This section is devoted to articles of interest such as product reviews, experiences,
and views of aspects of the R/C helicopter scene.
| MA Stratus 90 Build (and crash!) Review |
19th April 2008
|
| The MA Stratus has been around for a while now, I finally got the chance to build (and crash) one.
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| JR 770T Gyro |
19th April 2008
|
| Finally JR have a gyro that really can compete with the Futaba GY series.
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| JR Vibe 50 First Impressions |
15th September 2007
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| Finally, JR have released a 50 size helicopter worth buying! The little Vibe shares a lot in common with it's bigger brother as well as some intelligent design ideas influenced from other machines. Will it threaten the newly released T-Rex 600 and MA Razor or even the legendary Raptor 50?
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| Futaba 12FG Review |
15th September 2007
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| Futaba have released yet another new 12 channel radio, this one is meant to fill the market gap below the 12Z, it represents awesome value for money and with the upcoming release of integrated spread spectrum, should be a hot seller.
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| OS 91 PS SZ Review |
15th September 2007
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| After thousands of flights in the Vigor, it became time to replace the old OS 91 C-Spec, after being burned by the piece of crap OS 91 Perry Pump PS, I was a bit wary of trying the new SZ, although now, I'm glad I did.
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| Thunder Tiger Raptor 50 Titan |
11th June 2007
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| I needed to get a little 50 to play with and the little Raptor Titan seemed like the best remedy for that need! The Titan is the latest incarnation of the best selling Raptor 50 from Thunder Tiger!
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| Si in Denver, Colorado, Feb 2007 |
22nd May 2007
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| After Hong Kong I spent a week in the Mile High city of Denver for training. |
| Si in Hong Kong, Feb 2007 |
19th May 2007
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| On the way back from Manila and on the way to Denver, I stopped in Hong Kong for a day or so of shopping, and getting screwed over by dodgy Indian watch dealers... |
| Si in Manila, The Philippines, Feb 2007 |
15th May 2007
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| Off on another work trip, this time to Manila, The Philippines where the traffic is ridiculous, the humidity is intense, and Barry Manilow rules supreme. |
| Si in Wisconsin, Feb 2007 |
22nd February 2007
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| On the way home from Toronto I stopped in Wisconsin, America's Dairyland, to see my uncle. |
| Si in Toronto, Feb 2007 |
22nd February 2007
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| Work sent me on another trip to Toronto, in the height of winter, while it was definately cold, I went to an NBA game, Niagara Falls and ofcourse, Tim Horton's... |
| Synergy N9 Follow Up |
24th October 2006
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| After a couple of months living with the Synergy N9, I've flown it (and fixed it) enough to develop an opinion... |
| Fun with T-Rexes |
24th October 2006
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| Summer is coming and nothing marks the arrival of summer than after work T-Rexing. I've fired up Tiny the T-Rex lately on the quest to find a reliable T-Rex combination that is easy to fix and flies well. |
| Building the Synergy N9 |
5th July 2006
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| One of the most anticipated helicopters to hit the market in a long time, the Synergy N9 is finally here! Designed by 3D legends Jason Krause and Todd Bennett, this machine has some very innovative features. Read the very indepth build article here! |
| Regulated Power Systems |
6th June 2006
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| Perhaps the most 'in-vogue' helicopter component at the moment is the regulated power system. What do they do? Do they make a real difference? Or are they just hype? I take a look at the three most popular models on the market, Duralite, Fromeco and the Scott Gray Reactor. |
| Kyosho Caliber 5 Review |
28th February 2006
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| Kyosho's entry into the 50 size market is the Caliber 5, a great little heli that flies very well, but will it knock the legendary Raptor 50 from it's perch? |
| Henseleit 3DMP Review
|
28th February 2006
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| Finally the long awaited review of what must be the best flying 50 size helicopter on the market! |
| Futaba 14MZ - Getting the most from your CCPM setup
|
28th February 2006
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| Ben Minor unlocks the secrets to getting the optimum CCPM setup from your Futaba 14MZ. A definate must read if you have a 14 and a CCPM heli! |
| Futaba 14MZ - Basic Setup Instructions
|
28th February 2006
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| Cliff Hiatt and Wayne Mann, two of the world's most knowledgeable pilots write about setting up your helicopter on the Futaba 14MZ. |
| Building the Align T-Rex 450SE |
22nd December 2005
