want to wait forever for replacement
parts, because every day you spend waiting for a part is a day you are
not flying the helicopter, and learning something.

Size is very important, because larger helis are more stable and easier
to hover. They have more inertia, so they move slower and they give more
warning of their intent. Micro helis are more difficult to hover because
they are very "skittish" and wander off in a new direction with very
little warning of their intent. Larger helis are not any easier to fly,
though.

If you live in an area like Seattle where it rains almost continuously
for nine months of each year, I would recommend a fixed-pitch Piccolo.
Otherwise the Lite Machines Corona is the best electric trainer
available today. The Corona is very stable and acts like a much
larger helicopter, so it is nearly ideal for learning hovering.

Be sure to purchase your helicopter from a shop that carries a full
line of replacement parts. When you are in are learning to hover it's
virtually guaranteed that you will crash a few times, and when you
do you will want replacement parts ASAP.

Also, GET A SIMULATOR. Even a free simulator such as FMS will save you
at least 100 dollars or so in replacement parts when learning hovering.

Recommended first heli choices:

a. Corona (very durable, easier to hover, inexpensive)
b. Logo 10 (durable, easier to hover, expensive)
c. ECO Piccolo / Piccolo Fun (very durable, hard to hover, inexpensive)
d. Skylark (also sold as Feda Dragonfly, Century Hummingbird,
  GWS Dragonfly, etc) (durable, hard to hover, inexpensive)
d. Voyager E (durable, easier to hover, expensive)

Not recommended for the first heli, but good for 2nd heli:

a. Hornet FP/CP (fragile)
b. ECO Lite/8/16 (somewhat fragile)
c. Logo 16/20 (expensive)
d. Joker / Joker CX (expensive)
f. etc

Overview of selected machines:

a. Lite Machines Corona

1. A very good trainer
2. Moderately inexpensive (retail about $180-$199)
3. Very durable
4. Manufacturer is in the US. Parts availability is very good.
5. 1250-1500 grams AUW, 610mm rotor diameter, 6-8 cells
6. large, moderate headspeed,
  easy to learn hovering - not indoors in small venues (gym ok)

b. Ikarus Fixed Pitch Piccolos (Fun or ECO)

1. Trainer, but harder to learn
  (probably 50% harder than Corona)
2. Inexpensive (Fun retail ~$90, ECO retail ~$140)
3. Fairly durable but landing gear is flimsy;
  requires reinforcement for beginners.
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability is good.
5. 280 grams AUW, 500mm main rotor diameter, 6-8 cells

The main differences between an ECO Piccolo and a Fun Piccolo
are:

1. The ECO Piccolo includes six ball beerings for the rotor
  head, the main shaft, and the tail shaft.
  The Fun Piccolo includes bushings instead.

2. The ECO Piccolo has CF main and tail rotor shafts.
  The Fun Piccolo has steel main and tail rotor shafts.
  The steel shafts run smoother than the CF shafts but they
  are somewhat heavier.

3. The ECO Piccolo includes tail motor connectors.
  The Fun Piccolo includes with no tail motor connectors, and
  the tail motor wires must be soldered directly to the
  Piccoboard or the ESC wires.

4. The ECO Piccolo has a very lightweight tail boom.
  The Fun Piccolo has a slightly heavier tail boom.

c. Ikarus Collective Pitch Piccolos (CP upgrade/Pro)

1. Medium to advanced flyers
2. Inexpensive (CP upgrade ~$99, Pro retail ~$199)
3. Fairly durable except for balsa main rotor blades (68213)
  pitch arm base (68211) and landing gear.
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability is good.
5. 330 grams AUW, 540mm rotor diameter, 8-9 AAA cells
6. small, high headspeed.
  Not recommended to fly in house - headspeed too dangerous.

d. Ikarus ECO Lite:

1. Only for experienced pilots - only does forward flight
2. Inexpensive (retail about $140)
3. Somewhat fragile, same weakness as ECO 8
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability spotty,
5. 1150 grams AUW, 760mm rotor diameter, 6-8 SubC cells
6. doesn't hover. Forward flight only.
  Difficult to learn to fly, outdoors only.

e. Ikarus ECO 8

1. Duration flying/slope soaring/moderate aerobatics capable
2. Moderately inexpensive (retail about $180)
3. Somewhat fragile - stock (non-hardened) main rotor shaft,
  feathering shaft and tail rotor shafts bend easily,
  frame and landing gear not very strong
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability spotty,
  up to 4 weeks wait time for some parts.
5. 1300-1500 grams AUW, 1060mm rotor diameter, 6-12 SubC cells
6. Large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

f. Ikarus ECO 16

1. Moderate to serious aerobatics capable
2. Moderately inexpensive (retail about $250)
3. Somewhat fragile - a little more than ECO 8 because
  using the same parts for heavier helicopter
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability spotty,
  up to 4 weeks wait time for some parts.
5. 2000 grams AUW, 1200mm rotor diameter, 12-20 SubC cells
6. Large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

g. Feda Skylark/Century Hummingbird/GWS Dragonfly

1. Trainer, but harder to learn
  (probably 50% harder than Corona)
2. Inexpensive - $80 for bare heli kit
3. Fairly durable, but rotor blades are stiffer?
  than Piccolo and are more easily destroyed.
4. Manufacturer in Taiwan?. Parts availability is good.
5. 280 grams AUW, 8 AAA cells
6. small, low headspeed, hard to learn hovering,
  - but can be flown indoors

h. JR Voyager E

1. Trainer/light aerobatics capable
2. Expensive (retail about $400 incl. motor,
       cannot buy without motor)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in Japan. Parts availability very good.
5. 1500 grams AUW, 965mm rotor diameter, 7 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

i. Kyosho Concept EP - discontinued?

1. Trainer/light aerobatics
2. Expensive (retail about $380 incl motor,
   cannot buy without motor)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in Japan. Parts availability ?
5. 1500 grams AUW , 912mm rotor diameter, 7 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed.
  Has weak power due to high disc loading.
  Flapping head version is very prone to boom strikes.

i. Mikado Logo 10

1. Trainer/moderate aerobatics capable
2. Expensive (retail about $340)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability okay.
5. ~2500 grams AUW, 1150mm rotor diameter, 10-14 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

j. Mikado Logo 20

1. Serious aerobatics capable
2. Expensive (retail about $470)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability okay.
5. >3000 grams AUW, 1340mm rotor diameter, 20-24 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

k. MS Composit Hornet FP

1. Moderate aerobatics capable
2. Inexpensive (retail about $150)
3. Fragile
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability okay.
5. 280 grams AUW, 490mm rotor diameter, AAA 7-8 cells
6. small, low headspeed, hard to learn hovering,
  - but can be flown indoors

l. MS Composit Hornet CP

1. Moderate to serious aerobatics capable
2. Inexpensive (retail about $200)
3. Fragile
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability okay.
5. 280 grams AUW, 490mm rotor diameter, 7-8 AAA cells
6. small, high headspeed, hard to learn hovering,
  - but can be flown indoors

m. MS Composit Hornet II

1. Moderate to serious aerobatics capable
2. Inexpensive (retail about $250)
3. Fragile, but more durable than Hornet FP/CP
4. Manufacturer in Germany. Parts availability okay.
5. 330 grams AUW, 560mm rotor diameter, 7-8 AAA cells
6. small, high headspeed, hard to learn hovering,
  - but can be flown indoors

n. Robbe Eolo-R22

1. Moderate aerobatics capable
2. Expensive (retail about $300)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in German?, parts availability okay
5. 1280g AUW, 810mm rotor diameter, 8 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

o. Quick Quick EP 10

1. Moderate aerobatics capable
2. Inexpensive (retail about $250)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in USA. Parts availability good?
5. ??? grams AUW, 880-950mm rotor diameter, 10-14 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

p. Quick Sweet 16 EP

1. Moderate to advanced aerobatics capable
2. Expensive (retail about $400)
3. About average durability
4. Manufacturer in USA. Parts availability good?
5. ??? grams AUW, 1060-1080mm rotor diameter, 16-24 SubC cells
6. large, high headspeed, easy to learn hovering, outdoors only

 
4. Recommended beginner configurations

These are configurations for beginners, and therefore we tend to
recommend inexpensive and mild setups rather than excessively
"hot" 3-D setups.

Note: Do not run R/C car-type "Speed 540" brushed motors (Atomic Force,
Fusion 7, etc) on more than 8 cells. Most R/C/ car motors are not
designed for more than 8 cells, and running them with more cells
will kill the motor after only a few flights.

a. Corona - brushed configuration

1. Kyosho Atomic Force brushed motor w/stock pinion
2. Castle Creations Pegasus 35H or 35P main ESC
          (older Pegasus 35 has too high LVC)
3. 2 Hitec HS-85MGs for cyclic
4. 1 Hitec HS-81 for tail
5. Futaba GY240 HH gyro
6. 4 channel receiver
7. 7 or 8 cell SubC battery pack

b. Corona - brushless configuration

1. Mega Motors 16/15/3 brushless motor w/stock pinion
2. Castle Creations Phoenix 35 main ESC
3. 2 Hitec HS-85MGs for cyclic
4. 1 Hitec HS-81 for tail
5. Futaba GY240 HH gyro
6. 4 channel receiver
7. 7 or 8 cell SubC battery pack

c. FP Piccolo - brushed + Piccoboard

1. Stock Speed 295/310 motor
2. Piccoboard or Piccoboard Plus
3. 2 HS-50s (or HS-55s) for cyclic
4. GWS or Berg 4-channel receiver
5. 7 cell NiCad or NiMH battery pack

d. FP Piccolo - brushed - separates

1. Stock Speed 295/310 motor
2. 2 Castle Creations Pixie-7P main/tail ESC
  (or GWS ICS-100E main and ICS-50E tail ESC)
3. 2 HS-50s (or HS-55s) for cyclic
4. Futaba GY240 or CSM HLG200 HH gyro
5. GWS or Berg 4-channel receiver
6. 7 cell NiCad or NiMH battery pack

e. FP Piccolo - brushless - separates

1. Hacker B20-36S brushless motor w/8 tooth pinion
2. Castle Creations Phoenix 10 main ESC
3. 2 HS-50s (or HS-55s) for cyclic
4. Pixie-7P or ICS-50E tail ESC
5. Futaba GY240 or CSM HLG200 HH gyro
6. GWS or Berg 4-channel receiver
7. 7 cell NiCad or NiMH battery pack

f. CP Piccolo or Pro - brushless - separates

1. Hacker B20-31S brushless motor w/8 tooth pinion
  (for power) or
  Hacker B20-36S brushless motor w/10 tooth pinion
  (for duration)
2. Castle Creations Phoenix 10 main ESC
3. Pixie-7P or ICS-50E tail ESC
4. 2 HS-50s (or HS-55s) for cyclic
5. Futaba GY401 or CSM HLG200 HH gyro
6. GWS 6-channel receiver
7. 8 cell NiCad or NiMH battery pack

g. Logo 10 - brushless

1. Kontronik FUN 600-18 w/15 tooth pinion
2. Schulze Future 12.46e
3. 3 HS-85s for cyclic
4. HS-81 for tail
5. Futaba GY240 or GY401 HH gyro
6. 6 channel receiver
7. 12 cell NiCad battery pack

h. ECO 8 - brushed

1. Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem Reverse brushed motor
2. Castle Creations Pegasus 35
3. 3 HS-85MGs for cyclic
4. HS-81 for tail
5. Futaba GY240 or GY401 HH gyro
6. 6 channel receiver
7. 8 cell NiCad battery pack
  (The MMR can run with 10 cells also)

i. ECO 8 - brushless

1. Hacker B50-18S or Mega Motor 22/20/3H motor
2. Schulze Future 12.46e
3. 3 HS-85MGs for cyclic
4. HS-81 for tail
5. Futaba GY240 or GY401 HH gyro
6. 6 channel receiver
7. 10 cell NiCad battery pack (will fly on 8 cells brushless,
  but much better with 10 cells)

 
5. Brushless motor upgrade paths

You may want to choose a brushless motor which is usable in both
your first fixed pitch helicopter and your second collective pitch
helicopter. This is a little tricky but definitely possible if you
plan wisely.

In the following section, 10-12T means "10 tooth to 12 tooth pinion".
The lower tooth pinions are for duration, and the higher ones are
for power.

Corona upgrade paths:

There are three possible upgrade paths from the Corona: the ECO 8,
the Eolo, and the Voyager E. All of these helicopters can use 3.17mm
shaft motors in approximately the same Kv range as the Corona.

a. Corona motors usable in an ECO 8

This requires choosing a 3.17mm shaft motor with a Kv of about
2400-2600. This results in a mild motor for the Corona, which
becomes a power motor when moved to the ECO 8 on 10 cells.
If you desire to use a Corona motor which will become a duration
ECO 8 motor, then you will need a motor with a lower Kv (about
2200-2400) and use a larger tooth pinion on the Corona.

A motor with 3000 Kv is usable on an ECO 8 with 8 cells, but
not really recommended for 10 cells.

Hacker C40-10L, Kv = 3000 rpm/V (Corona: 11-12T,
 ECO 8 - 8 cells: 10T)
Hacker C40-12L, Kv = 2500 rpm/V (Corona: 12-13T,
 ECO 8 - 8 cells: 12-14T
 ECO 8 - 10 cells: 10-12T)

b. Corona motors usable in a Eolo

This requires choosing a 3.17mm shaft motor with a Kv of about 3300.
This results in a power motor for both the Corona and the Eolo.
The mEga 16/15/3 is fairly mild for both Corona and the Eolo.

Mega 16/15/3,  Kv = 3000 rpm/V (Corona: 10T, Eolo: ?)
Hacker C40-12S, Kv = 3500 rpm/V (Corona: 10T, Eolo: stock pinion)
Hacker C40-9L, Kv = 3333 rpm/V (Corona: 10T, Eolo: stock pinion)
                 
c. Corona motor usable in a Voyager E

This requires choosing a 3.17mm shaft motor with a Kv of about 3700.
This results in a power motor for both the Corona and the Voyager.
You must be careful to limit the throttle on the Corona because
the maximum headspeed of 2000 will be exceeded if the throttle is
not limited.

Hacker C40-8L, Kv = 3750 (Corona: 10T, Voyager: stock pinion)

Piccolo upgrade paths:

The FP Piccolo requires a motor with a Kv of about 2500.
There are two upgrade paths available: the Piccolo CP kit or the
Piccolo Pro, wich both require a motor with a Kv of about 3000.
The B20-31S and B20-18L have a Kv that's a little too high for
an FP Piccolo so the flight time will be short, but they will
be powerful later in a CP Piccolo.

B20-36S, Kv = 2500 (FP Piccolo: 8T, CP Piccolo: 10T)
B20-31S, Kv = 3000 (FP Piccolo: 8T, CP Piccolo: 8T)
B20-18L, Kv = 3000 (FP Piccolo: 8T, CP Piccolo: 8T)

 
6. Helicopter Parts Selection

a. Gyros

A heading hold gyro is highly recommended for beginners.
There are two reasons for this:

1. A heading hold gyro is much easier to configure than a yaw rate gyro.
      The yaw rate gyro requires the revo mix curve to be set up correctly
  before learning hovering, and this is tricky to set up for beginners.

2. The heading hold gyro will "lock" the tail at one heading rather
  than just dampening random tail movement. This is very good because
  you only need to learn two joystick axes initally instead of three.
  This means you can learn the right joystick first, then learn
  the left joystick later (for mode 2) instead of trying to learn
  both joysticks simultaneously. This makes learning hovering much,
  much, easier.

The GY240 is a very popular beginner gyro and is very easy to setup.
Also, the GY240 does not require a sensitivity channel and therefore
can be used with four-channel radios. However, it does have a very
slow pirouette rate and you will eventually outgrow it.

The GY401 is a more advanced gyro with many adjustment options.
It requires a dedicated channel for sensitivity adjustment so it
requires a radio with at least five channels. Also, the sensitivity
is a little tricky to set up properly.

The CSM HLG200 seems to be more difficult to set up than the GY240
so is probably less suitable for beginners. In particular, it has
a tendency to drift left or right if not configured properly, which
will mean your helicopter will slowly change orientation which makes
hovering difficult.

The inexpensive Hobbico gyro is NOT recommended for beginners.
It is a yaw rate gyro, which makes hovering difficult for beginners.
Also, it is very fragile and there are many reports of it breaking
on the first heli crash from only 1.5 feet of altitude.

The Piccoboard used on the Piccolo is a single board with the following
items:

1. Yaw rate gyro (upgradeable to heading hold on the Piccoboard Plus)
2. Revo mixer
3. Main motor ESC
4. Tail motor ESC
5. BEC

The older versions of the Piccoboard had extremely fragile gyro
sensors and are not recommended for beginners. Supposedly the
recent ones are more durable. For more detailed information on the
various versions of the Piccoboard, consult Paul Goelz's Piccolo site.

The Piccoboard is not necessary for the Piccolo, and can be replaced
by either:

1. a standard gyro + two ESCs (w/BEC)
  (requires revo mixing on transmitter)

2. a heading hold gyro + two ESCs (w/BEC) + transmitter
      (no revo mix required on transmitter for this configuration)

If you use two ESCs with BECs, don't forget to disable one of the
BECs on one of the ESCs otherwise they may "fight" each other and
overheat causing BEC failure.

b. FMA Copilot

Some people have been using the FMA copilot on their Corona heli.
This is a device which will "level" the helicopter for you
if you release (center) the cyclic control. It will not work
indoors because it needs to see the horizon to work properly.
It does not replace a gyro, so you will still need a gyro.

The FMA copilot is nice, but really isn't really necessary unless
you are having problems learning hovering. If you have a limited
budget, then it is more important to buy a good heading hold gyro
than the FMA copilot.

Also, you will likely outgrow the FMA copilot after a few months
and remove it whereas you will not outgrow a good heading hold gyro.
Therefore I recommend buying a good heading hold gyro first, and
purchasing an FMA copilot later if you become frustrated with
learning hovering.

c. Tail (rudder) servo

The tail servo for a helicopter needs to be very fast to respond
quickly to small random tail movements. The tail servo should have a
specification of 0.12 sec / 60 degrees of travel or better.

For the Corona, Logo 10, and ECO 8/16, some usable tail servos are:

1. Hitec HS-81
2. JR DS368(do not use in DS mode, will burn out)
3. Volz Speed-Maxx XP(DS mode compat,
will be released about Oct 2003)
4. Multiplex Micro BB Speed(DS mode compat)
5. Hitec HS-5245MG(DS mode compat)

The Multiplex Micro BB Speed is slightly larger than the HS-81/DS368
so some modification may be required to use it.

For the Logo 10 or larger, the Futaba S9253 is very popular used with
the GY401, although the S9253 is rather heavy for the Logo 10.

Some servo mounts will allow you to use high-speed micro servos for
the tail pitch servo, such as the HeliHobby tail servo mount for the ECO 8/16.

The metal gear servos are not recommended for the tail because the
metal gear servos wear faster and have more backlash than plastic gear
servos, which will result in less precise tail control (with the
exception of the Volz Speed-Maxx XP which is specifically designed for
tail pitch control)

The slower digital servos (such as the JR DS368, 0.21 sec/60 degrees)
do not work well as a tail servo unless the stock servo arms are
replaced by extra-long servo arms (Du-bro, Servo City, etc). This
sacrifices some precision for extra speed.

JR does not recommend the DS3421 for tail gyros because the servo motor
is too small to handle the frequent movement required.

Gyros are sensitive to temperature changes. If you car is warm, the
weather is cold and you take your heli out of the car and immediately
try to fly, the gyro will not work well. You should allow a few minutes
for the gyro temperature to settle before flying.

d. Swashplate (Cyclic) servos

Torque, speed, and precision should be considered for swashplate servos.

The Corona works fine on the stock HS-81 servos, although some people
choose to use the HS-85BBs for more torque.

