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The title of this book is a little misleading. You would think it’s for beginners only but everyone from a beginner to an advanced pilot can benefit from reading this book.
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The beginning of the book starts off by going over all the electronic and mechanical components of RC helicopters. Covering several components in detail like servos, BEC, FM and 2.4 radio technology, and basic heli controls.
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One of the things that surprised me the most in the book is a very detailed section of 20 pages covering in depth helicopter aerodynamics. This section read more like a flight manual for full size heli’s. Talking about everything from airfoils and Bernoulli’s Theorem to angle of attack and translational lift. When flying model helicopters you aren’t faced with many of the challenges of full size helicopters because of the extreme difference in power to weight ratio. Regardless, this section was really informative for me and I learned a lot.
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The book goes through all the basic radio setup with both Futaba and JR/Spektrum examples. Starting with a example Futaba GY401 gyro setup, moving forward to nitro throttle setup techniques and then to swashplate and CCPM.
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Moving through the book you will notice it’s not just about general heli knowledge and setup info. There is also a very well done section on new pilots and steps to take as you practice and increase your skills. Starting with SIM and hovering time, then into figure 8′s, and then autorotations. The book doesn’t stop there, moving on to basic and advanced 3D maneuvers including tic tocs, snakes, hurricanes, funnels, etc.
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Next comes a general info section of “How Stuff Works” including how are blades balanced, how flybar and bell-hiller mixing works, and a good section on how brushless motors work. I see a lot of questions on the internet forums on how to pick the correct KV brushless motor for the given voltage application. Also factoring in the options of different pinions and what is the optimal efficiency for motors.
When I first picked up this book, I thought to myself “I’ve been in heli’s for 3 years, not much I’m going to learn from this”. First, I was wrong, there was tons of info in this book I still had not run across in my time in this hobby. Secondly I found this book to be an extremely good reference resource and for that reason it will be in my field bag from this day on. Thanks to Michael for taking a untold amount of time to document and create such a informative book for our hobby.
Book price is $19.99 plus shipping, considering the hours this book will save you digging for the info this is a bargin! If you would like to order your own copy of the book visit their web site by clicking HERE.
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- SPY SHOTS: Align T-Rex 450 Sport
- REVIEW: AlumaFX Spektrum 7100R Gov Sensor Bracket
- EXCLUSIVE: Lynx Heli Innovations getting Innovative (SAB Blades and Hop-Ups)
The contents of the book look very interesting! However, I feel the cover design is unimaginative, and makes the book look amateurish and unpolished.
It wouldn’t have taken much to have someone design an interesting and appropriate cover.