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| The build report of the newest addition to the fleet, Tiny the T-Rex! |
| F3C World Championships, Zamora, Spain |
1st November 2005
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| A detailed report of the 2005 World Champs, the triumphs, tragedies and ofcourse, the food.... |
| Kyosho Caliber 5 Pictures |
1st November 2005
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| Although I wasn't able to write an article on this new machine from Kyosho, I was allowed to take and publish some pictures of it. A great looking machine with great promise. |
| Si in Amsterdam |
1st November 2005
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| Last month I was in Amsterdam again for a trade show. Amsterdam rules, I love that place. |
| Si in Tel Aviv, Israel |
1st November 2005
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| This year I visited Israel for a training course. As a result, my impression of Israel is quite different, it's not all about car bombs, terrorism and religious craziness... |
| Si in Cairo, Egypt |
1st November 2005
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| On my way to Israel this year I had a short stop over in Cairo, Egypt. A real eye opening place full of history and things to see, as well as over enthusiastic tourist guides... |
| Si in Vancouver, Canada |
1st November 2005
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| On my way to Las Vegas again this year I had a short stop over in Vancouver, what an awesome place! One of the few places I've been that I could see myself living in! |
| Si in Toronto, Canada |
1st November 2005
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| At the start of the year I was in Toronto for work, Toronto is a great place and I had a great time there! |
| Futaba 14MZ |
3rd March 2005
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| The long awaited king of the hill from Futaba has arrived and I got one of the first units out of Japan. This is the extensive desk review of the brand new Futaba 14MZ. |
| Road to Worlds - Part II |
3rd March 2005
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| Part two of my preparations for the F3C World Champs in Spain in August. |
| Hong Kong Adventure |
3rd March 2005
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| Two weekends ago I was in Hong Kong for work which included a visit to the world famous Cyberheli. While not exclusively dedicated to helicopters, this is an account of my first trip to Hong Kong. |
| Vario JetCopter SX |
16th November 2004
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| I've been playing with Don's JetCopter for a couple of months now, this article outlines it's development and our experiences with the big beast. |
| Road to the Worlds |
16th November 2004
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| I'm off to the next F3C World Championships in Zamora, Spain in August 2005. This is the first in a series of articles outlining my preparations for this event. |
| JR Datasafe |
16th November 2004
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| British F3C Champion, and software developer, Mark Christy, has developed software that allows you to work with your JR Transmitters from your PC. |
| European Adventure |
16th November 2004
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| While not really helicopter related (although we did visit Bob Johnston's shop!), these are my letters home to my mates during my trip to Amsterdam, Paris and London. |
| Building the Raptor 90 SE |
10th August 2004
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| Thunder Tiger's latest offering has just hit the market and I was fortunate enough to build one. Having had no practical experience with a Raptor, I've been pleasantly surprised! The SE has got me wondering, why pay big bucks for the high dollar machines? |
| Building the Sylphide |
10th August 2004
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| I've been flying the Sylphide for a while now, however lately the opportunity came up for me to build another one, this is the build article on JR's premier F3C machine. |
| Asia Pacific F3C Open |
30th May 2004
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| An event I've really been looking forward to this year, the first ever Asia Pacific Open! This awesome trip was a huge amount of fun and experiences! This is a large article so set aside a bit of time! |
| American Adventure |
16th May 2004
|
| In late April I spent a week in Las Vegas for work where I caught up with the Szabos for an afternoon. This story is my adventures in Las Vegas and of meeting the Szabos. |
| JR Challenge 2004 |
29th April 2004
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| The 2004 JR Challenge was a great success, building upon the 2003 event with more competitors, more helicopters, and more maneuvers! |
| How to setup your rotorhead |
18th February 2004
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| This is my attempt to explain a little about the complexities of head setup for F3C. Although this article is mainly oriented to F3C, the principles still apply to sport and 3D flying. |
| Futaba 9Z WCII for Dummies - Setting up a Helicopter |
18th February 2004
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| The Futaba 9Z is an awesome piece of equipment although it can be intimidating at first! Here's how to setup a basic program for your model. |
| 3D Downunder |
15th December 2003
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| Australia's first event to promote 3D went very well despite the weather! Lots of great flying and great machines! |