The ECO 8/16 require a servo no taller than 1.1 inches, so this limits
servo choices considerably.

Corona/ECO 8/16 choices:

1. JR 341       (0.22 secs/60 degrees, 32 oz-in)
2. JR 351       (0.22 secs/60 degrees, 32 oz-in)
3. HS-81        (0.11 secs/60 degrees, 36 oz-in)
4. HS-85MG/BB+     (0.16 secs/60 degrees, 42 oz-in)
5. Volz Micro-Maxx   (0.16 secs/60 degrees, 55 oz-in)
6. Volz Micro-Maxx XP (0.16 secs/60 degrees, 66 oz-in)
7. JR DS368

The Logo 10 uses servos from 1.1 inches to 1.3 inches tall, so
it can use all the servos used in the ECO 8/16 except the
servos with less torque are not suitable. Probably 42 oz-in of
torque is a reasonable minimum requirement for a Logo 10.

Logo 10 choices:

1. HS-85MG/BB+     (0.16 secs/60 degrees, 42 oz-in)
2. JR 341       (0.23 secs/60 degrees, 42 oz-in)
3. Futaba S3102    (0.25 secs/60 degrees, 51 oz-in)
4. JR DS368
5. Multiplex Micro BB?

I've been told the Volz servos are too deep to fit into the Logo 10
frame, so they are supposedly not usable for the Logo 10.

For the Piccolos, the most popular choices seem to be the Hitec HS-50
and the HS-55.

If you use ANY digital servos, see the BEC section for more info.

The HS-81s and HS-85BBs can be upgraded HS-81MGs and HS-85MGs by
replacing the plastic gears with the metal gears from the MG
version, which are available at many places (Servocity, etc).

e. Receiver

If you are using a gyro without remote sensitivity (like the GY240)
then you only need a five channel receiver with channels 1-4 and 6.
If your gyro has a remote sensitivity adjustment (like the GY401) then
you will need a six channel receiver with channels 1-6.

For a Piccolo you can use a Piccoboard instead. The Piccoboard is a
tiny board with a yaw-rate gyro and two brushed ESCs, one for the
main motor and one for the tail motor.

The Piccoboard Plus is the same except it can be upgraded to
heading hold with a heading hold module. I haven't tried this, but
people have mentioned the GY240 works better than the HH module.

f. Motor

There are many, many motors available, but only a few are suitable
for each helicopter. This is because the rpm/V or the Kv of the motor
is very important due to the fixed gearing ratio of the drive system.

A quick guide to suitable inrunner motors is to allocate 10-15% of
the helicopter's AUW to the motor So, the inrunner motors suitable
for an ECO 8 (AUW ~1600 grams) will be between 160-240 grams in
weight.

Outrunner motors can be lighter because they are more efficient
at dissipating heat. For outrunner motors, it is only necessary
to allocate about 7-10% of the helicopter's AUW for the motor.

Motors are listed from mild to powerful. Please note that I have no
experience with most of these motors therefore the ordering should
only be considered a rough guide, and not absolute oracle. In general
the lower Kv motors with a larger pinion are milder and better for
duration flying, and the higher Kv motors with smaller pinions are
better for sport/aerobatic flying.

Be sure to use a heatsink on your motor. The neodymium magnets used
in most brushless motors will demagnetize if heated above 200 degrees
Fahrenheit. So, a heatsink is a very good idea to prevent your motor
from overheating.

The Hacker C40/C50 series is the same as the B40/B50 series except the
C40/C50 series has a built-in heatsink so no additional heatsink is
necesary. The Hacker B40/B50 series require an additional heatsink
available for $15.

The Mega 16/15/x series can use the Hacker B40 heatsink, and the
Mega 22/20/3H has a shaft extension for mounting a 5mm prop adapter
for cooling.

Most speed-540 size motors (36mm diameter) can use either the
Hacker B50 heatsink or a R/C car motor heatsink depending on
available clearance.

For more info on motors and pinion sizes, I recommend searching the
rcgroups electric helicopter and micro helicopter forums for people's
opinions on various motor and pinion combinations.

For the Corona:

Ideal Kv: 2700-3000 rpm/V

o Kyosho Atomic Force (brushed) mild
o Mega Motor ACn16/15/4 (brushless) mild
o Mega Motor ACn16/15/3 (brushless) mild
o Hacker C40-12S (brushless) powerful
o Astroflight 020 helicopter motor (4 turn) (brushless) ???

Note: All the brushless motors are good for duration in the Corona.
10+ minute flights are possible with careful power management.

For the FP Piccolo:

Ideal Kv: 1800-2000 rpm/V

o Astro Flight Astro 010 (brushless) mild
o Team Orion Modified Elite (brushed) powerful
o Hacker B20-36S (brushless) (8T pinion) powerful
o Model Motors ACn1215/20 (brushless) powerful

Note: The Astro 010 is very good for long flights.
 
For the CP Piccolo:

Ideal Kv: 2700-3000 rpm/V

o Hacker B20-36S (brushless) (10T pinion) mild
o Astro Flight Astro 010/14T (brushless) mild
o Team Orion Modified Elite (brushed) powerful
o Hacker B20-31S (brushless) (8T pinion) powerful
o Hacker B20-18L (brushless) (8T pinion) powerful
o Model Motors ACn1215/20 (brushless) powerful
o Astro Flight Astro 010/10T (brushless) powerful?

Note: The B20-36S is good for duration flights.
     The B20-18L is good for aerobatics.

For the ECO 8:

Ideal Kv:

3.17 mm shaft motors: 2200-2600 rpm/V
5.00 mm shaft motors: 1600-2000 rpm/V

o Magnetic Mayhem (brushed) mild
o Hacker C40-13L (brushless) mild, good for duration
o Aveox 27/30/1.5 (brushless) ???
o Aveox 36/15/1.5 (brushless) ???
o Ikarus X-250-4H (brushless) mild, discontinued
o Hacker C40-14S (brushless, 8 cells/9-10T) mild
o Hacker C40-12L (brushless, 8 cells/12-13T, 10 cells/10-11T)
o Ikarus H8 (brushless) ???
o Hacker B50-18S (brushless, 8 cells/14-19T, 10 cells/13-15T) powerful
o Hacker B50-22S (brushless, 10 cells/16T, 12 cells/13T)
o Hacker B50-15L (brushless) powerful
o Hacker C40-10L (brushless) powerful
o Mega Motor ACn22/20/3H (brushless) powerful
o Kontronik 500-19 (brushless) powerful
o Hacker B50-13L (brushless) very powerful
o Plettenberg Orbit 15-14 (brushless, 1220 rpm/V) powerful
o Lehner Basic 2400 XL (brushless) ???
o Lehner Basic 2800 XL (brushless) ???
o Hacker B50-11L (brushless) insanely powerful
 (requires very good matched batteries)

Best inexpensive motor for ECO 8:

Mega Motor ACn22/20/3H

Best overall motors for ECO 8:

Hacker B50-15L
Plettenberg Orbit 15-14 (10 cells/23-24T)

Note: The C50 motors will NOT fit in an ECO frame.
     The smaller motors (C40, etc) may overheat in
     warm weather (70+F) so be careful.

For the Logo 10:

5.00 mm shaft motors: 1800-2000 rpm/V

o Aveox 36/24/2 (brushless) ???
o Hacker B/C50-15L (brushless) mild
o Kontronik Fun 600-15 (brushless) powerful
o Hacker B/C50-13L (brushless) powerful
o Plettenberg Orbit 15-16 (brushless, 1070 rpm/V) ???
o Plettenberg Orbit 15-14 (brushless, 12 cells, 17T) ???
o Hacker B/C50-11L (brushless) super powerful
 (requires very good matched batteries)
o Kontronik Fun 600-18 (brushless) very powerful

Recommended:

Plettenberg Orbit 15-14 (12 cells/17-21T)
Plettenberg Orbit 15-16 (14 cells/17-21T)
Hacker C50-13L (12 cells/13-17T)

For the Eolo:

o Hacker C40-9L (brushless, 8 cells/18T)
o Hacker C40-8L (brushless, 8 cells/??T)


If you choose a brushless motor, then an autorotation gear is highly
recommended. Most brushless motors have extremely high torque so when
the motor spools down, the "braking" effect will be very strong. This
will very likely break the main gear teeth if you do not have an
autorotation gear. The only exception to this is the Corona; the
main gear on it is very tough and can handle a brushless motor
without an autorotation gear.

The older sensored Aveox motors (12xx and 14xx series) are only rated
to 20,000 rpm, and the JETI motors are only rated to 15,000 rpm.
You must be careful not to exceed these rotational speeds otherwise
the rotor may eject a magnet (e.g. "throw a magnet").
Therefore, I do not recommend these motors for helicopter use.

The better motors such as the newer Aveox, MEGAs, Hackers are typically
rated for 50k-70k rpm, which makes them a better choice for helicopter
applications.

The Model Motors AXI series (outrunner) is not recommended. The motor
seems to have problems with the rotor wobbling and touching the stator
windings which burns out both the motor and the ESC. There are also
some reports that the magnets are not epoxied very well to the rotor
and may shift position.

The choice of a motor with a proper Kv for your helicopter is very
important, because most motor ESCs are not efficient when running
at much less than 90% throttle. If you run an ESC continuously
at low throttle, the ESC will probably overheat. Therefore, you
should select a motor + pinion combination that will allow the
motor ESC to run at 90-95% throttle for best efficiency.

Pole counts for motors are unfortunately difficult to find, and
are necessary to program some ESCs correctly. Here are the pole
counts that I have managed to find:

Hacker: 2 pole
Kontronik: 2 pole
Lehner: 2 pole
Mega 22/x/x: 6 pole
Plettenberg: 2, 4, and 6 pole

Check the length of your motor mounting screws before mounting!
If they go too deep into the motor they will short out a winding
which will damage the motor. Even worse, if you try to run a motor
with a shorted winding, it will burn out the ESC. So test the screw
length by screwing it into the motor with your fingers before
mounting in the frame.

Most brushless motors use neodymium magnets. These magnets will lose
their magnetization when operated at temperatures over 70C/158F
to 120C/248F depending on magnet type. Therefore, it is important
to keep the motor temperature below about 150F to avoid demagnetizing
the motor magnets.

Some brushless motors use samarium cobalt magnets (Astroflight, etc).
These magnets will lose their magnetization above 250C/482F,
so overheating is less of a concern with these magnets.

g. Wire

(The Corona kit does not need extra wire if using the Fusion 35,
 Pegasus 35, or Phoenix 35 controller)

The motor and battery wires are especially important on an electric
helicopter. If the wires are too then, then your helicopter will
have less power because power is lost overcoming the resistance of the
wire and the wire will become very hot.

For an Corona, ECOs, and Logos, you will need good quality 12-14 gauge
wire for the motor and battery leads. These wires will work well:

Castle Creations W13RB (13 gauge)
Astroflight wire    (13 gauge)
W.S. Dean's Ultra Wire (12 gauge)
Team Orion 12 gauge

The 12 gauge is very heavy and only recommended for extreme flying
and/or larger helicopters with high current draw (>30 amps). The
13 gauge wire should suffice for most types of flying.

For the Piccolos and Hornets, you will need good quality 20-22 gauge
wire for the motor and battery leads. This wire works well:

Castle Creations W20RB (20 gauge)

Sometimes wire is sold as "square mm cross-section" instead of AWG.
Here is a quick table for conversion:

1.5 sq. mm15 AWG
2.5 sq. mm13 AWG
4.0 sq. mm11 AWG

h. Battery Connectors

Heavy-duty battery connectors are recommended to minimize power loss.
The following connectors work well for the Corona/ECO/Logo:

4mm gold-plated Corally "bullet" connectors
Astroflight "Zero-Loss" 50 amp connectors
W.S. Deans Ultra connectors
W.S. Deans micro connectors (micro helis)
JST BEC connectors (micro helis)

If you use the 4mm bullet connectors, you may want to use one male and
one female plug on the battery otherwise you may plug in the ESC
backwards, which will definitely damage it.

The Astroflight connectors are expensive but they are polarized and
of extremely high quality and highly recommended.

These connectors may have some problems:

Anderson's PowerPoles
Sermos Connectors
Tamiya connectors

The Tamiya connectors do not handle high current well. They will become
very, very hot when conducting large amounts of current.
Unfortunately, these connectors are supplied with Corona kits.
It is highly recommended to replace these connectors.

Some people do use Powerpoles or Sermos with helis, but evidently some
ESC manufacturers are claiming these connectors have problems.
There has been a report of Schulze refusing to honor a controller
warranty due to the usage of Powerpole connectors.
Also, Rumrunner Hobbies' webpage states:

"Lehner/BK warrantee does NOT Warranty (and is not limited to):
 ...
 If Sermos, Powerpole, or Tamyia style connectors are used in the
 application."

Also mentioned:

"When connecting your new LMT controller to your batteries be sure
 to use Deans style connectors or 4mm Gold connectors (gold connectors
 are for racers only). Other connectors such as Sermos, Powerpole,
 and Tamiya connectors can NOT be used and WILL VOID your warrantee.
 These style connectors have a tendency to arch (sic) and or spark as
 your vehicle is in motion. They also have a much higher resistance
 factor. If the connector does arch (sic) during operation of your
 vehicle it will short out the motherboard and render your controller
 useless!"

i. ESC

If you plan to use a brushed motor, you will need a brushed motor ESC.

If you plan to use a sensored brushless motor (like the Ikarus X-250-4H)
then you can use either a sensorless or sensored brushless motor
controller. For the sensorless brushless motor controller, the sensor
wires (connector) from the motor will not be connected to anything
because the sensors are not required by the controller.

The sensored brushless motors may need to be sent back to the motor
factory to reverse the motor direction if your rotor head is spinning
in the wrong direction. Therefore, I recommend avoiding sensored
brushless motors unless you already know the timing is for the desired
direction of rotation.

If you plan to use a sensorless brushless motor, you will need a
sensorless brushless motor controller. This motor type is not usable
with a sensored brushless motor controller (such as the older Schulze
Booster-40b).

In order to use an ESC for a helicopter, it needs to have the following
characteristics (or else have these functions programmable):

1. No brake
2. No reverse
3. Slow start-up
4. No low voltage cutoff or programmable very low voltage cutoff
  (As low as possible, must be 0.7 volts/cell or less)

Most airplane ESCs are not suitable for helicopters because they
include a brake and have a fairly high low-voltage cutoff.

The JETI Micoprocessor (red label series) is not suitable for helis
because the throttle control is not smooth and is rather "steppy".
The Advance (blue label series) is supposedly better, but nobody
I know has tried this.

Some ESCs have an optocoupler (usually called OPTO) instead of a BEC.
The optocoupler electrically isolates the ESC from the control signal
which reduces the possibility of interference from the external BEC.

For the Piccolo, the following work:

Pixie-7P (brushed)
Schulze Future 11.20e (brushless, rather heavy)
Castle Creations Phoenix 10 (brushless, very light)
Piccoboard/Piccoboard Plus/Piccoboard Pro
 
For the Corona, the following work:

Castle Creations Pegasus 35 (brushed)
Castle Creations Phoenix 35 (brushless)
Hacker Master 40-3P (brushless, do not use the BEC on this ESC
               because the ESC will overheat on 3 servos?)

For the ECO 8/16, the following work:

Schulze Future 12.46k
Schulze Future 18.46k
Hacker Master 40-3P Heli

For the Logo 10, the following work:

Kontronik Beat 55-6-18
Schulze Future 18.46K
Do not use the SMILE in the Logo 10 - it tends to burn out!!!
The Hacker Masters seem to burn out in the Logo 10 as well due
to ESD problems.

The Castle Creations Phoenix works fine in the Piccolos and the Corona
but does not work well in the ECO 8/Logo 10 and larger helis. The
current version of the firmware has a problem in two areas:

1) The soft start doesn't work properly. It may kick your heli
  around 180 degrees and/or tip your heli over.

2) The governor mode doesn't work properly with a heading hold gyro.
  The RPMs will go up and down even when hovering, which makes the
  tail wag back and forth.

Therefore, the Phoenix is not suitable for larger helicopters until
these firmware bugs are fixed.

j. BEC (battery eliminator circuit)

If your heli uses up to 10 cells and uses only analog servos,
then you can use the BEC which is included on many ESCs such as
the Schulze Future 12.46k and the Castle Creations Phoenix 35.

If you are using more than 10 cells on a helicopter such as the
Logo 16/20 or ECO 16, then you must use a BEC which is designed for
more than 10 cells.

Currently there are two popular BECs. The first is the Kool Flight
Systems Ultimate BEC, also called the UBEC. This is a large 20 gram BEC
which can deliver 3 amps continuous. There are two models for 5 volt
use, one for up to 29 cells and other for up to 36 cells.

The second is the Firmtronics SBEC. This is a very small 11 gram BEC
which can deliver up to 2.5 amps continuous and can work with up to
40 cells.

If you are using any digital servos, then you will need to check the
ESC's onboard BEC amperage rating. Most ESC BECs are rated for only
1 or 1.5 amps which is insufficient to run a digital servo + 3 analog
servos. One digital servo with three regular servos can easily
draw well over one amp, so if your ESC's built-in BEC is rated for only
one amp, you will definitely need to use an external BEC.

If you use a one amp BEC with digital servos, it will probably overheat
during flight and shut down. This will cause you to lose control of
the helicopter and it will crash.

To use an external BEC with an ESC which already has a BEC, then you
will need to disable the built-in BEC of the ESC. To do this, check if
the ESC has one or two plugs which plug into the receiver.

If the ESC has two plugs (like the Schulze Future 12.46e), then one of
the plugs will have three wires and the other will have only two wires.
The plug with only two wires is the BEC plug. If you do not connect
this plug to the receiver, then the ESC's onboard BEC will be disabled.

If the ESC has only one plug (like the Castle Creations Phoenix series)
then the plug will have three wires and the middle wire should be red.
Either pull this red wire out of the connector and tape it with
electrical tape to prevent it from touching other wires or use a servo
extension with the red wire pulled out and taped. This will disable
the onboard BEC of this type of ESC.

k. Batteries

Helicopters need batteries that can deliver high current. If you use
cheap batteries, your helicopter will likely not fly well. The Sanyo
CP2400 and RC2400s are the best choices for beginners on 1-2kg helis
because they are reasonably priced and can discharge at high rates.

NiMH batteries are usually higher capacity but deliver less current
than Nicad batteries, so they are better suited for duration flying.
The one exception is the Sanyo HR-SC which is a NiMH battery specially
built for high current drain which performs slightly better than the
CP2400/RC2400 (HR-SCs must be used immediately after charging for best
results).

NiMH batteries require about 5 charge/discharge cycles to reach full
capacity. They work best immediately after charging - if you allow
them to sit and cool off they will not work as well.

Both Nicad and NiMH battery packs should be slow-charged on the first
charge to ensure all cells in the pack will reach a full charge.
If this is not done, the cells in the pack may be at different states
of a charge and the pack may never fully charge properly.

If you notice a big drop in capacity in your battery packs after a
few months of use, this is probably due to the cells in the pack
having different states of charge. If this happens, you should try
to "rebalance" the cells in the pack by slow charging them at C/20 for
24 hours. This will usually restore the pack to full capacity.
This should only be done for Nicad and NiMH packs, and not for other
battery types such as Li-ion or LiPoly.

Your batteries will last much longer if you do not allow them to
become too hot, because the primary cause of battery failure is the
deterioration of the separator which is accelerated by higher
temperatures. Therefore, you should allow your battery packs to cool
a little after use before charging them again.

