Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Helicopters / January 2009

I'm not all that much further along than newbie myself, but I
think I know this one.

You have a tail rotor that blows sideways, right? Obviously that
is meant to counteract the torque of the main rotor, which it
does nicely.

But, it also pushes the heli sideways. You have to compensate
for that. All heli's, including real ones, hover with one skid
low, leaning in the direction the tail rotor blows.

Don't trim it out. You have to 'fly' it out.

You will never be able trim your heli to hover without your
thumbs on the sticks for more than a second or two, even in
dead calm air.

I like the analogy I read here once...something along the lines
of, "Hold a tennis ball. Now, balance another tennis ball on
top of that." You have to constantly fly the machine just to
stand still. (And that is what I currently challenge myself
with - trying to hover as still as I possibly can)

Brian

It should hover pretty much my itself.  It will drift this way and that a
little but not by much - it is pretty stable.

If there isn't enough trim in the transmitter then you will need to look at
the servo arm and linkage.

Before doing any of this make sure that your heli is balanced properly -
this is usually only a back<>front issue not left<>right.

Check the blades are tracking okay - maybe hard to do in the current state
but just make sure there is nothing massively out.

Look which way it moves when you move the trim in the desired direction and
note it.

You then have two options

1)    Reduce or increase the length of the servo pushrod to acheive the
direction you are trying for with the trim.  Don't do much - half turns at a
time. If you need more than one turn then put it back to how it was and look
at option 2.

2)    Remove the servo arm from the servo and move it round one notch in the
direction you need.

Cheers,

Nigel