| Victorian State F3C Champs |
15th December 2003
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| With some of Australia's top pilots and some top guns from Hong Kong present, this was always going to be a hard event! |
| Visit to Model Engines Pty |
15th December 2003
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| Model Engines Pty is one of Australia's largest distributors of modeling equipment and goods, I got to take a look through their Melbourne premises. |
| Flying the Fury Tempest FAI |
7th November 2003
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| Now I've had some time on my new Tempest FAI, here's what I think of it! |
| Pilot Profile - Pete (Panos) Niotis |
7th November 2003
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| Pete Niotis is an up-and-coming 3D flyer in the States, he talks about starting flying in 2000 through to competing in the recent Xtreme Flight Championships. |
| Australian Trip 03 |
7th November 2003
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| In less than two weeks I'm off to Australia to compete in a 3D and a F3C competition being held there. This is an overview of the leadup to this trip. |
| Introduction to the Century Predator |
7th November 2003
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| The Century Predator is one of the newest machines on the market and has it's sights firmly planted on Miniature Aircraft's Fury. We have a brief look at this exciting new machine, hopefully in the near future we'll have an indepth report on this new machine which looks set to take the market by storm. |
| Building the Fury Tempest FAI |
10th September 2003
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| Finally my Xcell Tempest FAI has arrived! This report details my comments and thoughts on the building of this exciting new machine! |
| Professional Aerial Photography |
2nd July 2003
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| Airfoil Helicam has one of the best aerial photography implementations I have seen, John Ohnemus takes time to explain a bit about his company and products. |
| Pilot Profile - Russ Deakin |
2nd July 2003
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| One of Europe's top 3D pilots and Model Helicopter World contributor, Russ Deakin discusses his thoughts on our hobby. |
| Pilot Profile - Dwight Schilling |
22st May 2003
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| Dwight Schilling is one of Kyosho's leading pilots in the US and another member of the American F3C team attending the World Championships in Japan. |
| Toolbox Essentials |
22st May 2003
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| Buying the helicopter and radio is just a start, you need all the support gear to keep your new toy running. Here's what I use. |
| Setting up the Vigor for F3C |
21st April 2003
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| I get a lot of questions from people asking what they should set their Expo values to or what their curves should look like. This article illustrates the setup of one of my helis from which people can create their own personalised setup. |
| Vigor Refit |
21st April 2003
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| After 240 trouble free flights, I felt it was time to give the Vigor a strip down. |
| Pilot Profile - Curtis Youngblood |
15th March 2003
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| World F3C Champion and 3D legend Curtis Younglood answers a few questions. |
| JR Challenge 2003 |
15th March 2003
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| Review on an exciting new event we ran recently that allowed people of all skills to compete together to win the JR Challenge Shield! |
| Pilot Profile - Len Sabato |
21st February 2003
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| USA F3C Team Member and Product Manager of JR Helis and Radios at Horizon Hobby takes time out to answer a few questions. |
| Helicopter Resources |
21st February 2003
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| Another common question I'm asked is what are some useful videos, books, magazines and websites for learning more about our hobby. Here are some that I use. |
| Comparing the Webra 91AAR and the YS 91ST |
20th January 2003
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| Bill Wegner does a high level evaluation of two of the most exciting big block engines on the market today! |
| Engine Tuning |
20th January 2003
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| After many many emails asking what I learned from Curtis' visit, I've compiled an article on the tips I learned on tuning engines. |
| Curtis Youngblood in New Zealand |
4th December 2002
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| Helicopter legend, Curtis Youngblood, with his wife Carla, visited New Zealand during November for our helicopter event of the year! |
| Futaba GV-1 Governor |
4th December 2002
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| Nigel Brackley explains the ins and outs of one of Futaba's more complex accessories, the GV-1 Governor. |
| Pilot Profile - Malorie Zastrow |
8th November 2002
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| Malorie Zastrow is one of the few female pilots in our hobby and she can do more than just hover! Featured in demos at IRCHA and the Joe Nall funfly, Malorie can more than foot it with the big boys, and she does it with a gasser! |
| Scale: Learning to fly the FlyBarless Head |
8th November 2002