The batteries known to work well are:

(milliohms is a measure of internal resistance; LOWER IS BETTER)

Corona / Logo 10/16/20 / ECO 8/16:

Sanyo CP1700SCR(NiCad 1700 maH, 5.5 milliohms)
Sanyo CP2400(NiCad 2400 maH, 4.5 milliohms)
Sanyo RC2400(NiCad 2400 maH, 3.2 milliohms)
Panasonic HHR300SCU(NiMH 3000 maH)
Panasonic RC-3300HV(NiMH 3300 maH, 5.0 milliohms)
Sanyo HR-SC(NiMH 2600 maH, 4.0 milliohms)

Piccolo:

Sanyo HR-AAAU(NiMH 720 maH, 30 milliohms)
PowerEx AAA NiMH
HECELL AAA NiMH

If you are buying batteries not on this list, then you should ask
the manufacturer for the internal resistance of the cells. If the
batteries do not have an internal resistance as low as the cells
on this list, then it is probably not suitable for helicopter use.

If you intend to fly aerobatics, do NOT use commercial battery packs.
Most of them use a flat springy metal to connect the battery terminals
and the springy metal will melt at high (50-60+) amps. Be sure to use
your own inline-soldered battery packs if you intend to do hard
aerobatics with your helicopter.

Lithium-polymer batteries are NOT recommended for helicopter beginners.
They are fragile and incur damage easily, and when they are damaged
they can catch on FIRE up to ten minutes later.

`There is a story on rcgroups where a guy crashed his plane with li-pos,
and put it in his SUV. Several minutes later someone told him his SUV
was on fire. He posted pictures of the totaled SUV, and the interior
was burnt to a crisp - it looked like a barbeque pit.

l. Mods

You should avoid adding any aftermarket modifications to the helicopter
when are are learning to hover. The reason for this is:

1. If you crash the helicopter, you may destroy your
  expensive aftermarket modifications

2. You will be distracted by trying to avoid destroying your
  expensive mods and therefore learn slower

The modifications to avoid when learning to hover are:

1. Carbon Fiber frames/crutches (cracks)
2. Aluminum frame upgrades (bends)
3. Aluminum head upgrades (bends)

Some mods are justifiable because they improve control and are less
likely to be damaged in a crash, such as:

1. Aluminum swashplate
2. Tail servo mount
3. Carbon fiber pushrod (only costs ~$3 to replace anyway)
4. Autorotation gear (REQUIRED for most brushless motors)

but in general, a stock helicopter is recommended.

 
7. Support Equipment

a. Pitch gauge

  A pitch gauge is an absolute must for collective pitch helicopters.
  It is unlikely you will be able to properly setup your non-micro
  CP heli to hover without using a pitch gauge.

  There isn't a good pitch gauge available for microhelis which makes
  microheli trimming more difficult.

b. Blade balancer (optional)

  If you don't buy a blade balancer, it is still possible to balance
  the blades using a dowel or other method, but a good blade balancer
  makes the job much easier.

  The KSJ-528 blade balancer works well. The Koll Rotor Pro is better
  than the KSJ-528 but is overkill unless you're doing advanced flying.

  I highly recommend CAing the tip of a sewing pin to the pointer of
  the KSJ-528 to make the scale easier to read.
 
c. Paddle pitch gauge (optional)

  This is very handy for ensuring your paddles are completely flat
  relative to each other. For non-micro helicopters, the KSJ-624
  paddle gauge works well.

d. Prop balancer (optional)

  In order to balance the rotor head, you need a prop balancer.
  The Du-bro "Tru-spin prop balancer" works well because you can
  hang the rotor head over the edge of a table when balancing
  the rotor head.

e. Tachometer

  There are about three tachometers in wide use for helicopters.

  The first is the Anderson Hobby tachometer. This is fairly cheap
  (about $35) and works well on the ECO/Logo, but it does NOT work
  on micro helis such as the Piccolo CP! It also drains batteries
  quickly even when not turned on, so I recommend removing the
  battery when not in use.

  The second is the X-cell optical tachometer. This is expensive
  (about $150) but works with almost any helicopter. It only reads to
  1990 rpm, so it may not be suitable for micro helicopters which
  typically need 2000+ rpm of headspeed.

  The third is the Tera tachometer distributed by Thunder Tiger. This
  is a very nice digital tachometer specifically for helicopters which
  will clip onto the tail boom for hands-free measuring of the
  headspeed.

  There are other tachometers, including:

  o Magnum mini-tach. Price is about $35.
  o Hangar 9 micro digital tach
  o Thunder Tiger 2642 mini tachometer

 

f. Ball link pliers

  Ball link pliers are highly recommended for non-micro helicopters
  because ball links are very difficult to remove properly without
  ball link pliers. You do not need a ball link plier for micro
  helicopters.

  Both JR and Century make nice ball link pliers.

  Be very careful when removing ball links on plastic balls
  (such as the ECO 8/16 stock swashplate) with ball link pliers.
  You can scratch deep grooves in the plastic balls if you fail to
  center the ball in the jaws before squeezing.

g. Battery Chargers

  There are many nice chargers on the market.

  Here are the features I recommend you look for:

  o For micros: able to charge at 500 ma - 1.5 amps
  o For nonmicros: Able to charge at 3.5 to 5 amps
  o Delta-peak charge termination
  o Some type of false peak rejection capability
   (Sometimes called soft-start, peak delay, etc)

  The soft-start/false peak rejection capability is especially
  important. Helicopters tend to discharge cells rather deeply,
  and when these cells are charged, the charger may often
  "false peak detect". This occurs because the cell chemistry is
  unstable when deeply discharged and the cell voltage will fluctuate
  randomly until the cell chemistry stabilizes.

  A charger with soft-start or false peak rejection will not require
  restarting the charging cycle multiple times in the first 5-10
  minutes of charging a deeply discharged battery pack.

  The chargers which are known to fit these criteria are:

  o Maha MH-C777 Plus II(surface charge, Nicad, NiMH, Li-ion)
  o Great Planes Triton(peak delay, NiCad, NiMH, Li-ion, Pb)
  o Hitec CG-330(false peak reject, NiCad)
  o Hitec CG-335(false peak reject, NiCad)
  o Hitec CG-335 Pro(false peak reject, NiCad, NiMH)
  o Hitec CG-340(false peak reject, NiCad, NiMH)
  o Robbe Infinity II(false peak reject, NiCad, NiMH)
  o Schulze ISL 6-330d(false peak reject, NiCad, NiMH, Li-ion, Pb)
  o Orbit Microlader(soft-start, NiCad, NiMH, Li-ion, Pb)
  o Orbit Microlader Pro(soft-start, NiCad, NiMH, Li-ion, Pb)

  Before buying a charger, make sure it can charge the number
  of cells in your pack! Some chargers can only handle up to 10
  or 12 cells, which is insufficient for a Logo 16/20 or ECO 16.
  This may be important if you're planning on buying a larger
  helicopter eventually.

h. Transmitter tray

  A transmitter tray can help your helicopter flying skills. It holds
  the transmitter at a natural angle which allows better control
  of the joysticks. Petal Manufacturing makes nice transmitter tray
  which works with most transmitter models.

 
8. Simulators

A simulator is highly recommended for helicopter beginners.

A typical well-trimmed helicopter will only hover in place for two
or three seconds "hands-off" before it starts to drift in a random
direction. Therefore, a helicopter requires constant correction to
hover in one spot. In addition, a drifting helicopter will gain
speed much like a ball rolling down a hill. If you are slow to
move the stick to correct the drift, then you need more input to
arrest the drift, so it is best to arrest the unwanted motion quickly
before it gains speed.

The hardest part of flying a helicopter is developing the "reflexes"
to move the stick in the corect direction regardless of helicopter
orientation and the "delicate touch" required to adjust the helicopter
movement without overcompensating. A simulator will help you develop
these skills quickly without spending a lot of money on replacement
parts.

Here is a quick subjective review of some simulators:

a. FMS - free! (score: 3/10)

  FMS is okay for learning hovering in all orientations. The models
  move extremely slowly so hovering is a little too easy. However, it
  does not seem to model forward flight correctly, so once you are
  ready to practice forward flight, I would recommend finding a better
  simulator.

b. Piccofly with Game Commander - ~$80 (score: 7/10)

  Piccofly is excellent for learning to fly the FP Piccolo. It doesn't
  model forward flight well, but it simulates the "squirreliness" of
  hovering the Piccolo very well.

  It has a very nice "slow time" function which allows you to slow down
  the movement of the Piccolo so you can build your reflexes withoout
  getting too frustrated.

  I would recommend starting off at about 70% time and gradually
  increasing the time until you can hover at 100% time (real time).

c. Easyfly (included with Piccofly) (score: 4/10)

  The quality of Easyflight's helicopter flight model is a little
  better than FMS, but not by much. The helis move faster, which is
  good, but forward flight doesn't feel right because there isn't
  any translational lift. Okay for learning hovering, but not
  forward flight.

d. Aerofly Professional - $130 to $200 (score: 5/10)

  The helicopter flight model is a little bit better than Easyfly but
  it still doesn't feel quite right. There's still not enough
  translational lift, but at least it won't let you loop the
  heli with 5 ft of altitude without negative collective like
  Easyfly does. Good for learning hovering, but not forward flight.

e. Realflight G2 w/USB Interlink - ~$200 (score: 8/10)

  Realflight G2 has a pretty good helicopter flight model, and is
  a good simulator for learning non-micro helicopter skills.
  The helicopter flight model is probably best of all the flight sims
  mentioned here, and it will probably be good enough to practice
  3D aerobatics.

  I would recommend practicing hovering on the Impala model initially,
  then later when you acquire proficiency I would recommend buying
  the Add-ons 3 and practicing with the Raptor 30 model.

  For some reason, many of the models in Realflight do NOT have the
  heading hold function enabled nor the revo mixing set up correctly.
  This means the helicopter will continually rotate and be difficult
  to hover. If you have this problem, you should select "Copy Model"
  and enable the heading hold gyro and also edit the radio to turn off
  the revo mixing.

f. Hobbico Reflex simulator w/USB interface (~$190)

  People have mentioned the physics model in Reflex seems better
  than RFG2; however I have not tested this. However, Reflex
  does not include a USB controller (only USB interface for
  a regular transmitter) and does not support network play.

  The current version of Reflex is not as pretty as RFG2, however,
  some screenshots and videos of the new XTR upgrade have been
  released and it looks fantastic - much nicer than RFG2.

Basically, Realflight G2 and allegedly Reflex are the only one which
seems to simulate helicopters properly. All other sims seem to model
helicopters as a special type of airplane, which does not produce the
correct flight characteristics.

The incorrect translational lift model actually affects hovering
as well, because real (light) helicopters tend to bob up and down when
there is a slight wind. This is because the wind has the same effect
as forward flight - it makes the heli generate extra lift.

So, in Aerofly Professional, if you turn on wind, your heli doesn't
bob up and down properly - it just slides around horizontally, which
is incorrect. Realflight G2 models translational lift correctly, and
the heli will gently bob up and down as the wind gusts. It also seems
to model the "rotor wash" effect where the main rotor blades become
less efficient when they enter their own rotor wash.

Therefore, if you learn to hover completely in FMS, Easyfly, or
Piccofly, you will not learn how to properly use the collective
to compensate for the effect of wind making your heli bob up and down.
This can be learned later on a real heli, but it will require some
adjustment time.

Most simulators have wind turned off by default, which makes hovering
unrealistically easy. In order to accurately simulate being outside,
you should turn on a little bit of gusty wind (maybe 3 mph or so).

When learning to hover, don't worry too much about "finding a simulator
which has the Corona". Just learn to hover on the helicopter trainer
model supplied with your flight simulator.

Imagine that you don't know how to drive a car and you plan to buy a
Honda eventually. Do you really need to practice on a Honda so you can
drive the Honda when you buy it? The basic driving skill is pretty much
the same for all cars, with the exception of small driving differences
and control placement.

Helicopters are pretty much the same way. Some helicopters are smaller
and therefore more twitchy and difficult to fly, but the basic skill in
flying a helicopter is the same across all models.

One nice feature of Realflight G2 is the network play, which allows you
to fly and chat with other people using Realflight G2 on the Internet.
This helps to alleviate the tedium of hovering practice.

Reflex seems to be more processor-intensive than RFG2. There is at
least one report that RFG2 runs faster on a P3/500 than Reflex. If
you have a machine under 1 Ghz then RFG2 may run better on your machine.

Both RFG2 and Reflex require fairly good video cards to run well.
I would recommend at least a GeForce 3, although people have run RFG2
on as low as a Riva TNT (probably with most effects disabled).

 
9. Transmitters

You can fly some helicopter with a simple four-channel radio, but you
will be limited to the following helicopters:

1. Piccolo with any Piccoboard
2. Hummingbird with onboard mixer board with any gyro
3. Corona with heading hold gyro with no remote gain (e.g. GY240)
4. ECO 8 with mechanical mixing with any gyro

Ideally, you want a better radio with at least six channels and some
or all of the following features:

a. No throttle detents ("notches")

  Most airplane versions of radios have "clickers" which will only
  allow a fixed number of throttle positions instead of a completely
  linear throttle position. This is very annoying when flying helis
  because the perfect throttle position for hovering is usually
  between two throttle click positions so you wind up fiddling with
  the throttle and bobbing up and down.

  Airplane-style radios can be converted to remove the notches by
  "flipping over" the metal arm which touches the joystick detents,
  but it's nicer if the radio is already configured for a helicopter.

b. Exponential

  This will allow you to make the helicopter cyclic less sensitive
  around the center, which will help you learn hovering more quickly.
  After you develop a delicate touch, you may want to reduce the
  amount of exponential.

c. 5 point throttle/pitch curves (or better)

  When flying a collective pitch helicopter, you will want a constant
  headspeed from a little below hovering up to full throttle. This is
  difficult to do with a three-point throttle pitch curve, and a
  five point curve is better.

d. Throttle hold switch

  This is a basic safety feature. It will prevent the helicopter from
  spooling up if a gust of wind pushes your shirt over the throttle
  stick or you accidentally bump it with your hand.

e. 90 and 120 CCPM swashplate support

  Most helicopter nowadays use 90 or 120 CCPM swashplate modes.
  If your transmitter does not support these modes, then you will not
  be able to fly them.

f. Idle-up support

  Idle-up allows you to change the throttle curve of the helicopter.
  This is highly desirable for collective pitch helicopters because
  it allows you to maintain a constant headspeed at all throttle
  positions in (idle-up mode) after spooling up (in normal mode).
  This makes a collective pitch helicopter more responsive
  to the throttle stick and nicer to fly.

Currently, the best price/performance in helicopter radios is the
Futaba 7CH (FF7 in Europe). This radio has all of the above features
and can be purchased for about $150 (without receiver/servos) at various
vendors on the Internet.

The Futaba 9CH is also good. This radio can be purchased for about
$300 (without receiver/servos) on the Internet.

Other good choices which are moderately priced include:

JSR XP6102 Heli
JR XP8103 Heli (XP3810 in Europe)
Hitec Eclipse 7 Heli (can do 90 CCPM with programmable mixes -
   see notes below)
Airtronics RD6000 Super Heli (do not buy the SPORT model because
               the SPORT model has no swash mode)

These radios are very nice but are also very expensive:

JR 10X Heli
Futaba 9ZH
Airtronics RD8000 Heli

Hitec Eclipse 7 with 90 CCPM:

This is not supported directly by the transmitter, and must be done
using programmable mixes. This was taken from the Ikarus Forums:

Quick guide on how to set up your Hitec Eclipse 7 for the ECO 8 using
the stock 90 deg swash without the need for mechanical mixing.

First thing you need to do is set up your RX like this;-

Channel 1 - Aileron. Left servo on swashplate.
Channel 2 - Elevator. Rear servo on swashplate.
Channel 3 - Throttle. Goes to the ESC.
Channel 4 - Rudder. Tail servo.
Channel 6 - Pitch. Right servo on swashplate.

Now we move to the TX. Use the manual to set yourself up a 180 degree
swashplate helicopter.

OK, here is where we actually get the swash to work correctly.
If you turn you RX and TX on (engine disconnected please) and increase
and decrease the throttle you will see that the swashplate tilts back
and forth. This is not desired behavior. What we need to do is get
those pitch movements working on the servo on the back (Channel 2).

To do this we are going to use one of the Programmable Mixers on the
TX. To do this we have to enter "Programming Mode", it is done like
this;-

1. Make sure your ECO's battery is disconnected and your TX is on
  (and your ECO is selected)

2. Hit the first two buttons at the same time on the bottom left (Edit
  up and down, not Engine lock cut). The TX should now have something
  like EPA 100% on it.

3. Hit the Edit up button (First button on the left) 6 times until you
  see PMX1 inh (stands for Programmable Mixer 1 Inhibit).

4. Hit the Active/Inhibit button (Last button on the Right) the display
  will change and have a lot of junk on it.

5. Select the Master Channel by hitting the Cursor Right button
  (4th button).

6. Set the Master Channel to 6 by hitting the Data Increase button
  5 times (5th Button).

7. Select the Slave Channel by hitting the Cursor Right button
  (4th button).

8. Set the Slave Channel to 2 by hitting the Data Increase button once
  (5th Button).
 
9. Select the Mix Ratio by hitting the Cursor Right button (4th button).

10. Select the Mix Ratio to 70% by hitting the Data Decrease button 30
  times (6th Button, and you can just hold it down, you don't really
  need to do it 30 times).

11. Turn on the mixer by switching the top right switch toward you.
  The screen should now look like this;-

12. You're done!! Exit from Programming mode (first two buttons at the
  same time on the bottom left) hook up your ECO (engine disconnected
  still) and move the throttle, the swash should now move up and down
  smoothly. 

Some quick notes that may come in handy;-

You may need to reverse some servos.
Pitch and throttle curves must be setup now to complete the setup.

 
10. Helicopter Construction

General tips for all helicopters:

a. Do not rush building the helicopter. Take your time and be very
  careful with everything, and make sure everything moves smoothly.
  If all moving linkages do not move smoothly, then the helicopter
  may have vibration problems later which will make hovering very
  difficult. A few extra hours spent making sure linkages move
  smoothly will pay off later when you shorten your hovering learning
  time by a few months.

b. Only use threadlock on metal-to-metal areas. Do not use threadlock
  on metal-to-plastic or plastic-to-plastic areas.

c. Blue threadlock is temporary, for stuff which may require disassembly
  later (after a crash, etc). Red threadlock is permanent, for stuff
  which will never be disassembled.

  Example: Blue threadlock for a screw on a tail blade grip
   Red threadlock for assembling the swashplate balls.

d. If your gears (including bevel gears and motor pinions) are meshing
  together too tightly, you will lose a lot of power and your flights
  will be very short. Make sure that the gear teeth only mesh
  together by about 2/3rds to 3/4 of a tooth and there should be some
  play. This will allow the gears to transfer power more efficiently.
  This can be easily set by putting a plastic bag between the gears
  and squeezing the gears together, then removing the bag.

e. When assembling a plastic frame with metal screws (e.g. ECO 8/16 and
  Logo 10) be sure to use a jeweler's screwdriver or a Wiha with a
  small handle to assemble the frame. If you use a large-handled
  screwdriver you will not be able to "feel" when the screw is fully
  inserted and you will probably strip the hole in the plastic frame.

f. If you strip a plastic screw hole, then you can fix it by squirting
  a small bit of CA into the screw hole and letting it dry to give the
  screw additional friction. But, it's better not to strip it in the
  first place.

g. If you are using a brushed motor with carbon brushes, then you
  should "break-in" the motor before your first flight. This break-in
  procedure allow maximum contact of the brushes with the commutator.
  This will allow the motor to run at maximum efficiency and extend
  motor life.

  (Break-in is not required for METAL (wiper) brushed motors. This
  procedure is only for CARBON brushed motors.)

  There are at least two ways to do this:

  1. Dry method: Run the motor for two hours at 1/4 throttle.

  2. Wet method: Run the motor for 10-15 minutes in a glass of water.
   Be sure to disassemble the motor afterwards and throughly dry
   everything, otherwise parts may rust. Don't use this method
   on motors which are assembled using bent metal tabs (such as the
   Piccolo motors) because the metal tab may break off when
   disassembling or reassembling the motor.

