Let us continue our tour of the world's largest toy and hobby fair. In the last issue, we examined all the new glow engine powered helicopters, now we will continue with all the electric helicopters. In the US and Japan we still see a lot more new engine powered helicopters introduced because most pilots fly glow engine powered helicopters. However, in Europe, electric helicopter development has now exceeded glow engine development. Big and small companies in Europe are all concentrating on designing new electric helicopters. At the Nuremberg Show, there were more, new electric helicopters introduced than engine powered models. There were also many micro electric helicopters unveiled. Micro helicopters are inexpensive to produce and copy so the barrier to entry into the micro market is very low.

One could say that breaking into the micro e-heli scene is no easy task . . . and that micro e-helis now a days are a dime a dozen. That being said, about a year ago I was contacted by some friends at Horizon Hobby and asked if I would evaluate and provide input on a micro e-heli that they wanted to introduce into their electric product line up. Since I've been flying e-helis of various sizes for many years I was more than happy to help. During the testing and development stages, I had a great time exchanging ideas with them. Experimenting with better components and set-ups while working on the heli was a lot of fun. Some of the focus points included better motors in the kit with optimized gear ratios and superior batteries to handle the flying loads. After all, who wants an e-heli that only flies for 3 to 5 minutes on a charge? Or, one that only flys for 60 minutes before things burn out and need to be replaced? Well I'm very happy to say that the results of our combined efforts, thanks to David Ribbe and Jason Merkle of Horizon Hobby, are something that we are all very proud of. At the Toledo Trade Show in April, 05' Horizon Hobby debuted this new micro e-heli to the public and it generated quite a buzz. I flew the helis debut demo flights to the public at the indoor gymnasium during both the E-TOC and the EX Games that took place during the trade show weekend. The 2200 plus attendees of these events agreed that the heli was an instant hit! Inverted flight, an indoor gym floor blade scuff and a grab-it-out-of-the-air during an inverted hover highlighted the flights! The Blade CP, "BCP", is the name of this new heli from E-Flite and it's not your typical cookie cutter micro e-heli. Horizon Hobby distributes it and by the time this article is in print, it should be available at your favorite hobby shop.

This issue I will share the setup tricks that are necessary to make a stock Piccolo Pro capable of performing 3-D aerobatics. 3-D flying with micro electric helicopters can be even more challenging than 3-D flying with larger electric or glow engine powered helicopters because faster reflexes are required. However, once you have mastered aerobatics with a micro electric helicopter, you will love it because you can fly it almost anywhere. Micro electric helicopters are light (around 11 ounces including the battery), when they crash the damage is minimal and they can usually be repaired and back to flying status in an hour. And, today's modern design electric helicopters, regardless of size, are all far superior in ruggedness, performance, and endurance when compared to the first generation electric helis we had 30 years ago. The best news about micro electric helicopters is they are relatively inexpensive and you never have to buy fuel. This month I will focus on how to set up a Piccolo Pro. In the future, I will share tips on how to set up other electric helicopters.

Meet Jeff Fassbinder, Marketing Manager of Ace Hobby Distributors. One of Jeff's assets is his ability to communicate with both dealers and modelers as well. When Jeff's not providing direction for the popular Thunder Tiger helicopter line and other products at Ace Hobby Distributors like us, he's out there burning fuel. In this Pilot Profile, Jeff will share some of his knowledge about both R/C helicopters and 3D flight.

When it comes to batteries in your helicopter, how sure are you that what's flying around up there and supporting all your helicopter's radio gear is reliable? If you were the gambling kind, this question wouldn't even be a consideration would it? Just take off and what happens, happens?
But, if you are the kind who doesn't have an unlimited supply of helicopter parts then you just might be interested in hearing what I found as I was researching batteries and equipment.
What I found is a product that discharges batteries, provides you with a record of their discharge curve (more on that later) and visually plots the discharge on your computer for easy reference. "So what"; you say? "It's just another bit of electronic gadgetry". Put aside your skepticism for a moment and listen.