The Walkera 1#A is a ready to fly helicopter with brushless motor, Li-Po battery and speed controller all included. No need for further upgrades, except if you want to upgrade the rotor head with a metal version. Not only does the Walkera 1#A look good, it also fly very well. The first thing I noticed is the low all-up weight of only 380 grams. That’s the reason for its excellent flight characteristics.

If you want a well priced 3D ready to fly out of the box helicopter, look no further.
 

Let’s start with the main rotor. The Walkera 1#A comes standard with a plastic rotor head assembly and fiberglass main rotors. If needed, you can upgrade to a metal rotor head, but for mild 3D aerobatics, the standard plastic rotor head assembly will do the job with ease. The blade holders sit on top of the rotor head assembly. The blade holder shaft rocks on ball bearings inside the rotor head, which makes it easy for the flybar paddles to do there job during flight.

The flybar rocks up and down between the blade holders and swashplate to provide cyclic control to the main rotors. The linkages between the flybar and blade holders can be adjusted when you need to set the blade tracking. The Walkera 1#A have a 120º swashplate to incorporate Cyclic, Collective and Pitch Mixing (CCPM) for perfect 3D maneuvers.

The main shaft runs through the mainframe on two ball bearings. At the bottom of the main shaft, the main gear is situated which also incorporates the toothed pulley for the belt that drives the tail rotor.

The Walkera 1#A have four 9g servos. Three of the are situated on the main frame. One sits to the right of the main shaft, two just behind the main shaft, and one servo on the tail boom. Walkera have simplified the main frame so that all three servos can be easily unscrewed for replacement if necessary.

The Walkera 1#A has a powerful Walkera outrunner brushless motor (WK-WS-26-002) that sits in front of the main shaft. A 15-tooth pinion gear gives the Walkera 1#A plenty of power.

The landing gear is made from plastic and metal tubing. The landing gear feels quite solid, but yet light weight. I think that it can handle the odd harsh landing without breaking.

The seven-channel receiver sits in the nose of the helicopter. Below the main gear, a tray holds the Li-Po battery and 20A ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) securely in place. Both the Li-Po battery and ESC simply slides into position on the tray. The Walkera 1#A 1200 Li-Po battery gives 9 minutes of flight time, depending on the flight type. To charge the Li-Po battery, use the Li-Po charger that is provided with the Walkera 1#A kit.

The Walkera gyro (WK-G016) sits behind the elevator and aileron servos on the main frame. Below the Gyro, the tail boom is clamped securely in position with two screws. The Walkera A#1 have a metal tail boom, which incorporates the brackets for the tail servo, tail boom strut bracket and tail rotor assembly. The tail boom is strutted with two graphite rods between the landing gear and strut bracket in the middle of the tail boom.

The tail rotor servo gives fast rudder inputs via a pull rod for pitch changes on the tail rotor. A belt that runs inside the tail boom drives the tail rotor. The tail rotor blades are made from strong plastic and can easily be replaced if   needed . The tail rotor assembly has four high quality ball bearings.

Overall the Walkera 1#A have a very simple yet effective design that makes this little helicopter the flagship model of Walkera up to date. The only downfall I could find was that the helicopter is tail heavy, but can easily be rectified.

Pre-flight checks

As an ex-commercial pilot, I’m still in the habit of doing a thorough preflight inspection. Never assume that the helicopter is correctly setup, no matter what brand of R/C helicopter you buy. I did the following checks before my first flight to ensure a safe and successful first flight.
Check all moving parts for any loose components or screws.
Make sure the main rotor blades are balanced.
Check the movement of all the servos and that they move in the correct direction.
Check the blade tracking.
Very important, check the helicopters CG (center of gravity). My Walkera 1#A was tail heavy, so I have removed the battery and ESC tray and moved the battery to the front under the receiver. I use Velcro to secure the battery below the receiver. The Esc was tied down with cable ties below the main gear. With that configuration, the CG is spot on.
Make sure that the gyro direction is correct.
Make sure that all the batteries are fully charged.
 

Flight performance

The Walkera 1#A gets airborne at about 55% throttle. After I have trimmed the helicopter, I noticed that it is quite stable in hover. The rudder was a bit slow, so after I have turned the gyro sensitivity down to 60%, the rudder was very responsive both left and right. I found the Gyro to be very effective. You can adjust the gyro to suite your flying skills.

Collective is very responsive. Any throttle inputs above 55%, and the helicopter will start to climb without any effort. Cyclic inputs are crisp and prompt. Transition in to forward flight is very good, and the same for backward flight. The throttle curve, exponential, gyro sensitivity, rudder mixing and the pitch can all be adjusted on the transmitter. You might find that the helicopter to be to sensitive for you during your first flight, adjust the throttle curve, exponential, gyro sensitivity, rudder mixing and the pitch so that you have a helicopter that flies well according to you flying skills.

Overall the Walkera 1#A is a very nice little helicopter to fly with great characteristics. I’m looking forward to explore the 3D flight envelope in the near future. I’m sure the Walkera 1#A will compete well among other helicopters in its class. I have to say that this helicopter is definitely for someone that has previous RC helicopter experience. This is not a beginners helicopter.