  Be careful with the carbon dust. It can get into your lungs and
  cause severe breathing difficulty, especially if you're asthmatic.
  Be sure to blow the carbon dust out OUTSIDE with some compressed
  air and don't get the carbon dust into your lungs.

h. Beware of carbon fiber dust. It is classified as a hazardous
  material and can cause severe breathing difficulty, especially
  if you are asthmatic.

  DO NOT CUT CARBON FIBER INDOORS. ALWAYS CUT CARBON FIBER OUTSIDE.

i. If you are using a brushed motor, be sure to solder three capacitors
  to the motor: one between the positive terminal and negative
  terminal, one between the postive terminal and case, and one between
  the negative terminal and case. This will reduce the amount of
  interference generated by the brushed motor.

j. If you are using a brushed motor, it may come with a diode which
  you may need to attach to the motor. The diode looks like a black
  barrel with a grey stripe on one side, and two leads coming out
  each end.

  This diode prevents ESC damage by shunting the spikes of reverse
  current generated when the brushed motor rotates. So, you put the
  diode on the power terminals of the brushed motor. The end with
  the silver band goes on the postive terminal of the motor, and
  the end with no band goes on the negative terminal of the motor.

k. Your ball links must move freely, but not be loose. If your ball
  links are too tight, you can put the ball link on the ball and
  gently squeeze around the edge of the ball link with a pair of
  slip-joint or ball-link pliers.

  If your ball links are too loose, then they can be tightened by
  removing them from the ball then squeezing them gently across the
  face of the ball link with a pair of slip-join or ball-link pliers.

l. For non-micro helicopters: If your motor output shaft does not have
  a "flat" on the shaft, the pinion may spin around on the shaft
  because the setscrew can't grip the shaft. To put a flat on the
  shaft you need a Dremel with a diamond grinding tip, some masking
  tape, and a plastic bag.

  1. Cut off about eight pieces of masking tape about 3 inches long.
    Take four of the pieces and make a # pattern across the front
    of the motor so the # will slightly overlap the shaft. Take
    the remaining four pieces and make another # across the front
    about 45 degrees offset from the previous tape, making sure it
    slightly overlaps the shaft again.

    This should completely cover the front bearing and will prevent
    metal bits from falling it.

  2. Put the motor in the plastic bag, then punch a hole in the
    plastic with the motor shaft so the motor shaft sticks out the
    bottom. Tie the back end of the plastic bag. This will prevent
    metal shavings from falling into the motor and destroying it.

  3. Grind a flat on the shaft using a Dremel with a diamond bit.
    Hold the Dremel so the metal bits are ejected AWAY from the
    front bearing of the motor.

  4. Use some masking tape and wrap it around the shaft a few times
    to collect the loose metal bits sticking to the shaft.

  5. Remove motor from plastic bag, being careful not to get any
    metal shavings into the motor.

  6. Remove remaining masking tape from the motor.

m. For the Piccolo: The stock plastic motor pinion may slip on the motor
  shaft. We recommend using CA to glue the motor pinion onto the
  motor shaft to prevent this from occuring.

N. For Futaba transmitters:

  If you have only two servos controlling your swashplate (with
  either non-CCPM or any CCPM) then the channel assignments are:

channel 1: left/right (roll) servo
channel 2: front/back (pitch) servo
channel 3: throttle (ESC)
channel 4: tail servo
channel 5: gyro sensitivity (optional)

o. For Futaba transmitters:

  If you have three servos controlling your swashplate (either
  non-CCPM or any CCPM) then the channel assignments are:

channel 1: left (roll) servo
channel 2: front/back (pitch) servo
channel 3: throttle (ESC)
channel 4: tail servo
channel 5: gyro sensitivity (optional)
channel 6: right (roll) servo

p. For JR transmitters:

  If you have two servos controlling your swashplate (either
  non-CCPM or any CCPM) then the channel assignments are:

channel 1: throttle (ESC)
channel 2: left/right (roll) servo
channel 3: front/back (pitch) servo
channel 4: tail servo
channel 5: gyro sensitivity (optional)

q. For JR transmitters:

  If you have three servos controlling your swashplate (either
  non-CCPM or any CCPM) then the channel assignments are:

channel 1: throttle (ESC)
channel 2: right (roll) servo
channel 3: front/back (pitch) servo
channel 4: tail servo
channel 5: gyro sensitivity (optional)
channel 6: left (roll) servo

r. Do not paint the canopy a dark color. You will need to focus
  on the canopy while learning to hover, so be sure to paint
  it a bright color or leave it white.

s. Do not use rubber servo grommets when mounting the tail servo
  because this will cause tail wag when used with a heading hold
  gyro.

Component Placement:

a. If you are using a brushed motor, the motor itself will be the
  main source of RFI. Pragmatically speaking, you want to keep your
  radio and gyro as far away from the brushed motor as possible.
  This will eliminate and/or reduce the number of radio glitches.

b. If you are using a brushless motor, the ESC for the motor will be
  the main source of RFI. So, it is desirable to locate the radio
  and gyro as far away from the ESC as possible. On a Corona/ECO 8/
  Logo 10, I would recommend at least two inches of spacing between
  the ESC and the gyro/receiver.

c. Most gyros (GY240/GY401) require mounting on a horizontal surface,
  but some gyros (Ikarus Profi, CSM HLG200, GWS PG-03) require
  mounting on a vertical surface. Be sure to check your gyro's
  documentation to see how it should be mounted on your heli!

d. Make sure your gyro is mounted firmly to the frame and/or to a
  gyro mount which is firmly attached to the frame. Be sure to
  use the manufacturer-supplied double-sided foam tape or equivalent
  to attach the gyro to the frame or gyro mount. The double-sided
  foam absorbs high-frequency vibration which will cause a heading
  hold gyro to drift, so the tape is VERY important.

  If a heading hold gyro is not FIRMLY mounted, it will cause tail
  wag. This will occur because the gyro will be wobbling and will
  not sense the correct angular position, and will overshoot when
  trying to return the tail to the "correct" position.

e. Do not shorten any radio/servo wires until you have flown a flight
  or two and have checked for glitching.

Specific tips for LMH Corona only:

a. Many Corona kits seem to have missing parts. If you are missing a
  part and you bought the kit directly from Lite Machines, call them
  and explain your situation. If you bought from a retailer and not
  Lite Machines, then talk to your retailer about the missing parts.
  You may want to finish most of the model before reporting missing
  parts so you don't need to call multiple times.

b. The general consensus on the Ezone regarding the Fusion-7 motor is
  it's not very good. People have reported the motor dying after
  as few as 5-10 flights. The Kyosho Atomic Force seems to be the
  best alternative brushed motor. It is available from Tower Hobbies.

c. Make sure there is enough room between the two cyclic servos for
  the servo arms to rotate freely without hitting the other servo.
  If the servo arm rubs against the other servo, your front/back
  cyclic control will be sluggish and hovering will be very difficult.

d. The manual recommends using one 4 dot blade grip and one 6
  dot blade grip, but the heli is more stable and easier to hover
  if you use two 4 dot blade grips because the headspeed is higher.
  Later on if you want more lift you can switch one of the blade
  grips to a 6 dot blade grip.

      If you are at a high elevation, you may not get enough lift using
  two 4 dot blade grips, however. In this case, you should use the
  manual-recommended grips.

e. The labels on the main rotor blades seem to be attached using
  the world's stickiest adhesive. The residue from the adhesive
  can be easily removed using WD-40 or Goo Gone.

DO NOT USE ACETONE. ACETONE WILL MAKE THE BLADES BRITTLE.
IF YOU USE ACETONE, THE BLADES MAY SHATTER WHEN THEY HIT AN OBJECT.

f. The Fusion 35 controller on the LMH Corona is a relabeled
  Castle Creations Pegasus 35.

g. The Fusion 35/Pegasus 35 seems to have trouble arming on many
  transmitters. If you turn on the transmitter, then turn on the
  Corona and do not hear two beeps, then you are having this problem.
  To fix this problem, you need to set a lower endpoint for the
  throttle channel on your transmitter. For a Futaba 9C, go to
  Menu->End Point->THR and set it to 125/125.

h. Many people make "tail boom protectors" to protect the tail boom
  from boom strikes. This is usually foam wrapped around the tail boom
  or a strip of 1/4" thick balsa or 3/8" dowel tie wrapped to the tail
  to prevent the rotor blades from denting/bending the tail boom.
  Other people use a "rotor deflector" which is a piece of wood or
  angle aluminum mounted on the tail to deflect the rotor blade.

i. The feathering plate should be parallel to the swashplate. If these
  are not parallel, then you may need to loosen the main shaft and
  slide the main shaft down a little bit until the two are properly
  parallel.

Specific tips for all Piccolo (Fun/ECO/CP upgrade/Pro):

a. Drill a hole through the landing skid (67361) so the struts (67378)
  will go all the way through the skid. This will make the landing
  skid much stronger. If you don't do this, then the nipple on the
  landing skid will probably break off in a hard landing.

b. When building the landing skids (67361), use thick CA instead of the
  thin CA included in the kit. The thin CA runs all over the place
  and is difficult to get in the right place. Also, CA the rear
  skid struts into the frame FIRST. Then CA the front skids into the
  frame and make sure they almost align with the rear skid struts.
  If you don't do this the landing skids will probably be crooked.

c. Do not use CA to glue in the tail boom. This usually works
  too well. When you crash, it will be almost impossible to remove
  all the tail boom bits and you will have to drill out the remaining
  pieces. It is much better to put a few layers of CA on the ends
  of the tail boom and let this dry throughly, then friction-fit the
  tailboom into the body and the tail rotor assembly.

d. The landing skids may pop off the frame in even mild landings.
  You can reinforce the landing gear by CAing a length of CF rod across
  the front and rear landing gear skids about a half-inch (1.25cm)
  below the chassis (67360). This absorbs most of the landing stress
  that would normally pop the landing skid struts off the frame.

e. The Piccolo tends to lose the bearings on the hub (67566) on hard
  crashes. You may want to purchase an aftermarket aluminum hub
  or carefully thick CA the bearings to the stock hub to avoid losing
  the bearings. Beware when purchasing an aluminum hub; some of them
  appear to be made from soft aluminum and will bend easily.


Specific tips for fixed pitch Piccolo (ECO/Fun) only:

a. The stock Piccolo FP has excessive play in the control mechanism.
  Specifically, the swashplate wobbles around too much. There are
  two mods which are required to fix this: the ball-in-swash mod
  and the Chris Rigoleth antirotation strap. These will make
  your initial hover attempts somewhat easier.

b. The older FP Piccolo kits had a anti-rotation link (67366) with only
  a single hinge rather than the newer double hinges. If you receive
  a one of these single hinge anti-rotation links, they do not work
  well, and I recommend you replace it with a newer double-hinge one.

Specific tips for collective pitch Piccolo (CP upgrade/Pro) only:

a. The pitch case (68211) will usually be too tight on the main rotor
  shaft (68203). This will cause drag on the motor. To fix this, put
  a 3mm drill bit into Dremel, then put the pitch case onto the
  drill bit, then run the Dremel at low speed for about five minutes.
  Hold the pitch case very gently to prevent it from spinning around.
  After this, lubricate the inside of the pitch case with some
  graphite to further reduce friction.

b. The M2x6 screw which holds in the pitch bellcranks (68212) will
  usually rub against the flybar control levers (68209). To fix this
  problem, put the M2x6 screws into a drill and hold the head of the
  screw against a metal file to shave down the screw head. This will
  prevent the screw head from rubbing against the flybar control lever.

c. Some CP upgrade kits include an older style flybar (68208) which
  is not very good. The older style flybar is completely smooth
  and does not have the grooves stamped into the flybar to prevent
  the control arms (68209) and flybar paddle (67371) from slipping.
  If you have one of these flybars, you should replace it, because it
  will be almost impossible to prevent the control arms from slipping
  on the older flybar even if you roughen the flybar.

Specific tips for Ikarus ECO 8/16 only:

If the ECO 8/16 is built strictly by the manual, you will create a
helicopter which has extremely tight linkages and will have severe
vibration problems and will be difficult to hover. Please follow these
tips so your ECO 8/16 will fly well.

a. It is possible make the ECO more durable and crash-resistant by
  "doubling up" the sideframes. To do this, buy another set of
  sideframes, and epoxy each set together - don't forget to rough
  up the mating surfaces of the sideframes with 200 grit sandpaper
  first for better epoxy adhesion. You will need replace the M2x8
  with M2x10 screws, and also replace the M2x30 screws with two
  extra-long M2 bolts or two M2 threaded rods because the M2x30s
  will be too short to reach through the tail boom mounts. The
  double frames will add about 41 grams to your AUW and reduce your
  flight times by about 30 seconds, but the frame will be much
  stiffer for better control and also survive most crashes.

b. The stock ECO 8 landing gear is a bit narrow and makes landing
  difficult for beginners. You may want to replace it with the
  ECO 16 landing gear (67916 + 67917) or the ECO 8/16 extra wide
  landing gear (67822).

  The ECO 16 landing gear is about 1 inch longer and two inches wider
  than the stock ECO 8 landing gear. This landing gear will need
  slight modifications to work on the ECO 8 because it is designed
  to hold two battery packs.

  The ECO 8/16 training gear is about 1 inch longer and 3.25 inches
  wider than the stock ECO 8 landing gear. This can hold either one
  or two battery packs and requires no modification.

c. The control balls on the plastic swashplate (67701) have been known
  to break off on extremely hard crashes. You may want to upgrade to
  the aluminum swashplate (67707) immediately. Also, the aluminum
        swashplate can be configured to support 120 CCPM which offers better
  control than 90 CCPM.

d. The stock main rotor shaft (67535), the stock feathering shaft
  (67509), and the stock tail rotor shaft (67550) are very soft and
  bend easily in minor crashes.

  If this happens, I highly recommend replacing them with the hardened
  versions: 67940, 67942, and 67941 respectively.

e. I don't recommend using the mechanical mixer, because electronic
  mixing works much better than the mechanical mixer. If you do
  choose to use the mechanical mixer anyway, you will need fairly
  strong servos because the mechaniccal mixer needs a lot of forc
  to move it around. Probably HS-81s are not adequate for mechanical
  mixing - you need at least HS-85BBs.

f. The stock wooden main rotor blades are fairly durable and are
  very good for beginners because they will survive minor crashes.
  I would recommend using the stock wooden main rotor blades for as
  long as possible - definitely while learning hovering in all
  orientations.

g. Pg 6: The tail drive belt pulley (67702) may wobble because the
  hole is not drilled exactly in the center of the pulley. This
  usually does not cause problems, but in some cases the hole is
  very out of center, and the tail belt may slap against the tail boom
  as it spins up or while it's flying. In this case, it is advisable
  to replace the tail belt pulley with a new one that is hopefully
  better, or replace both pulleys with the Voyager E rear belt
  pulleys (060860), or replace both with aftermarket aluminum
  pulleys (PMP ATPS).
 
h. Pg 8: If the aluminum skids (67563) are difficult to fit into the
  undercarriage cross member (67562) try using a hairdryer to heat
  the cross member until it softens slightly, then slide in the
  aluminum skids.

i. Pg 9: When building the pitch compensator, the manual does not
  mention the arm (67591) has a TAPERED hole for the pin. If you try to
  force the pin through the narrow hole instead of the wide one,
  this may cause damage to the arm.

j. Pg 9: The two collective pitch compensator arms (67591) will
  rub against each other on a stock ECO, which is bad. You should
  put an M2 washer between each arm (67591) and the hub (67590)
  to increase the spacing between the arms.

k. Pg 10: The flybar seesaw (67610) usually does not seesaw smoothly
  on the rotor center unit (67639). This flybar seesaw needs to
  move very smoothly on its pivots otherwise this will cause
  vibrations when hovering.

  To fix this problem, take some extra-fine steel wool (#000) and
  spread it with your fingers to make a very thin mesh. This mesh
  should be about 1 inch by 1 inch and be mostly air with about
  50 or 60 strands of steel wool running through it.

  Remove the flybar seesaw, then put the steel wool mesh on top of
  the pivot, then mash the seesaw on top of it so the steel wool is
  trapped between the pivot and the seesaw. The seesaw should snap
  on with moderate pressure; if you need too much pressure then
  your steel wool mesh is too thick.

  Now wiggle the seesaw up and down about 10 times, then remove the
  steel wool and check if the seesaw pivots smoothly. If it still
  does not pivoty smoothly, then repeat this process. Do not repeat
  more than twice because this will wear out the pivot.

  For the final finish, apply some powdered graphite onto the pivot.
  After this, the seesaw should move very smoothly.
 
l. Pg 10: The flybar (67609) usually does not rotate smoothly in the
  flybar seesaw (67610). You MUST make the flybar seesaw rotate
  smoothly in the flybar seesaw otherwise the heli will be very
  difficult to hover. You will need to push the flybar through the
  flybar seesaw repeatedly (like playing a violin) for about 5 minutes
  until the rod slides smoothly through the flybar seesaw. This will
  make the heli much more stable and easier to hover.

m. Pg 11/update: (Advanced) You can give make a free tail pitch slider
  upgrade by installing a brass ball on the outer slide ring (67643).
  You must do this modification BEFORE the needle bearing (67644)
  is installed inside the outer slide ring.

  Cut off the plastic ball from the outer slide ring, then drill a
  1.5 mm hole where it was. Take an M2x8 screw and a brass ball,
  and screw it into the 1.5 mm hole. Look inside the outer slide
  ring and check how much of the screw protrudes inside. Remove the
  screw and trim it to size, then CA the screw and brass ball into
  the outer slide ring.

n. Pg 13: The tail blade grips (67542) should controlled by the
  leading edge of the blade, and not the trailing edge. If the tail
  blade pitch is controlled by the trailing edge, the tail may wag.
  Double-check and make sure the Ikarus logo on the tail blades
  is visible from the right side of the heli, and the control ball
  for the tail blade grips is on the leading edge of the blade.

o. Pg 13: There is a serious problem on this page. In some versions of
  the English manual, the instructions do not mention using threadlock
  on the screw holding the tail blade grip (67603) to the tail hub
  (67549). The German version of the manual correctly tells you to
  use threadlock on this screw. If you fail to do this your tail rotor
  grip may fall apart in flight causing the heli to pirouette out
  of control. Do not skip the threadlock on this screw! Also, if you
  disassemble and reassemble the tail rotor later, don't forget to
  reapply fresh threadlock on this screw!!

  Also, be sure the screw tail blade grip is left slightly loose so
  it can rotate freely on the ball bearing and screw. If the tail
  blade grip is screwed too tightly to the tail rotor hub, then the
  tail may "wag" because the mechanics may bind and gyro will have
  trouble controlling the tail blade pitch.

  One popular mod for this is the "double ball bearing mod" - this
  involves using two 2x6x3 ball bearings in each blade grip (instead
  of just one per blade grip) and substituting a M2x8 screw instead.
  This reduces slop significantly in the tail and is highly
  recommended.

p. Pg 13: The M2x6 screw (67561) should not be screwed too tightly
  into the short ballend (67564) on the tail. If the screws are too
  tight, then the tail pitch lever will not move smoothly around
  the middle of its range because the ballends will not be free
  to flex outwards. To adjust this screw properly, screw it in
  completely, then reverse it approximately one-eighth turn.
  This should be about right but you should check the pitch lever
  movement to verify it moves smoothly.

q. Pg 13: The pitch lever (67541) must move VERY freely on the tail
  housing (67548). On an unmodified ECO this is very sticky, which will
  make the tail "wag" with a heading hold gyro!

