How did you get started with multi rotors?

[sausageroll]

I just realised - Its nearly christmas, and that reminded me how I got into multi rotors, so I thought id do a quick post of my ';story'; and see how other people got into it.

Last year, my mum gave my dad a cheap little coaxial toy helicopter for Christmas. It was great fun, and both of us played with it constantly for ages and ages, it was crap at steering, but it flew and was pretty stable, and it was good fun. I decided id like something more challenging, and so vowed to myself that I would learn to fly RC helicopters, so in that tedious patch of nothingness between Christmas and new year, I ordered a DX6 and the Phoenix flight controller.

For almost two months, I had a right laugh crashing, trying to fly planes, model chinooks, and silly things like the V22 osprey that requires two people to fly. Eventually I could fly well enough so I got myself an MCPX.

Well the MCPX is tiny, and an absolute pig to fly. In many ways, a bigger chopper like a 400 size would have been a lot easier, but repairs are expensive and those things are like flying circular saw blades, and pretty dangers in the hands of a novice, so I struggled along with the MCPX for quite a while and got better and better, crashing and replacing bits all the time.

I then went out to LA for a business trip, and when I got back it was pissing with rain and i felt really moapy and annoyed at how crap england seemed compared to LA, so I went to RC Choppers in Biscter and bought myself a new toy to play with to cheer myself up, an MQX. Since I already had the DX6, the MQX was a reasonably cost effective way to have fun with helicopters whilst I was waiting for bits to fix the MCPX.

The MQX was the best 80 quid I';ve ever spent in any hobby (apart for maybe the hubsans!) and we had a right laugh flying it into lampshades, and flying it up really high, cutting the throttle and watching it spin like a leaf, before powering up and watching it level itself again. It seemed indestructible, and I never broke it with all the abuse I gave it.


Anyway, I was then looking for something more exciting so decided to build a quadcopter, the one in my build video you may have seen. The Eagle controller turned out to be a bit shite, so I got the Naza GPS, and thats when Simon (who has been on here a few times) asked me to build him a hexcopter to fly cameras, and thats where I am now more or less.

Anyway, would be interesting to see how other people got into the hobby...

[Rappy Freak]

I was always told by some ';friends'; that there is no way I would ever be able to learn to fly RC helicopters.  Me been me thought what the hell and got a Raptor 50 Titan and a sim and started flying.  3 years later I had 7 helis and was able to fly.

From the start I wanted to fit camers to them to record the flights and got myself a Flycam One and got some not too bad video.  While looking round on the net I came across the RC Logger Pro camera and when looking at the specs could see it did something called FPV.   After have a quick read I thought I will have some of that.  Have never liked the idea of doing FPV with a heli then came across multirotor airframes. 

After talking it over with a few people I got myself a Scorpion Y6 and Naza as a test bed for all the tech I wanted to see how it would all come together.  Now the Scorpion is my current heavy lift FPV machine covered in sensors, GPS, Power, Environmental.  Still to be added it a G-Force sensor all running though to OSD system. 

Now I have a TBS Disco that is still a build project fitted with a GoPro 3 and have plans to add FPV gear very soon.  Also I am working on a CarbonCore Hexa that I am planning on having flying in the new year for aerial photography and FPV............then who knows 

Looking like the rest of the helis are going to be sold for new gear......the Mini Titan has already made it to ebay    This is a fantastic hoddy and look forward to many many years of flying

[Jumpy07]

I messed about with planes a  few years ago...  allways had an incling for a Heli but tried one and it ended in tears.. so when I saw a multi I thought that looks interesting..

After a few weeks investigating.. I saw one of Juz';s videos.. and thought thats for me as it would combine one of my other hobbies .. photography..