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| Dr Timothy Dawson tells us about his experiences setting up the Vario flybarless head on his Gas Huey. |
| Pilot Profile - Jason Krause |
1st October 2002
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| Jason Krause has emerged as one of the leading 3D pilots on the globe, his artistic, innovative and daring 3D maneuvers will stun you! |
| JR 10X |
1st October 2002
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| Following on from the review of the Futaba 9ZWCII, Hakim Tung reviews his JR10X. |
| Pilot Profile - Mark Christy |
1st September 2002
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| Great Britain's Mark Christy is one of Europe's top pilots and is one of the top ranked F3C pilots in the world. Mark talks about his beginnings and ambitions in RC Helis. |
| Futaba 9Z WCII |
1st September 2002
|
| The 9Z is on the top shelf of radio systems and it's not cheap to buy, is it really worth the money? I couldn't be without mine! |
| Pilot Profile - Alan Szabo Jr |
4th August 2002
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| If there was anyone who could truely be called the next Curtis, Alan is it. |
| 163km/h with a Vigor CS |
4th August 2002
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| A police man turned up at one of our funfly's with his radar gear and clocked our helis. The results were interesting! |
| Raptor 60 V2 |
18th June 2002
|
| After the demise of his TSK Acrostar, Alton Rodgers decided to try the bigger brother of the Raptor 30. |
| Low cost, high camera! |
18th June 2002
|
| Malcolm Messiter writes about his aerial photography exploits with a Raptor 30! |
| The Squirrel and the TSK (Part V) |
27th May 2002
|
| George's Squirrel is all finished! |
| Follow up - Hirobo Freya |
27th May 2002
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| David Deluria relates his experiences of owning one of the most popular 60 size machines on the market, the Hirobo Freya. |
| Follow up - Hirobo Shuttle RG |
27th May 2002
|
| Hakim follow's up with an article on his Shuttle RG after having flown it for a while. |
| Hirobo Sceadu 30 flying impressions |
3rd April 2002
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| After a few months of flying, Hakim gives us his impressions of the Hirobo Sceadu 30. |
| Hirobo Shuttle RG |
23nd February 2002
|
| The Rolls Royce version of Hirobo's legendary Shuttle! |
| Vigor CS - My thoughts |
4th March 2002
|
| I write my thoughts on my new JR Vigor CS. |
| Bye bye little Ergo |
4th March 2002
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| The helicopter that I learned to fly on has finally left the fleet... |
| Kyosho Caliber 30 |
2nd February 2002
|
| Could this be the heli of 2002? Kyosho's answer to the Raptor is here! |
| Nothing beats cubic inches! |
24th January 2002
|
| I try out the new OS 91, OS's contender in the new 'monster engine' market. |
| The
Squirrel and the TSK (Part IV) |
19th December 2001
|
| George's saga continues. In this episode George deals with final preparations before painting! |
| JR
Voyager 50 |
20th October 2001
|
| The JR Voyager line is replacing the tried and tested
JR Ergo. We take a look and see if it's a worthy successor. |
| Hirobo
Sceadu |
20th October 2001
|
| The legendary Hirobo Shuttle is finally being replaced
after well over a decade of service. Hakim Tung takes a look at the
30 size ARF version. |
| The
Squirrel and the TSK (Part III) |
20th October 2001
|
| George's TSK with Squirrel fuselage takes to the air for
the first time! |
| NZ Team Returns from Heli World Champs |
27th September 2001
|
| Last week Aaron Williams and George Schneider got back from representing New Zealand at the World Champs heli in Muncie, Indiana, in the US. George tells us what it's like mixing it up with the best pilots in the world. |
| Hirobo Freya |
26th September 2001
|
| Hakim Tung tells us about one of the hottest 60 size helis on the market at the moment, the Hirobo Freya. |
| Fury-ous! |
26th September 2001
|
| Looking for something a little different from his Millie, Ken Kammerer decided to check out the new machine that's taking the US by storm, the Xcell Fury. |
| OS 50 Review |
26th September 2001
|
| The engine that will turn your 46 size heli into a missle! |
| Vigor CS or Robbe Millennium? (Part III) |
6th September 2001
|
| After stating that I was going to get the Millie, I changed
my mind... |
| Living with the CS |
6th September 2001
|
| John Knox talks about what it's really like to own the
Vigor CS |
| The Squirrel and the TSK (Part II) |
6th September 2001
|
| George gives us an update on the progress of his latest scale project - a Funkey Squirrel fuse on a TSK Mystar 30. |
| Promoting the hobby |
6th September 2001
|
| Spreading the word and encouraging people to take the
plunge and get into RC helis. |
| Ergo Z230 Gasser |
17th August 2001 |
| Some thoughts on JR's petrol version of the Ergo. |
| Vigor CS or Robbe Millennium? (Part II) |
17th August 2001
|
| After a whole lot of deliberating and a hell of a lot
of thinking, I've made up my mind. It sure as hell wasn't easy though! |
| Vigor CS or Robbe Millennium? |
26th July 2001 |
| At the moment, dealers for both machines are offering me very
competitive deals to get one of these machines. What do I go for? Both machines
are high quality and both have good reputations... |
| The Squirrel and the TSK (Part I) |
26th July 2001 |
| George, one of the more enthusiastic fliers at my club, is putting a Funkey Twinstar fuse on his TSK 30.. |