  To fix the stickiness problem, rub the post where the pitch lever
  mounts with some extra fine steel wool to remove the grooves left
  from the molding process. Next, apply some powdered graphite to the
  post and to the inside of the pitch lever and mount the pitch lever.
  Wiggle the pitch lever a few dozen times to spread the graphite.
  The pitch lever should now move very smoothly.

r. Pp 16-21: Don't use servo grommets to mount the servos to the frame.
  Instead, cut a 4mm length of very small fuel tubing and slide this
  onto the M2 screw. When this tubing is compressed, it will fatten
  out and fill the gap between the servo and screw.

s. Pp 16-21: If you are using the aluminum swashplate with 120 CCPM,
  mount one servo in front and two in the back at the 12 o'clock,
  4 o'clock, and 8 o'clock positions. This is easier to mount than two
  servos in front and one in back. You will need to fiddle with the
  transmitter swashplate setting to swap the front and back with
  this servo configuration (SWASH AFR on the Futaba 9C).

  Note: This servo arrangement will not work with a frame brace
     (because the front servo will hit the frame brace) nor will
     it work with a stock Hacker B50 heatsink (because the heatsink
     will hit the frame brace). The Hacker B50 heatsink will
     require about a 1.25" section of it removed so it doesn't
     interfere with the front servo.

t. Pg 22: The suggested component placement will work if your gyro
  requires mounting on a vertical surface but does not work well
  if using a gyro which requires mounting on a horizontal surface
  such as a Futaba GY240 or GY401. If using these gyros, then mount
  the gyro on top of the tail boom support behind the shaft (instead
  of the receiver) and mount the receiver upside down under the tail
  boom support (where the frame is angled). This component placement
  keeps the ESC far away from the receiver and gyro and prevents
  radio glitching problems.

Specific tips for Logo 10 only:


a.b. Some Logo 10 kits are missing parts and/or including the wrong
  sized ball links. If your kit has this problem, you should contact
  the retailer who sold you the kit and explain your problem.

c. Many Logo 10 owners have reported the tail belt builds up static
  electricity in the tail boom. This can cause glitching and/or
  ESC failure. Extreme care must be taken with component placement.

Specific tips for the Gensmantel Micro Heaven:

Note: The Micro Heaven requires submicro servos such as a GWS Naro or
   GWS Naro HP BB. The micro servos such as the HS-81 or HS-85 are
   too big and will interfere with the main shaft 3D support.

a. Pg 15: The head of the tail boom mount screws (3804) will interfere
  with the chassis (5510). You should countersink the holes in the
  tail boom mount (5510) to avoid this.

b. Pg 17: The tail transmission shaft (3301) may come from the factory
  with the gear hub mounted either too low or too high. This can be
  easily fixed by putting the through a vise and gently tapping the
  shaft through the gear hub.

c. Pg 21: The stock landing struts aren't very good and the "claw"
  part which holds the landing skids will break easily. This can be
  easily replaced with the Voyager E landing gear (JR 960631 & 960632).
  You will need to cut off the battery clamps and drill a 2mm mounting
  hole in each skid.

d. Pg 23: When the optional 3D main rotor shaft support is installed,
  the main rotor shaft may bind. Make sure the main rotor shaft still
  turns freely after you install the main rotor shaft support.

e. Pg 36: I highly recommend using CA to secure the ball link (3612)
  to the tail rotor case (3805) to ensure the ball link will not
  rotate in flight and change the tail blade pitch.

f. Pg 37: The tail pitch lever (3501) will not move the tail pitch
  slider (3513) very smoothly because the plastic is sticky.
  Apply some powdered graphite to these parts to ensure the tail pitch
  lever moves the tail pitch slider smoothly.

g. Pg 37: The tail blade grips use regular 2mm nuts to hold the tail
  blades. This is bad because the nuts can fall off and this will
  cause the tail blades to fly off and the helicopter will pirouette
  out of control. I highly recommend replacing these with 2mm nylon
  locking nuts (Ikarus 67583).

 
11. Soldering technique

Good solder joints are extremely important for an electric helicopter.
Electric helicopters require extremely large amounts of current for
even simple acts such as basic hovering.

If the battery and motor connections are not soldered correctly, then
the motor may not receive enough current and the helicopter may lack
power to fly properly.

The basic steps to forming a good solder joint are:

1. Select the correct size soldering iron for the application

  If you are soldering small wires (about 20 gauge) then you should
  use about a 20 watt soldering iron. If you are soldering battery
  packs or larger wires then you need at least a 40 watt soldering
  gun to have sufficient heat to solder properly.

2. Use the correct solder

  You need ROSIN core solder for soldering electrical connections.
  Do not use acid core solder, because this solder is for applications
  such as plumbing and the acid will cause corrode the wires and
  connectors.

3. Allow the soldering iron/gun to warm up

  It requires approximately 750 degrees Fahrenheit to melt solder.
  If you try to solder before the iron/gun is fully heated, then
  the solder will not melt properly.

  If the soldering gun does not heat up properly and/or takes too
  long to heat, then the screws holding the tip have probably
  loosened, so not enough current is flowing to the tip. Disconnect
  the soldering gun then tighten the screws.

4. Clean the surfaces to be soldered if necessary

  If you are soldering batteries together you will need to clean
  the surfaces with some sandpaper before soldering.

  This is not required for gold- or zinc-plated connectors or
  circuit boards which are already coated with solder, or for wires
  which have recently been stripped.

5. Twist the wire conductors tightly together

  If they conductors of the wire are loosely twisted then they will
  not heat properly and it will be very difficult to solder them.
  If you apply a little extra twist just before soldering, they will
  be much easier to solder.

6. Coat ("tin") the mating surfaces with solder
  (do not solder them together yet)

  If soldering wire to a gold-plated bullet connector or an
  Astroflight Zero-Loss connector, then do not tin the connector.

  This involves two steps:

  a. Touch the soldering iron to the surface to heat it
  b. Touch the solder to the surface and let the solder melt

  A common mistake is to apply the solder directly to the soldering
  iron/gun tip. This is not the correct way to solder and will create
  a hole in the soldering iron/gun tip after a while. The solder shoud
  be touched to the surface to be tinned. If it does not melt, then
  the surface is not hot enough.

7. Touch the parts together then heat with a soldering iron

  This step is much easier if you clamp one of the parts with a small
  table vise to keep it from moving, and hold the other part with
  a wooden clothespin to avoid burning your fingers.

  Alternatively, you can drill a hole in a block of wood to hold
  bullet or Zero Loss connectors while soldering.

  When the the soldering iron is touched to the solder it should
  melt and merge with the solder on the other surface. After the
  solder has completely melted, remove the soldering iron tip and
  let the solder cool. Be sure not to move the parts while the
  solder is cooling.

8. Visually inspect the soldering joint

  The solder joint should be smooth and shiny after the solder cools.
  If the solder joint looks dull and grainy, then the solder joint
  is bad and it should be reheated to let the solder flow properly.
  You may need to apply a little fresh solder so the fresh rosin
  will allow the solder to flow freely.

9. Be sure to WASH YOUR HANDS after soldering

  Most commercial solder is 60% tin and 40% lead. Lead is harmful
  to your body and causes lead poisoning which prevents calcium,
  iron, zinc and other minerals from being properly used by your body.
  Be sure to wash your hands after soldering before eating!!!

 
12. Basic setup

a. Balancing the heli - forward/aft

The lengthwise CG of a helicopter should be at its main
rotor shaft or slightly forward. Otherwise, the heli will have
a tendency to drift forwards or backwards.

To check this, first install the heli's batteries where
you think they should go. rotate the main rotor so the blades
are perpendicular to the body. Grab the main rotor blade grip
closet to you and raise the heli up to eye level. Now find
a wall corner or door jamb, and move the heli around so you
can see the vertical line of the wall corner behind the
helicopter.

Now try to align the main shaft with the vertical line.
If the main shaft aligns perfectly with the line, then
no adjustment is necessary. If the nose is light, then
you will need to pull the battery pack forward. If
the nose is heavy, then pull the battery pack backwards.
Repeat until you find the correct battery position
to balance the heli correctly.

If you use a tail servo mount on the ECO, the battery pack will
 need to be shifted forward quite a bit to adjust the CG
properly. If you do this, you will need to put a rubber band
over the two front side frame pegs to support the battery pack.

b. Balancing the main rotor blades using the KSJ-528 blade balancer

This step is usually not necessary for the Corona because the
blades are balanced while building (great manual).

Balancing the blades will minimize vibration which will
make hovering easier, and it will give the heli more power
because less energy is wasted shaking the heli.

Also the heading hold gyros will work much better with less
vibration because they gradually accumulate yaw error with
every little motion. Reducing vibruation will minimize the
"gyro drift" where the heli slowly starts to turn.

Therefore, balancing the main rotor blades is very, very
impoortant.

There are multiple ways to balance the blades, but this method
works best for me so far. It minimizes the amount of tape used
and we avoid disrupting the airflow where the blades generate
the most lift by putting most of the tape near the bolt holes
and the CG.

Be sure to use ELECTRICAL tape to balance the blades. Regular
transparent tape is not heavy enough. Electrical tape weighs
about 0.1 gram per 2.5cm (1 inch).

Step one: Matching the CG

1. Remove the blade holder posts from the balancing
  tray of the KSJ-528.

2. Make sure the balancing tray balances evenly when nothing
  is on the tray. If necessary, use the setscrews to balance
  the tray.

3. Place one blade in the KSJ-528 tray and delicately shift
  the blade left or right across the balancing tray until
  the blade balances.

4. Mark this point with a felt tip pen.

5. Repeat for the other blade.

6. Place the two blades next to each other and check if the
  CG of the blades match within 1/16th of an inch.

7. If the CGs are close enough, go to Step two: Matching weight

8. Determine which blade has CG farthest away from the mounting
  bolt hole.

9. Move the CG of this blade closer to the bolt hole by placing
  placing 1-2 inches of electrical tape on the underside of
  the blade next to the leading edge near the bolt hole.

10. Measure the CG on this blade again and mark it.

11. Go to step 6

Step two: Matching the weight

1. Determine which of the blade holder posts fit your blades,
  then mount them on the balancing tray.

2. Make sure the balancing tray balances evenly when nothing
  is on the tray. If necessary, use the setscrews to balance
  the tray.

3. Mount the blades on the blade holder posts and make sure
  both blades balance and are perfectly horizontal.

4. If the blades do not balance, put a small strip of
  electrical tape on the underside of the lighter blade at
  the CG point next to the leading edge of the blade.

5. Add or remove tape on the lighter blade at the CG point
  until the blades balance.

Step three: Optimizing tape usage (optional)

1. If only one blade has tape or you used less than seven
  inches of tape in steps one and two, you can skip this
  step.

2. If one blade has a lot of tape near the bolt hole and the
  other blade has a lot of tape on the CG, then you should
  definitely perform this step.

3. On the blade with tape near the bolt hole, remove all the
  the tape.

4. On the blade with tape at the CG, remove the tape and discard
  half of the tape. Reapply the other half of the tape to
  the blade but at a point halfway between the CG and the tip.

5. Go back to step one and rebalance. The blades should require
  less tape to balance this time.

c. Transmitter Throttle setup

1. If you are using a Futaba transmitter then you will need to
  reverse the throttle servo direction.

2. Remove the main rotor blades temporarily so you can check
  the spin direction of the rotor head.

3. Install a battery in your heli, then follow the ESC
  directions to arm the ESC.

4. Give just enough throttle on your transmitter to
  make the head spin a little.

5. If your main rotor blades are spinning backwards, and

  a. If you have a brushed motor and a brushed motor controller,
   then you need to swap the two wires to the motor. If you
   have a diode wired to your motor, then be sure to swap
   this also because the grey band needs to be on the positive
   wire to the motor.

  b. If you have a sensored or sensorless brushless motor and
   a sensorless brushless motor controller, then you should swap
   any two of the three wires going to the motor.

  c. If you have a sensored brushless motor and a sensored
   brushless motor controller, then you should consult your motor
   manufacturer. This usually requires the motor to be sent
   back to the factory to have the motor retimed.

d. Transmitter Swashplate setup

For the Hitec Eclipse 7 using 90 CCPM, see the special note in
the transmitter section.

If using 90 degree swashplate, non-CCPM:

1. First, set the correct swashplate type in your transmitter.
  You will probably need to consult your transmitter manual to
  select the correct swashplate configuration for your
  transmitter.

For transmitter mode 2 (US):

2. Move the RIGHT transmitter stick up and down. This should
  move the swashplate forwards and backwards.

  Move the RIGHT transmitter stick left and right. This
  should move the swashplate left and right.

For transmitter mode 1 (Asia and Europe)

2. Move the LEFT transmitter stick up and down. This should
  move the swashplate forwards and backwards.

  Move the RIGHT transmitter stick left and right. This
  should move the swashplate left and right.

If the swashplate moves incorrectly for any of the stick
movements, then reverse the servo which controls this
movement.

If using 90 or 120 CCPM:

1. First, set the correct swashplate type in your transmitter.
  You will probably need to consult your transmitter manual to
  select the correct swashplate configuration for your
  transmitter.

2. Disconnect the motor. Make sure the ESC motor leads cannot
  touch together because if they touch during testing, you
  will probably destroy the ESC. Put electrical tape on the
  ESC motor leads if necessary to ensure they don't touch.

3. Move the throttle up on the transmitter, and make sure
  all the servos move the swashplate UP. Move the throttle
  down and make sure the swashplate moves DOWN.

  If this doesn't work and some servos are moving in the
  wrong direction, reverse the direction of those servos
  until the swashplate moves up and down correctly.

For transmitter mode 2 (US):

4. Move the RIGHT transmitter stick up and down. This should
  move the swashplate forwards and backwards.

  Move the RIGHT transmitter stick left and right. This
  should move the swashplate left and right.

For transmitter mode 1 (Asia and Europe)

4. Move the LEFT transmitter stick up and down. This should
  move the swashplate forwards and backwards.

  Move the RIGHT transmitter stick left and right. This
  should move the swashplate left and right.

If any of these swashplate movements are reversed, then use the
SWASHPLATE AFR function (on a Futaba 9C) and change the aileron
or elevator from +50% to -50% to fix the swashplate movement.

Also, ensure that the servos do not bind at the minimum/maximum
servo positions. The servo binding draws a lot of power which
may cause the BEC to overheat and shut down, which will cause
the receiver to stop working, which will cause the helicopter
to crash. Therefore, if binding is observed, you will need to
adjust the servo endpoints on your transmitter to limit the
servo movement to eliminate the binding.

When the sticks are centered, the swashplate should be level.
The easiest way to check this is by holding the helicopter
at eye level, then looking at a bookcase behind it.
Align the main shaft with the edge of the bookshelf, then
raise/lower the helicopter until the swashplate is at the
same level as one of the shelves. You should be able to
easily tell if the swashplate is perfectly level or not.

e. Swashplate leveling

Temporarily disconnect the ESC wires from the motor.
Insulate them with electrical tape if necessary to prevent
them from touching each other.

Do NOT use throttle hold for this step, because the throttle
hold may have a different pitch curve than the normal mode.

Turn on the transmitter then power up the helicopter.
Remove any transmitter trim from the cyclic controls.

Now check the following items:

Servo centering:

Check to make sure the cyclic servos are all in the middle
of their travel range. For most helicopters this means
the servo arm should be perpendicular to the servo body.

If the servo arm is not centered, then unscrew the servo
arm from the servo and remount it so the arm is perfectly
perpendicular to the servo body.

Swashplate leveling:

Once the servo centering has been set, the swashplate
should be:

1. In the middle of its travel range
2. Perfectly perpendicular to the main shaft.

There should be no tilt to the left/right or forwards/backwards.

If the swashplate is not perfectly level, then remove
and adjust the length of the linkages from the servos
to the swashplate until the swashplate is perfectly level
when the cyclic servos are centered.

Swashplate travel:

Set the servo travel on the cyclic servos so the swashplate
is all the way down at zero throttle and all the way up at
full throttle. Make sure the cyclic servos do not bind at the
zero throttle and full throttle positions.

You will limit the travel range later when setting the blade
pitch range but for now set full travel.

Final swashplate check:

Make sure the swashplate stays level as you increase the
throttle stick. If this does not occur, then check your cyclic
servo endpoints and make sure they are all the same.

f. Flybar paddle setup

This step is not necessary for the Corona since it is already
performed by the instructions in the construction manual.

The tilt of the flybar paddles needs to match the tilt of
the swashplate. This is done by adjusting one flybar paddle
at a time.

First, make sure the flybar paddles are parallel to each other.
This can be done using the KSJ-624 paddle gauge or just by
visual inspection. If the paddles are not parallel to each
other then loosen the paddle mounting screw or setscrew
and twist the paddle and retighten the screw.

Next, rotate the main rotor so the main rotor blades are
aligned with the body, e.g. one points forward and the other
points backwards.

Pick one flybar paddle, and lower it slightly so it almost
obscures the swashplate. Now align the outer edge of the
flybar paddle with the top of the swashplate. It should
be level with the top of the swashplate.

If the paddle is tilted relative to the swashplate, then
this should be fixed by shortening or lengthening the linkages
between the swashplate and the flybar paddles

Now rotate the rotor head 90 degrees so the flybar paddles
are aligned with the body. Check the same paddle against
the top of the swashplate again. It should still be aligned.

Repeat the last two steps for the other flybar paddle
and make sure it is aligned with the top of the swashplate
at two different angles 90 degrees apart.

g. Transmitter Exponential setup

The "exponential" can be used to increase or decrease
the servo movement around the stick center.

For a helicopter, you want to decrease the servo movement
around the stick center so you can make smaller corrections
when hovering.

For the Futaba radios, I would recommend a setting of -20%
to start.

For JR radios, this value is reversed, so set this to 20%.

h. ESC programming

If you are using a programmable ESC which uses the transmitter
to set the ESC options and you have previously set a throttle
curve for this model, then you may need to reset the throttle
curve to default (e.g. linear from 0 to 100%) to program the
ESC otherwise the ESC may not be able to recognize the
low-middle-high stick positions.

For the Castle Creations ESCs, the following
parameters should be used:

1. Cutoff Voltage: as low as possible so the heli
  will not fall out of the sky.

2. Current Limiting: insensitive

3. Brake: disabled - so we don't strip the main gear

4. Throttle Type:
For FP helis: fixed endpoint
  For CP helis: high RPM governor mode

5. Timing Advance: depends on motor, choose standard if unknown

6. Cutoff: soft

7. PWM Switching Rate: depends on motor, but 11 khz is fine for
  most motors (except Kontronik Samba needs high switching
  frequency)

For other ESCs, set the parameters using the above parameters
as a general guide.

If you have a programmable ESC which is programmed using beeps
then you should carefully watch the tail servo when the ESC
beeps. If your tail servo wiggles every time the ESC beeps,
then your gyro or gyro wires are too close to the ESC.

i. Transmitter Throttle Curve setup

For a fixed pitch heli the throttle curve should be left as
default - linear from 0 to 100%. It is not necessary to check
the headspeed because you are unlikely to exceed the maximum
headspeed, as the heli will take off like a rocket if the
headspeed is too high.

For a collective pitch heli you should get a tachometer to
measure the headspeed. Borrow one from a friend if necessary.

For the next step, you will need to know your desired
head speed.

Hornet CP:   2000-2200 rpm
Piccolo CP/Pro: 2000-2200 rpm
ECO 81400-1800 rpm
Logo 101800-1900 rpm

Most microhelis will have a nasty wobble below 1800 rpm, and
most nonmicro helis will have a nasty wobble below 1400 rpm.
If you can't reach the proper head speed, you should buy a
new pinion with the proper number of teeth before proceeding.

With a collective pitch heli with a five point curve on the
transmitter, it should be set to roughly 0-50-x-x-x where x is
the throttle position at which you have the desired headspeed.

For a collective pitch heli with a three point curve on the
transmitter, it should be set to 0-x-x where x is the throttle
position for the desired headspeed.

If x is not between 80% and 90% of throttle, you should select
a different sized motor pinion because the motor will not be
 running efficiently which will decrease your power and
flight time.

Note: If you have a Futaba radio and a Fusion 35 ESC, then
    you may have problems properly arming the ESC. If you
   have this problem, then try increasing the throttle range
   to 125% so the low endpoint is lower.