Built my first quad in August this year.. and now have 5 multis...  they just seem to keep growing :-)

[guest325]

I started out a couple of years ago with a Syma S107 that my son gave me for christmas, soon realised it was a bit limited.... que the landslide, by the end of Feb I';d got a mcx2, msr, Century evo 180se and a Phoenixtech tt325 kit!
Never built the cp heli, sold it on realised that it was going to be too expensive. So I thendecided to keep my indoor helis and go for Planes outdoors, which is where I';ve been up until last month (love my Wot4 foam-e and will probably get an Acrowor foam-e soon) then came the Hubsan x4; well I work a few doors away from CML and saw the stores guys playing with one - hooked instantly.
So I';ve been flying the Hubsan for a while now and decided a bigger one would bring more fun and a wider range of weather conditions it would cope with so I';ve just ordered a 450 Flamewheel clone with Crius all in one controller from Peter King, picking it up thursday - can';t wait!!!

[simhatus]

hi

Had go with garys.

simon

[benchmark]

Been flying helis for a while and multirotors only captured my interest after i bought an AR drone . Its been downhill from there.

[Gaza07]

I flew planes for quite a few years and then got interested in helicopters, I saw the early tricopters with gyros and thought they looked interesting but really got into it when the first kk boards came out and people then started making quads, never did have a tricopter    

[bunnygirl80]

For many years my dad was an avid RC dabbler, flying planes from the field at the back of the farm. When me and my bro were about 12, he decided to teach us and we loved it, it was a superb way to scare the sheep and a lot quicker than the dogs at getting them moved between fields! lol. My bro dropped planes over the years and took up cars instead and went on to national comps and then dropped rc cars altogether and started rallying the real things which he still does today. I suppose rc was in my blood and I flew planes through my teens, stopped when I went to uni, got married, kids, divorced and then took up flying again. I did my BMFA A Cert last year, planning on my B Cert this year and perhaps competitions. I have 2 electric planes, 5 nitros and 2 pertrol. I fly aerobatics and 3D and my favorite planes are my Galaxy Pattern Ship and 30cc MX2. I took up multirotors only two months ago, just because i fancied a change. I finished the build and setup of my 450 quad a week or so ago. I';ve hovered it in the garden, just for confidence that it';s setup properly and hopefully weather permitting going field flying ASAP maybe even this weekend! Wish me luck!     

[Brian]

When I was in the army I was posted to the Royal Artillery Trials Team (now called Royal Artillery Trials and Development Unit RATDU) We had some mad scientist type people turn up with a UAV called CAM Copter. It was basically a helicopter with the equivalent of a Wookong, and some FPV kit, and a load of UHF stuff. I was asked to give it a go. All you had to do was bung in a load of way points, timings, and set an altitude, and hit the go button! You could also program it on the fly, and it could carry a 25lb payload. It was cool. And bear in mind that this was 1999!

I had a bunch of guys go onto Larkhill ranges, cam up and hide, and within a quarter of the Cam Copters flight time I';d found them all with the FLIR camera mounted on the front.

Any way, I have always had that in my mind, and one day last year I saw a video of something that looked like Cam Copter, so I started looking at more YouTube videos, and saw the stability, and (lets face it) coolness of the Quadcopters, and the way they are used in movie making etc. I just got hooked! Found a site of like minded friendly nutters, and here I am today!!

Brian :)

[Biffa]

I bought a KK board off Ebay for £5 and needed something to do with it

[mickyt]

I';ve alway';s liked my toy';s, motor bike';s,car';s,gun';s blah blah blah but never had anything Rc untill I got divorced, a friend of mine had always been an Rc man mostly car';s.
I popped round to see him one day and found him knee deep in boxes which turned out to be a couple of heli';s all ready for building I left him to it and a couple of weeks later they where ready to fly.
The day had arrived  I got  the call and off I went to watch well that wetted my appetite I wanted to have a go so I brought a second hand hirobo with radio gear then proceeded to crash the thing rebuild crash rebuild crash rebuild you get the idea in the end I gave up with it.
Some five years went by before I brought anything rc again then I spotted multi rotors on YouTube I brought a hubsan x4 had it a week then rang Quadcopter uk spoke to Geoff  picked his brain';s then parted with £1200.00,three days later a knock on the door and a very large box was delivered it was my ready to fly hexacopter so I';m still new too this hobby with only a few months under my belt but now fully enjoying Fpv flight.