I clearly need to get starting on the construction of my first collective pitch RC heli. The only question is, WHAT size to buy? I’ve done a lot of reading, talking to people who fly them a lot.. and I’m leaning very heavily to going with a 500 instead of the typical 450. Or, I might just bite the bullet and go with a big 600 electric.

While I research this, I thought it would be wise to document that things I learned, not only for myself, but for anyone else that might be interested.

DECISION! – Buying the 450-EXI.

OK, decided. Finally decided. I certainly could have afforded any of the 500’s (or 600 clones) I’ve seen, but I’ve learned a cruel lesson of late, with the MadHawk300. Having local parts is critical to me having FUN!. Having to search and wait for parts stinks. Luckily the local shop has plenty of 450 parts. But they don’t carry 500 or 600 parts. That alone was the deciding factor.

So.. I ordered the following:

Order Number: 854679
———————
Quantity Item
1 GY48V headklock gyro
2 FRP main blade for electric 450 helicopter(335mm)
1 EXI Leveler 450/400 (Green)
1 30A Electronic Brushless ESC Speed Controller [Volcano Series]
1 Alpha 400 (3500kv) Brushless Motor
1 EXI 450 ARF Radio Remote Controlled Helicopter Kit (Plastic Version 2)
3 9g servo
1 9G EXI Digital Metal Gear Servo D213F
2 main blades (these are replacement blades for MadHawk 300)

So, the clock ticks down on the delivery, scheduled this week of my first ‘Grown-Up’ hobby heli. I debated the $30 more for a metal version (or $70 more for the CF), but I plan to crash this thing, and I suspect that most of the parts on this that I’d upgraded out of the box, I’ll be replacing due to crash damage. Why waste the money? Plus, in the long term I plane to buy a nice scale body for it, with a cool 4 or 5 blade scale head (they can be had for around $150), and if I *plan* to do that, then why burn $75 on a CNC aluminum setup that I plan to replace soon enough?

I hope I don’t chop off a limb learning to fly it! 🙂

Update: 9-June-2010 — EXI-450 is here!