Note: If you have the Futaba 9C, it defaults to putting a
   weird bump in the middle of the throttle curve.
   This bump can be removed disabling the Hovering Throttle
   option.

j. Transmitter Throttle Hold setup

You should follow the transmitter manual directions to enable
the throttle hold function on your transmitter.

Throttle hold is very good because it prevents the heli from
throttling up if you must work on the heli while it's powered
and something bumps the joysticks.

Note: The throttle hold mode may have its own pitch curve.
   If this is the case, you will need to set this the same
   as your normal mode or idle-up mode to ensure the heli
   does not "hop" when you hit throttle hold to spool down
   the heli.

k. Tail rotor pitch servo setup

1. If your tail rotor is on the right side of the boom and
  you push the rudder right, the tail blades should increase
  in pitch.

2. If your tail rotor is on the left side of the boom and
  you push the transmitter rudder left, the tail blades
  should increase in pitch.

The tail pitch control servo should be able to move the tail
pitch control lever all the way from one limit to the other
with about 150 degrees of servo arm travel.

If the servo needs more than 150 degrees of travel to reach
both limits of the pitch control lever, then replace the
servo arm with a longer one.

If the servo needs considerably less than 150 degrees of travel
to reach bot limits of the pitch control lever, then move
the servo arm linkage to a hole closer to the servo arm pivot
then check again.

The tail servo should be in the middle of its travel range
when the tail pitch lever is also in the middle of its travel
range. If this is not true, then adjust the linkages until
the midpoints are matched.

l. Gyro setup

Heading Hold Gyro setup:

First, if you are using a heading hold gyro (such as the GY240
or GY401) you must make sure your transmitter REVO MIXING option
is disabled, because this option is only for non-heading hold
gyros.

If you are using a Piccoboard with a heading hold module, you
do not need to trim the helicopter properly without the
heading hold module installed (e.g. as a yaw rate gyro).
Just install the heading hold module and it should work
properly as a heading hold gyro. You may need to adjust
the gain however.

GY240 setup:

There are three controls which require setup on the GY240.

Setting AVCS:

            Set to ON. AVCS is Futaba's name for "heading hold"
and you want this enabled.

Setting DIR:

Turn on the transmitter.

Disconnect the heli motor.

Plug in the heli battery.

Wait for the gyro to initialize.

Turn the heli right about 20 degrees. If your tail rotor
faces left (Corona) then the tail rotor blades should
increase in pitch. If your tail rotor faces right
(ECO, Logo) then the tail rotor blades should decrease
in pitch.

If the tail rotor blade pitch change is wrong, then flip
the direction switch on the gyro, and retest.

Setting GAIN:

For the Corona, the GY240 does not hold the tail well
without high gain (because it's fixed pitch) so set
this to about 75%.

Otherwise, set this to 50% to start. It can be adjusted
later if the tail wags too much.

GY401 setup:

There are five controls on the gyro and one on the
transmitter which require setup on the GY401.

Setting DS:

This should be OFF unless you are using a S9253
S9250, S9450, etc digital servo compatible with
a fast update rate. Not all digital servos are
compatible with the GY401 DS mode!

Setting DIR:

See the GY240 section on setting this switch.

Setting DELAY:

Set this to about 50 initially.

If your tail servo is fast (<0.11 sec/60 degrees) set
this to a lower value.

If your tail servo is slower or you are using a fixed
pitch tail driven by a variable speed motor (Piccolo,
Hummingbird, etc) then set this to a higher value.

Setting LIMIT:

This controls the amount of tail servo travel.
 
Turn on the transmitter.

Disconnect the heli motor.

Plug in the heli battery.

Wait for the gyro to initialize.

After the gyro has initialized, make sure the tail
servo is at the center of its travel range (90 degrees
to servo body) and the tail pitch lever is at the
center of its travel range as well (90 degrees to
tail boom).

Turn off the AVCS mode temporarily at the transmitter.
Use the rudder stick and give full left rudder and
full right rudder. The tail servo should be moving
moving the tail pitch slider through its full range
of motion.

If the tail pitch slider is not moving far enough,
then you will need to increase the LIMIT control.

If the tail pitch slider is moving too far and hitting
the ends of travel and the tail servo is emitting
buzzing sounds, then decrease the LIMIT control.

It may be necessary to move the tail servo mount
on the tail boom or adjust a ball link or something
else to ensure that:

1) The tail servo can move the tail rotor pitch
from minimum to maximum without binding (e.g.
without the tail servo making a buzzing sound).

2) The tail servo should be centered when the
tail rotor pitch is at the middle of its range.

Be sure to reenable AVCS mode after setting the
LIMIT control.

Setting SENSITIVITY:

This is done at the transmitter on channel 5 for both
Futaba and JR radios. If you have a newer Futaba radio
(like a 9C) this is already handled in the GYRO SENS
menu. In this menu set the mode to AVC and the
sensitivity to about 50%.

If you have a Futaba/Hitec (negative shift) radio,
channel 5 settings below 50% are non-heading hold mode
sensitivity and settings above 50% are heading-hold
mode sensitivity. Initially, set your channel 5 to
about 88% travel.

If you have a JR (positive shift) radio, the settings
are swapped, e.g. below 50% is heading hold sensitivity
and above 50% is non-heading hold sensitivity.
Try setting your channel 50 to about 12% travel.

Yaw-Rate Gyro setup:

If using a separate yaw rate gyro (not Piccoboard):

You need need to enable the REVO MIXING feature
on the transmitter and adjust the REVO MIX curve
to effect revo mix changes.

If using any Piccoboard WITHOUT the heading hold module:

You will need to adjust the REVO MIX dial on the
Piccoboard to effect revo mix changes.

The revo mix controls the speed or pitch of the tail
rotor relative to the throttle position. This is
required to counteract the torque generated by the main
rotor blades so the heli does not yaw while in flight.

You will need to adjust the revo mix so the heli does
not yaw at all throttle positions.

The best way to do this is to buy a "lazy susan" type
turntable that will allow the helicopter to rotate
freely while the helicopter is weighed down so it won't
take off inadvertently. (Rubbermaid appears to make one
which is probably suitable)

Perform preflight checks, then slowly apply throttle.
The helicopter will start to yaw as you apply throttle.
You will need to adjust the revo mix so the heli has
no tendency to yaw as you slowly apply throttle.

It is normal for the tail to swing a little when
changing the throttle, as long as the heli does not
continuously rotate while the throttle is not changing.

If the helicopter is rotating and you need to increase
the thrust of the tail rotor to counteract the rotation,
then you should increase the revo mix at that throttle
position or turn right the revo mix dial on the
Piccoboard.

If the heli is rotating and you need to decrease the
push of the tail rotor to counteract the rotation,
then you should decrease the revo mix at that throttle
position or turn left the revo mix dial on the
Piccoboard.

m. Adjusting the blade grip bolts

1. Loosen the main blade grip bolts so the main blades
  move freely.

2. Hold the helicopter so the right side or left side is
  facing down.

3. Turn the main rotor hub so the blades are parallel to
  the ground.

4. Tighten the blade grip bolts just enough so the blades
  won't droop very much when the heli is lightly shaken.

If you overtighten the main blade grip bolts, then the
main rotor blades will not straighten out at full headspeed
and this will cause vibration.

If you are having too many boom strikes later, you can tighten
the blade grip bolts after running up the heli to full
headspeed to ensure the blades have straightened out.

n. Adjusting main blade pitch

This step is only necessary for collective pitch helicopters
like the ECO 8/16 and Logo 10/16/20. This step is not necessary
for fixed pitch helicopters like the Piccolo FP and the Corona.

You should have a pitch gauge, either from the manufacturer of
your heli designed specifically for your heli or a
general-purpose helicopter pitch gauge.

1. Disconnect the heli motor from the ESC. Put some electrical
  tape on the exposed connectors to insulate them so they will
  not short out against each other or against other electrical
  components.

  NOTE: Do NOT use the throttle hold instead of disconnecting
  the motor battery. Some transmitters (Futaba 9C) seem to
  have a bug where if you adjust the pitch with the throttle
  hold enabled, it does not save the settings correctly. So
  don't use throttle hold and disconnect the motor wires
  instead.

2. Put the pitch gauge on the helicopter following the
  pitch gauge instructions.

3. Turn on the transmitter.

4. Connect the heli battery.

5. Adjust the blade pitch by adjusting the PITCH option on the
  swashplate mixing menu (SWASH AFR on Futaba 9C).

  For hover practice, adjust the blade pitch so the pitch
  range goes from 0 degrees at zero throttle to about 8 degrees
  at full throttle.

  For normal (non-inverted) flight, adjust the blade pitch so
  the pitch range goes from -3 degrees at zero throttle to
  10 degrees at full throttle.

6. Put the pitch gauge on the other blade and adjust
  its blade pitch too.

7. Set the throttle hold and idle-up pitch curves to match
  your normal mode pitch curves. This will prevent the
  heli from hopping when switching between normal, idle-up
  and throttle hold modes.

Note: If you have the Futaba 9C, it defaults to putting a
   weird bump in the middle of the pitch curve.
   This bump can be removed disabling the Hovering Pitch
   option.

o. Blade tracking - CP helicopters

If the pitch of the blades is not the same, then one blade
will generate more lift than the other when hovering.
This will cause vibration and steals power.

1. Temporarily put a piece of bright colored tape on one of
  the rotor blades. This will cause the blades to be
  unbalanced but don't worry about this for now. Just
  remember to remove the tape after tracking the blades.
  You need this tape to determine which blade is higher
  or lower when checking the tracking.

1. Get a 6 foot length of 1" x 4" board.

2. Take the heli outside where the blades won't hit anything,
  and slide the board through the landing gear on top of the
  landing skids then either stake down the board or put
  cinderblocks on it. The board will hold down the heli in
  case Something Really Bad Happens.

3. Perform a preflight inspection and check everything.

4. Turn on the transmitter.

5. Connect the heli battery.

6. Arm the helicopter and slowly increase the throttle
  to about 1/4.

7. Walk a safe distance away, then get on your stomach, and
  apply throttle and look at the rotor blades from exactly the
  side. If both rotor blades are spinning exactly in the same
  plane and look like this: -- then no adjustments are needed.
  If both rotor blades are not tracking in the same plane and
  look like this: >< then the blades are not tracking properly
  and require adjustment.

  An alternative way to check the tracking is to place a
  mirror on your feet, then tilt the mirror so you can see
  the blades while standing up. This is considerably safer
  since your face will not be hit if the heli decides
  to throw a blade.

8. Shut off the throttle and wait for the rotor blades
  to spin down.

9. Disconnect the heli battery.

10. If the blades did not track evenly, then increase the pitch
  of the low blade and/or increase the pitch of the high
  blade.

11. Go back to step 4 if necessary.

p. Blade tracking - FP helicopters

The Corona does not need blade tracking adjustments if you used
two 4 degree blade grips. The head mechanics are very stiff and
fairly precise which simplifies setup considerably. If you used
one 4 degree and one 6 degree blade grip, you should follow the
manual directions to set blade tracking.

The Piccolo FP has a soft rotor head and therefore the tracking
is frequently off. This is especially bad because bad tracking
steals a lot of power in micro helicopters.

To check the blade tracking on a Piccolo, temporarily put a
piece of bright colored tape on the leading edge of one of the
rotor blades. This will cause the blades to be unbalanced but
don't worry about this for now. Just remember to remove the
tape after tracking the blades. You need this tape to determine
which blade is higher or lower when checking the tracking.

Apply throttle and look at the rotor blades from exactly the
side. If both rotor blades are spinning exactly in the same
plane and look like this: -- then no adjustments are needed.
If both rotor blades are not tracking in the same plane and look
like this: >< then the blades are not tracking properly and
require adjustment.

The tracking of the stock Piccolo FP blades can be adjusted
by holding the blade firmly at the root and twisting the blade
at the widest point. Be sure not to twist the rotor head
(67370). You should increase the pitch on the low blade and
decrease the pitch on the high blade until the two blades
track evenly.

 
13. R/C heli rules/tips - read before hovering

a. Always turn on the transmitter and wait for it to transmit before
  connecting the heli battery. If you connect the heli battery
  without the transmitter on, it may go to full throttle which
  may maim or kill you and/or nearby people.

b. Always turn off the heli before turning off the transmitter.
  If you turn off the transmitter first, the heli may go to
  full throttle which may maim or kill you and/or nearby people.

c. THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES ARE TRAVELING AT HIGH VELOCITY AND CAN
  KILL OR MAIN YOU. BE VERY CAREFUL.

  When I first stared flying helicopters, I read every single
  web page I could find on the Internet regarding helicopters.

  One web page mentioned a story where a guy was flying his
  helicopter in a park, and a little dog started chasing his
  helicopter around. The heli pilot asked the dog owner to retrieve
  his dog, but the dog owner thought it was cute and wouldn't do it.

  When the heli landed, the dog ran to the helicopter and lunged
  at it. The main rotor blades were still spinning at full speed
  and neatly chopped off the top of the dog's skull.

  Also, there are stories about R/C helicopter rotor blades
  chopping off people's fingers.

  Don't believe it? Let's do the math.

  An ECO 8 has a rotor diameter of 41.7 inches. This means the
  rotor tips travel 41.7 * 3.14 or 130.9 inches in one revolution.
  The rotor is spinning at about 1600 rpm. This means the rotor
  tips travel 130.9 * 1600 or 209,440 inches in a minute.
  In one hour the rotor tips will travel 60 * 209,440 or
  12,566,400 inches.

  12,566,400 inches/hr = 1,047,200 feet/hr = 198.3 mph!!!

  So, when an ECO 8 rotor blade is spinning at 1600 rpm, the
  blade tips are traveling at 198 mph. That's why helicopter
  rotor blades can slice off fingers and the top of skulls.

  RESPECT THE SPINNING ROTOR BLADES.

d. ALWAYS DISCONNECT THE BATTERY WHEN POSSIBLE IF WORKING ON
  THE HELICOPTER. IF YOU MUST WORK ON A LIVE HELI, THEN
  DISCONNECT AT LEAST ONE OF THE MOTOR LEADS SO THE MAIN
  ROTOR/TAIL ROTOR WILL NOT SPIN UP AND MAIM YOU.

  If the main rotor or tail rotor spins up and maims or kills
  you, this will probably slow down your helicopter learning
  process, so please try to avoid this.

e. A membership in your country's local R/C/ modeling club is
  highly recommended because it provides insurance coverage
  in case you damage something. This is very useful if your heli
  damages somebody's car, or injures someone.

  In the USA a membership in the Academy of Model Aeronautics
  (AMA) provides insurance coverage.

  In the UK the British Model Flying Association (BMFA)
  provides this service.

 
14. Learning how to fly - the steps

The classical steps in learning to fly a heli are:

1. Tail-in hovering
2. Side-in hovering
3. Forward flight
4. Figure eights

These steps work well if you are already flying R/C planes.

 
15. Tail-in hovering

The first helicopter orientation to learn is "tail-in" hovering.
This is called tail-in because the tail of the helicopter will be
the closest to you.

a. Preparation

1. The most common helicopter "minor crash" is a boom strike.
  This occurs the helicopter lands too hard and the main rotor
  blade strikes the tail boom. It is advisable to have at
  least one extra tail boom on hand to avoiding waiting
  for parts.

2. You should have some practice time on a flight simulator.
  This will really reduce the number of crashes and save you
  A LOT of money.

3. You should have a training gear on your heli. The training
  gear prevents the heli from tipping over and damaging
  itself, and additionally makes the heli more stable by
  slowing the cyclic response.

  For a 1000-2000 gram heli, the best and cheapest training
  gear can be made from a small hula-hoop and some 1/4 inch
  dowels. Do not use a dowel thicker than 1/4 inch, because
  the 1/4 inch dowels will break in a hard landing and absorb
  some of the impact.

a. Put the dowel across the diameter of the hula-hoop,
  and cut the dowel so it's about 1 inch longer than
  the diameter.

b. Cut another dowel the same length.

c. Use two tie-wraps to lash the two dowels together
  in an X pattern.

d. Use tie wraps to attach the X to the hula-hoop.

e. Use tie-wraps or rubber bands to attach the X to the
  landing gear of your helicopter.

f. Make sure the hula-hoop is on the bottom, so it will
  slide along the floor on the hula-hoop.

4. The CG may shift when you attach the training gear, so be
  sure to readjust the battery pack to move the forward/aft
  CG back to the main rotor shaft.

b. Tail-in hovering - Phase 1

1. The objective for Phase 1 is to slide the helicopter around
  on the ground to start building the hovering reflexes.
  We do not want to lift off yet.

  You will be learning the "tail-in" orientation, which is
  the tail of the helicopter pointed towards you and the nose
  away from you.

  Be sure to focus on the nose of the helicopter, and not
  the tail. If you focus on the tail, this is very bad.
  You may want to stand slightly left or slightly right
  of the helicopter so you can see the nose.

2. For a non-micro helicopter, find an empty flat space that
  is fairly level and is fairly clean (no rocks or debris for
  the training gear to hit). You will need at least a 20 ft
  by 20 ft area for this, although bigger is better.

  An empty parking lot works well for this. Make sure there
  are no cars nearby to ensure you won't hit them.

  For a microheli, you probably want to find a hard level
  indoor surface, possibly an empty garage or the kitchen.
  A 10 ft by 10 ft surface is probably necessary.

3. Make sure wind conditions are ideal.

  If you are using a heading hold gyro, then you want as
  little wind as possible. The best times for this are
  probably the first three hours of daylight or the last
  hour of daylight before dusk.

  If you are using a non-heading hold gyro, then you want
  a little bit of steady breeze (not gusty) to help hold
  the helicopter tail steady because the helicopter will
  tend to turn when moving around. You will also want a
  little bit of forward trim to compensate.

  With either gyro type, make sure you point the heli nose
  into the wind so the tail fin will help keep the heli
  straight.

4. Place the helicopter and training gear on the ground, with
  the nose of the helicopter pointed away from you.

5. Preflight check the helicopter. Make sure all ball links
  are properly on the balls.

6. Turn on the radio. Make sure the transmitter is in
  heading hold mode if using a gyro with remote mode
  select, such as the GY401.

7. Make sure the throttle hold is enabled on the transmitter
  and the throttle stick is fully down and the rudder is
  centered. Connect the helicopter battery and wait for
  the gyro to initialize.

  The GY401 LED (light) should blink rapidly for about
  two seconds, then switch to fully lit. If the LED
  switches to a slow blink instead, then this is yaw
  rate mode and your transmitter is not configured
  correctly.

  If the GY401 is powered-up in non-heading-hold mode, then
  you will not be able to switch back and forth between
  gyro modes. So, be very careful to power up the helicopter
  while the transmitter is set to heading hold mode.

 8. Perform a radio range check and ensure all cyclic
  servos move properly.

9. Make sure the throttle stick is completely down, then turn
  off the throttle hold and arm the ESC (if necessary).
  VERY, VERY SLOWLY apply enough power for the helicopter to
  become light on the skids. *** DO NOT LIFT OFF *** If you
  accidentally lift off at this point, you will probably panic
  and crash. So try not to lift off.

10. When you push the rudder stick left, the heli should rotate
  counterclockwise. When you push the rudder stick right, it
  should rotate clockwise. If these directions are reversed,
  then you should fix the problem before continuing.

  The rudder stick should control the NOSE of the helicopter
  and not the tail.

  Some heading hold gyros will have a tendency to "drift"
  away from the direction they're supposed to hold. This
  has been reported with the CSM HLG200 gyro. If this occurs,
  then use the trim on the rudder to remove any drift.

11. The heli will start to wander around on its own. Use the
  cyclic control to keep the helicopter within a 10 foot
  circle.

12. The helicopter may have a constant tendency to move in
  one direction, and you may need to apply some trim to
  counteract this.

  Note that it will be impossible to perfectly trim the
  helicopter at this stage since you are hovering in ground
  effect.

13. Always keep the tail of the helicopter pointed towards you.
  If you are using a heading hold gyro, this should occur
  automatically. If you are using a yaw rate gyro, you will
  need to use the rudder to maintain the tail position
  because the tail will tend to weathervane with the heli
  movement.

14. Always fly the nose of the helicopter. This is very
  important. Do not fly the tail. Always fly the nose
  of the helicopter. When you give left rudder, the nose
  should turn left, so always look at the nose.

15. For a non-Piccolo, use a very delicate touch on the
  controls. The heli should be very responsive and respond
  to very little pressure on the joystick. Use very light
  stick pressure and avoid large stick movements.

  The stock Piccolo requires a different technique. You will
  need very quick half-stick movements with the joystick
  to make corrections due to the slop in the swashplate.

16. If the helicopter starts to wander too far, reduce the
  throttle to let the helicopter settle and stop moving.
  Don't "chop" the throttle - reduce the throttle smoothly.
  Later on when you are actually hovering, chopping the
  throttle will cause the helicopter to crash. So, it's good
  to not acquire this habit in the first place.

17. Focus your attention on the helicopter. Try to tune out
  any distractions, and don't hold a conversation while
  learning to hover. Think only of the helicopter and
  its tilt and direction of movement.

18. It may help to watch the disk of the main rotor blades
  because it will tell you if the helicopter is level.

19. When your nerves become frazzled, take a break.
  Don't push yourself too hard, because you may lose
  concentration and crash the helicopter.

20. When your batteries become weak, switch packs. Be sure
  to wait a little while between flights to allow the
  motor to cool down. For maximum battery life, let the
  battery cool a little (about 5 mins) before recharging.

21. For a non-micro helicopter, when you can hold the heli
  in a 10 foot circle, you are ready for the next phase.

  For a microheli, you should be able to hold the heli in
  a 3 foot circle.

c. Tail-in hovering - Phase 2

1. The objective for Phase 2 is to hover at 3-4 inches of
  altitude (2-3 inches for a micro). Do not go any higher.

2. Go back to the hovering area, preflight the helicopter,
  and perform range check/servo movement checks.

3. If you are using a heading hold gyro, then make sure there
  is no wind or as little wind as possible.

  If you have a non-heading hold gyro, you will need a slight
  wind to help keep the tail steady. If you try to hover a
  non-HH helicopter without wind, this will be very difficult
  because the helicopter will "weathervane" into the direction
  it's moving. This is very bad because you will need to
  try to keep the tail steady while simultaneously hovering
  the helicopter.

  When hovering with wind, practice hovering with the
  nose of the helicopter facing INTO the wind. When the
  heli is facing into the wind, the vertical tail fin will
  help keep the heli from turning (yawing).

3. Wait for the gyro to initialize, then arm the ESC.
 
4. SLOWLY apply enough throttle to lift the helicopter to the
  desired altitude.

5. When the helicopter tilts, you will hear a scraping sound,
  because the edge of the hula-hoop (or a ping-pong ball) will
  drag along the asphalt (or carpet). Pay attention to this
  sound, because it indicates your helicopter is tilted.

6. Watch the disk of the main rotor blades as they spin.
  Try to keep the circle level, because when the circle is
    level, your heli is level.

7. When the helicopter moves left, you should push the joystick
  right to halt the movement, then when the helicopter has
  stopped moving you need to nudge the joystick left to
  level the helicopter. Same for the other three directions.

  So, to stop a heli from moving in direction x requires two
  small stick movements. This requires a while to learn
  properly.

8. The helicopter may have a constant tendency to move in
  one direction, and you may need to apply some trim to
  counteract this.

  Note that it will still be impossible to perfectly trim the
  helicopter at this stage since you are hovering in ground
  effect.

9. Try to avoid "overcontrolling" the helicopter. You want
  to use small, delicate stick movements to gracefully
  correct the movement. It takes a while to develop this
  delicate, smooth touch. Be patient with yourself.

10. Try to keep the helicopter within a 10 foot circle, and try
  to keep it level.

11. At some point, you will start to hover longer and longer
  periods without an edge of the training gear touching the
  pavement. This may require 5-10 battery charges or more.

12. Congrats. You're tail-in hovering. :)

13. When you can hold the heli within about a 5 ft circle,
  you should practice hovering with the heli slightly to
  the left of you or slightly to the right of you
  (in about the 10 o'clock position and 2 o'clock position)
  to prepare for the next section.

14. When you can hover an entire pack with tail-in hovering,
  you should practice hovering at about 1 foot of altitude.
  When you can hover at 1 foot very comfortably, you should
  move to the next section.


 
16. Side-in and nose-in hovering orientations

The next step after tail-in hovering is side-in hovering. There are
two orientations for side-in hovering: left-in and right-in hovering
where the left side and the right side of the helicopter are facing
you, respectively.

You should make sure your tail-in hovering is fairly solid before
attempting side-in hovering. You will turn the heli back to the
tail-in orientation if you start to lose control, so make sure your
tail-in hovering is very solid before attempting this.

Tail-in hovering is easiest if the learning process is divided into
two steps:

a. Translating into side-in
b. Turning into side-in

Translating into side-in is easier than turning into side-in, and
should be practiced first.

To translate into a left side-in hover:

Assuming you are facing north, set the heli down about 15 ft in front
of you and lift into a tail-in hover. Now move the heli east about
15 ft. This is a 45 degree side-in hover.

Once you are comfortable with this hovering position, you should move
the heli south about 15 ft so the heli is 15 ft east of you.
Turn to face the heli.

Once you are comfortable with this, you should practice turning into
a side-in hover.

To turn into a left side-in hover:

Lift off into a tail-in hover, then use the rudder to turn the heli
to a left side-in orientation. You should turn very slowly to avoid
losing orientation, and increase the turn rate as your proficiency
improves.

Once you can hover both left-in and right-in hovering, you should
increase practice more on the weaker orientation to strengthen it.
This is very important to avoid developing "handedness" in orientation.

After left-in and right-in hovering, you might choose to learn nose-in
hovering. Some people say this is "very difficult" but really it's just
another orientation to learn. If you've learned three orientations,
you might as well learn the fourth before you go on to the next part.

It's probably okay to remove the training gear after you are fairly
comfortable with side-in hovering or nose-in hovering. The removal
of the training gear will change the flight characteristics of the
helicopter and make it more sensitive to stick input, so this will
require some mental adjustment. After you have removed the training
gear, you should hover at about 3ft to eye level.

I would recommend spending at least two months learning each hovering
orientation to ensure you are very comfortable with each orientation.
When you can hover entire packs with each orientation and feel
reasonably in control of the heli, you are probably ready to progress
to the next stage.


 
17. Additional orientation exercises

"...what flyers need most is solid fundamentals."
- Jason Krause interview, Model Helicopter Technique #36

The foundation of your helicopter flying skills is good orientation.
If you do not have good orientation skills, it will seriously hinder
your ability to learn forward flight and advanced skills.

Here are some exercises to practice which will help you close the
"orientation gaps" you may have. You may want to practice these in a
simulator first to become comfortable with them.

1. 90 degree yaw

  While hovering, turn 90 degrees. Turn from either side-in to nose or
  tail in, and back. Try to keep the helicopter stationary while
  turning.

2. 180 degree yaw

  While hovering, turn 180 degrees. Start with one side-in orientation
  and switch to the other side-in orientation. Also, practice
  switching from tail-in to nose-in and back, and tail-in to nose-in
  and back. Try to keep the helicopter stationary while turning.

3. 45 degree nose-in orientations

  The straight nose-in orientation easy, but the angled nose-in
  orientations with the nose pointing 45 degrees left and right are
  more difficult, so this is good to practice.

4. Single pirouette

  While hovering tail-in/side-in/nose-in, execute a full 360 degree
  yaw, and resume hovering. Be sure to practice both clockwise and
  counterclockwise pirouettes to avoid developing "handedness".

5. Multiple slow pirouettes

  These pirouettes should take about 16 seconds to complete a full
  360 degree rotation. Try to keep the helicopter stationary while
  performing the pirouettes. Be sure to practice both clockwise and
  counterclockwise pirouettes to avoid developing "handedness".

 

18. Transmitter idle-up setup for fast forward flight

For a CP helicopter, you will want to program the idle-up mode on your
transmitter before attempting forward flight.

The idle-up mode allows you to keep a constant headspeed regardless
of the throttle position. This allows you to decrease and increase
the main rotor blade pitch without losing headspeed. This makes the
helicopter more responsive to altitude changes because the motor
will not change speed when the throttle stick is moved.

To set the idle-up, first look at your normal throttle curve, and note
the maximum throttle. For example, if your normal throttle curve is
0-50-85-85-85, then your max throttle is 85.

Next, switch to the throttle programming menu for the idle-up mode.
Set the throttle as a straight line across for the maximum value
in your normal throttle curve; in this case it would be 85-85-85-85-85.

Now, when you spool up your helicopter, you will do it in the normal
throttle position until you reach full speed. When the full speed
is reached, you will flip over to the idle-up mode to start flying.

When you land (or crash) and need to turn off the motor, use the
throttle hold switch. This will take a little bit of practice.

 
19. Entering/exiting fast forward flight

Forward flight is a little tricky on helicopters. It requires
simultaneous coordination of both the throttle and cyclic to enter
and exit forward flight smoothly.

To enter forward flight, it is necessary to tilt the heli forward
(use forward cyclic) and simultaneously apply a little throttle.
If you tilt the heli forward without applying throttle, the helicopter
will slide nose-first into the ground. This is because the thrust from
the heli is being vectored at an angle relative to the ground, and you
lose some vertical lift because it's being converted to horizontal
thrust.

Once the helicopter starts moving, you will need to tilt the heli
back a little and simultaneously reduce throttle below hover.
You will need to reduce the throttle because translational lift will
occur and you will now get extra lift.

Exiting forward flight into a hover is the reverse process. You will
need to tilt the heli back (use back cyclic) to reduce forward motion,
and simultaneously reduce throttle to prevent the heli from climbing up.
After the forward motion has been reduced, you will need to level the
helicopter (use forward cyclic) and add throttle to transition to
a stable hover.

One way to practice forward flight is to pick two points a comfortable
distance apart (maybe five feet for a micro, ten or fifteen feet for
a nonmicro) then practice flying back and forth between those two
points (stop into a hover at each point and turn 180 degrees).

 
20. Banked forward turns

Banked turns are also a little tricky, and requires simultaneous
coordination of the throttle and cyclic as well.

The first phase of a banked turn is to apply left or right
cyclic in the direction of the turn until the desired bank angle
is reached.

The second phase of a banked turn is to simultaneously apply
back cyclic and rudder in the direction of the turn.

The third phase is to straighten out after the turn. This requires
using forward cyclic to maintain forward motion and centering the
rudder stick.

 
21. Figure eights

This is a combination of the forward flight and banked turn skills.

This is a bit tricky on the Corona because it does not turn well when
the main rotor is throttled down, because the tail rotor is also
throttled down. If you try to do turns when the tail is throttled down,
it will turn very slowly then snap into position when the helicopter
enters forward flight.

To do proper figure eights on the Corona, you will need to throttle up
slightly when entering turns to ensure the tail has enough authority
to turn the Corona, and throttle down slightly when exiting the turn
and entering the forward flight section.

Practice easy figure eights first where the heli turns tail-in at
both ends of the figure eight. Once you are comfortable with these,
try the hard figure eights where the heli turns nose-in towards you.
BE SURE to attempt the nose-in turns at a reasonable distance from
yourself to avoid hitting yourself with the helicopter!

For added complexity, try doing a pirouette or two in the middle of
the forward flight section of the figure-eight.

 
22. Backwards flight

"I always lead with the tail. As I watch the heli I'm keying off the
 tail, as far as I know, and I steer along with the tail."
 - Todd Bennett, Model Helicopter Technique #35

Backwards flight is tricky because it requires unlearning some of
the reflexes learned for forward flight. You will need to fly backwards
by concentrating on the tail of the helicopter (not the nose!), and
the controls to slow down and speed up are reversed.

You will need to be very careful about letting the tail tilt too
low, because it will hit the ground and flip the helicopter over.

If you don't have a good heading hold gyro by this point, I highly
recommend you buy one now. Backwards flight is much more difficult
without heading hold because the tail will have a strong tendency
to weathervane suddenly and flip around, which can cause you to
lose orientation and crash.

You may want to perform the "fly between two points" exercise
mentioned in the forward flight section in a backwards orientation
to become comfortable with backwards flight.

 
23. Banked backwards turns

Banked backwards turns are tricky because the cyclic does not follow
the rudder...it is the opposite of the rudder. This requires a bit
of explanation.

For forwards flight, a left turn consists of left rudder with LEFT
cyclic, because the left side of the helicopter faces the inside
of the loop.

For backwards flight, a left turn consists of left rudder with
RIGHT cyclic, because the right side of the helicopter faces the
inside of the loop.

There are two turns in two orientations, which results in
four backward turns:

1. Right turn where heli is tail-in relative to you
  (e.g. heli is traveling from your left to your right,
  then makes a right turn towards you)

2. Left turn where heli is tail-in relative to you
  (e.g. heli is traveling from your right to your left,
  then makes a left turn towards you)

3. Right turn where heli is nose-in relative to you
  (e.g. heli is traveling from your right to your left,
  then makes a right turn away from you)

4. Left turn where heli is nose-in relative to you
  (e.g. heli is traveling from your left to your right,
  then makes a left turn away from you)

The potential for crashing is pretty high, so I highly recommend
practicing these in a simulator before trying them on your heli.
I recommend learning the tail-in turns before the nose-in turns
because the tail-in turns are easier.

When performing backwards turns, there are three things you
need to watch simultaneously:

1. The bank of the helicopter. If the helicopter banks too much
  then it will lose lift and slide into the ground.

2. The angle of the tail. If the tail sinks too low then your
  heli will dive into the ground.

3. The yaw rate. If you yaw too much, you will wind up merely
  performing pirouettes, and if you yaw too little the turn
  will look sloppy.

 
24. Backwards exercises

A "remote circle" in this section means flying in a circle
not around yourself, but at some distance away.

1. Backwards remote half circles

  Fly in a circle, but fly only half of it backwards.
  So, you will need to perform two 180 degree pirouettes during
  the circle to change orientation.

  This is easier than a backwards full circle because you can
  learn the tail-in backwards turn first, which is easier.

  For a clockwise circle, do the right half of it with a backwards
  orientation. For a counterclockwise circle, do the left half
  with a backwards orientation.

2. Backwards remote full circles

  Fly in a full circle backwards. Try to keep the helicopter moving
  smoothly at a constant speed. Be sure to practice both clockwise and
  counterclockwise circles.

3. Backwards tail-in figure-eight

  Fly in a figure-eight backwards where the heli turns nose-in
  to you during the turn.

4. Backwards nose-in figure-eight

  Fly in a figure-eight backwards where the heli turns nose-in
  to you during the turn.

 
25. Maintenance and Crash Repair

1. Brushed motors w/carbon brushes

  After every ten flights or so, the carbon dust should be blown
  out of the motor with compressed air and the commutator checked
  to see if it is clean. If the motor is assembled with screws
  and the commutator is dirty, disassemble the motor and burnish
  the commutator with some extra fine steel wool or 1000-1200 grit
  sandpaper.

2. Main rotor shaft bearings

  Some helicopters (ECO, etc) have open-faced bearings. These
  bearings are not sealed, and because the ball-bearings are
  exposed, they can become contaminated with dirt and grit.

  If you notice the main rotor shaft bearings grinding or not
  rotating smoothly, then they should be removed and cleaned in
  some good solvent or cleaned with compressed air. If they still
  sound or feel funny, they should be replaced.

3. Tail rotor shaft bearings

  The tail rotor shaft bearings may incur damage if the tail
  blades touch the ground, especially on the ECO 8/16. They should
  also be checked periodically and cleaned or replaced if
  necessary.

4. Tail belt tension

  Tail belts tend to loosen over time especially if the tail boom
  mount is loose. They should be checked and retensioned
  periodically.

5. O-rings

  O-rings will last longer if they are unhooked from the battery
  mounts when not in use. If they are left under tension continously,
  they will develop cracks over time. The O-rings should be checked
  periodically and replaced if necessary.

6. Main rotor blades

  If the main rotor blades appear damaged do NOT fly with them.
  They can explode in flight which is very dangerous.
  You should replace any blades which appear damaged.

Corona specific maintenance:

a. If you have a boom strike, the tail boom can be straightened by
  pushing a 3/8" dowel inside the tail boom.

b. If you let the Corona come down too fast it may "bounce" off the
  ground and break a main gear tooth and/or trash a bearing. So,
  the main gear should be checked periodically for missing teeth
  and the main rotor shaft bearings should be checked for smoothness.

c. Be sure to check HS-81s for broken gear teeth after each hard crash.
  They may rotate properly through the whole rotation, but they may
  have a broken tooth somewhere.

  I consider the HS-81 gears a "sacrificial" part...they break to
  prevent other things from being broken, and at $3-$5 a set they are
  fairly cheap.

Piccolo specific maintenance:

a. There isn't much maintenance required on a Piccolo. The stock brushed
  motor (the 280 or 310) should last 300 flights or more without
  maintenance if properly broken-in.

b. If the antirotation pin breaks off the swashplate but the stub
  is left, then it can be fixed with a small nylon tiewrap. Cut the
  tip from the tie-wrap and lash it the remnants of the antirotation
  pin by using several loops of cotton thread. After tying, put a
  drop of thin CA on the thread to harden it.

ECO 8/16 specific maintenance:

a. The one-way bearing in both plastic and aluminum autorotation hubs
  has been known to become loose. Usually when this happens, the
  one-way bearing can be pushed out of the hub with firm finger
  pressure.

  This can be easily fixed by roughing up the bearing and autorotation
  hub mating surfaces with 200 grit sandpaper and using thick CA to
  reassemble the unit.

b. The tail blade grips (67542) should be checked periodically to make
  sure they are not too loose. If they are, be sure to unscrew them
  from the tail rotor hub and apply fresh loctite to the screw before
  reassembling.

c. The main rotor shaft bolt (67599) is rather soft and can become bent
  in a hard crash. Be sure to check this bolt if the main rotor
  blades have hit anything. If the bolt is bent, be sure to replace it
  and do not fly with it.

d. The battery holder O-rings (67587) will need to be replaced about
  once a year because they will start to crack. These can be replaced
  with the stock Ikarus parts or you may be able to find the O-rings
  (30mm ID x 3mm thick) cheaper elsewhere.

 
26. Troubleshooting common problems

1. Motor ESC will not arm, or motor continues to run at zero throttle

a. If you are using a Futaba transmitter, you will need to
  reverse the throttle channel on the transmitter.

b. You may need to decrease the "zero throttle" endpoint
  to arm the ESC properly. This is a common problem with the
  Castle Creations ESCs, but also happens occasionally with
  the Schulze ESCs as well.

2. Short flight times and/or not enough power

a. For brushed motors: the commmutator may be dirty.
  See section on maintenance.

b. Pinion meshing may be too tight. The pinion should not be
  firmly fitted against the main gear. The motor pinion should
  be able to wiggle just a tiny bit without turning the main
  gear.

c. Motor pinion may be slipping on motor shaft.

  If your motor pinion uses a setscrew, then your motor should
  have a flat spot on the motor shaft so the setscrew will
  not slip on the motor shaft.

  If the motor shaft has no flat spot for the setscrew
  to bite, then you should make one with a Dremel and a
  diamond cylinder point bit (#7123).

  For the Piccolo using the stock motor (G280 or G310)
  and the plastic motor pinions, it may be necessary to glue
  the plastic pinion onto the motor shaft to prevent it
  from slipping.

d. Woodies may be trashed

  Most larger wooden blades are made of a hardwood leading
  edge and a balsa trailing edge all shrinkwrapped together.
  On hard crashes, the balsa part can be severely damaged
  but the blade looks fine due to the shrinkwrap holding
  the blade together.

  If you look closely you may be able to see the breaks
  in the balsa. If you can see this, then the blade should
  be replaced.

3. Heli has excessive vibrations

If you follow these directions step-by-step, you should
be able to solve most vibration problems.

The basic methodology is to keep removing parts off the
helicopter until the vibration stops, and when the
vibration stops the last piece you removed was causing
the vibration problem.

a. Check the obvious

  Check if main gear mesh is too tight.
  Check if the main gear is missing teeth.
  Check if the tail belt is too loose or too tight.

b. Check main blade tracking.

  Put a piece of marking tape on one blade and run up the
  motor. Check if the blades are tracking properly. If the
  blades do not track properly, then see the section on
  blade tracking.

c. Check if the blade grip bolts are too tight

  Hold the helicopter so the right side or left side is
  facing down, and see if the main rotor blades will
  stay horizontal to the ground. If they just barely stay
  horizontal then this is just right.

d. Check main rotor blade CG and balance

  Balance the main blades on a blade balancer and ensure
  the CGs match and the blades balance. If the CG does not
  match or the blades do not balance, then see the section
  on blade balancing.

e. Check if the feathering shaft is bent

  Disasemble the main rotor hub and remove the feathering
  shaft. Roll the feathering shaft on a sheet of glass to
  check if the shaft is bent.

  The Corona doesn't have a feathering shaft, and instead
  has an aluminum rod which holds the subrotor on the rotor
  hub. This rod is very thin and has a tendency to bend
  after a few crashes. You will notice this because the
  subrotor paddles will "droop down" and will not be
  parallel to each other.

  This problem can be easily fixed by carefully bending
  the subrotor paddles up to straighten the aluminum rod or
  bye replacing the aluminum rod.

f. Check if the rotor head is balanced

  Reinstall the head and swashplate assembly but remove
  the main rotor blades. Connect the battery and slowly apply
  throttle. If the heli is vibrating then you should check if
  the flybar is straight and centered and balance the main
  rotor head using a Tru-spin prop balancer or equivalent.

g. Check if the main shaft is bent

  Remove the main rotor head, swashplate and all the related
  linkages. Run up the motor without the head and hold
  a screwdriver against the top of the shaft as the shaft
  turns. If you feel vibration while holding the screwdriver
  against the turning shaft, then the shaft is bent.
 
  Alternatively remove the head and swashplate assembly and
  remove the main shaft. Roll the main shaft on a sheet of
  glass and check if the main rotor shaft is bent.

h. Check the main rotor bearings

  Remove the main shaft bearings from the helicopter.
  Put the main shaft through each bearing and spin it by hand.
  If the bearing does not rotate smoothly or feels gritty,
  then replace it.

i. Check tail rotor blade balance

  Reinstall the main rotor shaft and main gear, but do
  not reinstall the head and swashplate assembly.
  Remove the tail rotor blades and run up the helicopter.
  If the vibrations are gone, then the tail blades need to
  be balanced or replaced.

j. Check the tail rotor bearings

  Remove the tail shaft bearings from the helicopter.
  Put the tail shaft through each bearing and spin it by hand.
  If the bearing does not rotate smoothly or feels gritty,
  then replace it.

k. Tail rotor hub balancing

  If the vibrations remain, then the tail rotor shaft and
  hub need to be balanced. Put the entire assembly on a
  Tru-spin prop balancer or equivalent for balancing.

4. Heli "glitches" randomly due to radio interference

a. If using a brushed motor, move the receiver and gyro
  farther away from the brushed motor and servos

b. If using a brushless motor, move the receiver and gyro
  further away from the brushed motor controller

c. Check all bearings on rotating parts. Bad bearings rotating
  at high speed can cause radio frequency interference.

5. Heli hovers slightly tilted to the right (or left)

a. This is normal. The helicopter will tilt slightly due to the
  thrust of the tail rotor.

6. Heli wobbles and is very unstable

a. Your headspeed may be too low and you may be compensating
  for this by using more main motor pitch which makes the
  heli motor bog down and the heli unstable.

b. Your rotor head may not be firmly attached to the main rotor
  shaft. This usually occurs when the hole in the rotor head
  is reamed out after multiple hard crashes. If the rotor head
  is not fitting snugly on the main rotor shaft, it should be
  replaced. This problem is seen on MS Hornets. because the
  E044 pivot support is fragile.

7. The blade tracking is fine at low speeds, but the blade tracking
  becomes worse at high head speeds.

a. On a CP Piccolo, this is usually caused by a broken pitch
  arm base (68211). Visually inspect the two thin "legs" which
  are between the arms and the tube. One of the legs may have
  broken.

b. The feathering shaft may be bent. Disassemble the head
  and put the feathering shaft in a drill and spin it
  to check if the shaft is bent.

8. Tail jerks around when spooling up with HH gyro

a. The gyro may be too close to the ESC. On a non-micro heli,
  the gyro should be at least four inches away from the ESC.

b. Tail belt may be twisted around. Removing the tail rotor
  assembly from the tail boom and make sure the tail drive
  belt isn't twisted.

9. Cyclic servos wiggle around without joystick input when motor
  is running at or near hovering throttle.

a. This could be radio interference. Make sure your motor
  leads are short and routed away from the receiver.

b. With a brushed motor, the motor brushes may be worn or
  the commutator may be dirty which causes radio interference.
  Check your brushes and make sure they are in good condition
  and check the condition of the commutator.

10. Tail wags (hunts) constantly with HH gyro

a. The gyro sensitivity may be set too high. Try lowering the
  gyro sensitivity (channel 5) until the wagging stops
.
  A Logo 20 sized helicopter usually requires about 50%
  in AVCS mode (75% in ATV mode) for good performance.

  An ECO 8 usually requires the sensitivity to be about 30%
  in AVCS mode (which is 65% in ATV mode) to stop hunting.

  Smaller helis will require even lower sensitivity.

b. The main gear or other gear may be missing a tooth.
  Visually inspect the teeth of all gears and verify they
  are all intact.

c. Tail belt may be loose. The belt should be firm but not too
  tight.

d. Excessive play in the tail pitch control system can cause
  tail wag. Make sure there are no loose screws/ball links/
  clevises in the tail pitch control system.
  (A little play is normal, but not too much)

e. The tail rotor shaft may be dirty and the pitch slider may
  not be sliding smoothly on the shaft.

  This is fairly easy to fix. Remove the tail rotor shaft
  and throughly remove all gunk using some tissue paper.
  A cotton swab stick is just under 2mm in diameter, so cut
  a cotton swab in half and use the two stick sides to clean
  the inside of the tail pitch slider.

  Do NOT apply any oil to the tail pitch slider because it
  will become dirty extremely quickly. If lubrication is
  needed then use powdered graphite instead.

e. The tail blade grip bearings may be dirty and/or damaged,
  or loctited to screw.

f. The tail blade grip screw may be bent.

g. Make sure the servo is mounted securely to the frame
  or tail boom mount. Check for loose or stripped screws.

h. Make sure there are not rubber servo grommets used for
  the tail servo mounting. This can cause wag.

i. Try replacing the tail servo. The potentiometer on some
  servos will wear quickly with constant movement, and this
  can cause wag.

j. Check if the gyro is mounted securely to the frame. If the
  gyro is not mounted firmly with servo tape, then it can
  wobble back and forth which can cause wag.

11. Tail swings 30-90 degrees abruptly then rights itself with HH gyro
  while hovering.

a. This could be caused by radio glitches. Make sure your
  motor leads are short and routed away from the receiver.

b. The radio receiver crystal may have been damaged in
  a previous crash. Try replacing the crystal or entire
  receiver.

c. The one-way bearing in the autorotation hub may be loose.

12. Tail servo responds properly when tail swings one direction but
  tail servo fails to respond in other direction.

a. The gyro may be damaged.

13. Heli twitches randomly in roll/pitch/yaw

a. This can be caused by radio interference.

  This can be diagnosed by temporarily wrapping the radio
  or gyro in aluminum foil to see if the glitching stops.
  if the glitching stops, then this component is probably
  too close to the motor and/or ESC and should be moved
  to a different location.

14. Excessive tail vibration

a. On a Corona, the gear on the hollow TR shaft (56633) can
  become chipped, and it's very hard to notice because the
  gear is inside the tail case.

  Try cleaning the old lithium grease out of the tail case
  with a Q-tip and check for orange pieces of plastic in the
  old grease. If you do find these plastic bits, then the
  TR shaft (56633) should be replaced.

 
27. Useful equations

This is a section with various bits of math which are useful for
calculating various parameters of helicopters.

a. Calculating headspeed

  This is fairly easy to do. It's basically the motor speed multiplied
  by the gear ratio, or stated as an equation:

  headspeed = (motor Kv) * (battery voltage) * (percent throttle / 100)
    * (motor pinion teeth) / (main gear teeth)

  For example, consider a Hacker B50-18S in an ECO using 8 cells with
  a 18 tooth pinion, at 85% throttle.

  headspeed = 2006 * 9.6 * .85 * 18 / 180 = 1636 rpm

  Given two otherwise identical motors with different Kv, the one with
  the higher Kv will usually be more powerful because the resistance of
  the windings is lower and therefore it can draw more current.
  Therefore, a motor with a higher Kv using a lower tooth pinion is
  better for power and sport flying whereas a motor with a lower Kv
  using a higher tooth pinion is better for duration flying.

b. Estimating amperage draw

  Helicopters generally need about 100 watts per kg to hover.
  This can vary by about 20-30% depending on the drivetrain,
  blade airfoil, motor efficiency, etc.

  So, given the helicopter's weight and cells:

  estimated amp draw = (helicopter AUW in grams) / voltage

  An ECO 8 AUW is around 1500 grams, and uses 8 cells, so:

  estimated amp draw = 1500 / (9.6 * 10) = 15.6 amps

  The more efficient electrics (ECO 8/16) will use a little less, or
  about 80-90 watts/kg. The gas-to-electric converesions will be at
  the high-end of the scale, or about 120 watts/kg.

  Note: This amperage figure is NOT the maximum required during
  hovering, only the average figure. For example, if you reduce power
  while hovering and the helicopter starts descending in its own
  downwash, then you will need substantially more current to halt
  the descent because the blades are less efficient in turbulent air.
  Therefore, you need a battery/ESC combo that can handle about twice
  the hovering current in order to have a reasonably safety margin for
  recovering from bad situations.

  Note: The 100 watts/kg figure is very dependent on headspeed. This
  is an average figure for helicopters running a moderate headspeed
  (about 1600 rpm on nonmicros). Power consumption will rise almost
  linearly with increasing headspeed.

 
29. Terminology

120 CCPM
A type of CCPM using three servos arranged at equal 120 degrees
from each other. The advantage of 120 CCPM is the load of the
swashplate is evenly distributed across all three servos
resulting in more precise control. 120 CCPM requires a
special transmitter ("computer radio") which supports this mode.

90 CCPM
A type of CCPM using three servos arranged at 90 degrees to
each other (and one spot empty). On an ECO 8/16 using 90 CCPM
there is a servo at the left, right, and front positions
of the swashplate.

AR pinAntirotation pin.

AR armAntirotation arm.

Autorotation
A controlled, unpowered helicopter descent (and landing).
A helicopter is a brick with a rotor, so it doesn't glide
well when unpowered. The autorotation is the closest to
gliding possible. The autorotation consists of a steep descent
using negative pitch to keep the rotor blades spinning
followed by a slight flaring performed with positive pitch
to convert the momentum of the blades into lift to soften
the landing.

Autorotation gear
Autorotation gear. A gear with a one-way bearing so the motor
can only drive the main shaft in one rotational direction.
Required for performing autorotations.

AR gear
See autorotation gear.

ATV
Adjustable Travel Volume. This is the amount of servo travel
from one servo endpoint to the other. This can be reduced
or increased by changing the servo endpoints.

AUW All-Up Weight. The weight of the heli when ready to fly,
including batteries.

ball-link pliers
A special plier made especially for handling ball links.
It can quickly remove the ball joint from a ball link without
damaging either part. One jaw has a U-shaped cut in it and
the other jaw has a small cup on it to hold the ball joint.

BECBattery Eliminator Circuit. This circuitry takes the voltage
from the battery pack (which is higher than 4.8 volts)
and reduces it down to the 4.8 volts required by the
gyro, the receiver, and the servos.

Bell-Hiller mixer
The seesaw arm on the head of a CCPM helicopter which isolates
the height component of the swashplate position and controls
the main blade pitch.

BLBrushless, usually in the context of brushless motors.

Boom strike
A type of helicopter crash where the main rotor blade hits
the tailboom. This may dent/bend the tail boom and damage
the main rotor blades.

Collective Pitch Compensator

The assembly with two seesaw arms directly above the swashplate.

CCPMCyclic/Collective Pitch Mixing. A type of control system where
the swashplate controls both main blade pitch and flybar
pitch. The swashplate relative tilt controls the pitch of the
flybar as the main rotor rotates, and the absolute height
of the swashplate controls the pitch of the main rotor blades.

CFCarbon fiber, usually in the context of rotor blades, frames,
tubes, rods, or sheets.

CGCenter of Gravity. The point at which an object's center of
mass appears to be; its balance point.

Coning Angle
Some helicopters like the FP Piccolo are designed so the
rotor blades are flexible and will bend upwards in flight.
The amount which the blade bends upwards is called the
"coning angle". The coning effect is good for beginner
helicopters because it makes hovering more stable, but
is bad for forward flight because it makes the helicopter
pitch up which makes forward flight difficult.

CPCollective Pitch. A helicopter that adjust vertical lift by
changing the pitch of the main rotor blades.

Disc loading

The weight of the helicopter divided by the rotor disc size.
Similar to the "wing loading" figure for airplanes.
"High disc loading" means the helicopter is heavy for its
rotor size, or conversely, the main rotor blades are short
for its weight.

eheliElectric Helicopter - hard to figure out, isn't it?

Electronic Mixing
A control system where the radio transmitter controls the
mixing between the roll/pitch servos and the main rotor pitch
servo. Also called colloquially eCCPM. See also CCPM.

EPAEndPoint Adjustment. This allows you to set the servo minimum
and maximum positions.

ESCElectronic Speed Control. Basically, the motor controller
for brushed and brushless motors.

ESDElectrostatic Discharge. This usually refers to the static
electricity which builds up on the tail belt, most often on
Logo 10s. Some people have reported "ball lighting" shooting
away from Logo 10s on humid days.

FlybarThe metal or CF rod which holds the smaller paddles to the
main rotor head

Flybar paddles
The smaller blades (not the main rotor blades) on the main
rotor of a helicopter.

FFForward Flight.

FPFixed Pitch. A helicopter that adjusts altitude by changing
the speed of the motor driving the main rotor.

GEGround Effect. When a helicopter is hovering at approximately
less than one rotor length above the ground, the heli will
become a little more skittish, as though it is trying to
balance on a ball. This is the ground effect.

GFGlass fiber (fiberglass) usually in the context of rotor blades.

Governor
A feature of an ESC which will try to keep the motor speed
constant despite variable load placed on the motor.

This is like the cruise control on a car as it's going up
and down hills. Even though the load on the motor is variable
as the car goes up and down hills, the cruise control will
try to maintain the same speed.

The governor mode on an ESC will try to do something similar.
Even if the heli is doing wild maneuvers and the load on
the main rotor blade is highly variable, it will try to
maintain a constant head speed.

If using a governor mode, the throttle curve should not
be set to 100%. This is because the governor mode needs
a little bit of extra power so it can maintain headspeed.
Using the cruise control analogy, if you set the cruise control
of a car to its maximum speed the cruise control cannot maintain
the maximum speed going up hills. Similarly, if you set
the throttle to 100% RPM then the governor mode will not
be able to maintain it when the rotor is heavily loaded. 

This is why the motor pinion should be selected so the desired
headspeed can be achieved at 90 to 95% of the throttle - so
the governor mode can work properly.

Heading Hold Gyro
A gyro which attempts to "lock" the heading of the gyro
and keep the helicopter pointed in the same direction
until you choose to turn it via the rudder. See yaw-rate gyro
also.

HHHeading Hold (gyro)

HSHead Speed. The RPM of the main rotor. Most nonmicro helicopters
need between 1200-2000 RPM of headspeed to fly. If the
headspeed is too low, then the heli will not lift off or will
require extra pitch to fly, which will make the heli very
unstable. For aerobatics, most people raise their headspeed to
about 1800-20000 RPM. Most helicopter rotor hubs are only rated
for a maximum of 2000 RPM. If you exceed 2000 RPM, this places
excessive stress on the main rotor hub and the heli is likely
to throw a blade.

HuntingSee Wag.

idle-up mode

A transmitter mode which has a different throttle and pitch
curve than the regular mode. For electric helicopters, we
normally use the "normal" mode to arm the ESC and spool up
the helicopter, and use an idle-up mode with a flat throttle
setting for regular flying.

Some transmitters have multiple idle-up modes. For example,
the Futaba 9C has idle-up1, idle-up2, and idle-up3 modes.
The additional idle-up modes can be programmed for a low
headspeed for duration flight, high headspeed with full
negative pitch range for aerobatics, etc.

KvThe RPM per volt of the motor. This is very important because
a helicopter typically requires a headspeed of about 1400-1800
RPM to hover/fly properly.

Lead/Lag bolt

The bolt which allows the main rotor blades to swing
horizontally so it can either lead (swing ahead) or lag
(swing behind) the main rotor head.

LHSLocal Hobby Shop

LVCThe low-voltage cutoff point of the ESC, if it has one.
For a heli, you want an ESC with no or very low LVC.

Mechanical mixing
A type of control system where the roll/pitch and main blade
pitch are not mixed at the transmitter but are instead mixed
mechanically at the helicopter. See also CCPM.

Micro helicopter
This is a rather subjective term, but in this guide it refers
to any helicopter under 400 grams AUW. This includes the
Ikarus Piccolos, MS Hornets, Century Hummingbird, Feda,
GWS Dragonfly, MIA Housefly, Wes-Technik Helistar LH35, etc.

Revo mix/Revo mixing
A mixer which adds a percentage of the main rotor throttle
to the tail rotor throttle to prevent the heli from spinning.
This is only used with yaw rate (non-heading hold) gyros
because the yaw rate gyro only dampens tail movement and cannot
maintain the direction of the tail. If using a heading hold
gyro, this option should be DISABLED on the transmitter.

RFI Radio Frequency Interference. RFI causes little "glitches"
in your control and the heli will twitch abruptly in one
direction or another and/or the tail may suddenly jerk around.

Swashplate
The control mechanism component which mechanically joins the
non-rotating control portions to the rotating control portions
of the main rotor.

Throttle hold (switch)

For electric helicopters, this switch is usually set to force
a zero throttle setting regardless of the throttle stick
position. This is useful as a safety switch to prevent the
motor from spooling up while connecting the battery, and also
to quickly kill the motor when the helicopter is crashing
when using an idle-up mode.

Throw a blade
Refers to a main rotor blade being flung off the rotor head
(usually with the blade grip) at very high speed while the
head is spinning. This is very, very dangerous.

TLTranslational Lift. The extra lift produced by the main rotor
when a helicopter is moving horizontally or when hovering
in windy conditions. When a helicopter stops moving horizontally
it tends to drop, because it loses the extra lift.

TRTail rotor.

WagA rhythmic back-and-forth tail movement that will not stop.
This may occur with heading hold gyros when the setup is
not correct. In this case, the gyro overshoots the correct tail
position, so it constantly keeps omving the tail.

WoodiesWooden main rotor blades.

Yaw-rate gyro
A type of gyro which dampens but not eliminates unwanted
yaw rotation. If a gust of wind blows the tail of a helicopter
with a yaw-rate gyro, the gyro will make the tail rotor
"push back" against the wind to reduce the amount of unwanted
tail movement, but since it does not keep track of total
tail movement, it cannot return the tail back to its original
position.