Walkera have a
wide range of helicopters for beginners
(2 channel, 3 channel and 4 channel) to
choose from. I’m only going to discuss
the Walkera #4 because it was my first
helicopter and also the one I’m most
familiar with.
The Walkera #4 is a 4ch R/C helicopter
with great flying characteristics, and
in my opinion nice to start with. It has
a fixed pitch main rotor with very hard
main rotor blades which will help you
with your training phase. It has a bit
of a odd looking short nose, but other
than that I think Walkera did a great
job designing the #4.
This is a RTF (ready to fly) helicopter
kit, which means that you only need to
supply the 8 AA batteries for the
transmitter and charge the helicopters
batteries for your first flight. Walkera
does test fly each helicopter, but be
careful with your first attempt to hover
because the trims might be a bit off.
With the factory supplied 8.4V 650mAh
Ni-Mh batteries you will get +- 6
minutes of flight time on a full charge.
I replaced mine with a 7.4V 910mAh Kokam
LiPo battery which give me about 14
minutes of flight time depending on the
type of flying you do. You need to buy
Deans Plugs to connect the LiPo battery
to the helicopter. I also soldered Deans
Plugs onto the Ni-Mh battery so that I
have two battery packs when I go flying.
You need to buy a LiPo charger to charge
the LiPo batteries, but they are quite
handy because most of the digital LiPo
chargers can charge all battery types
and different sizes. LiPo is definitely
the way to go for longer flight times.
If you want to extend the life span of
your LiPo batteries, always charge them
a bit less than the capacity of the
battery. Say you have a 910 mAh, you
must set the LiPo charger to charge
900mAh. Make sure that you have selected
the correct voltage for the LiPo
battery. If you charge a 7.4V LiPo, you
must set the LiPo charger to 7.4V for
the charge.
I found that the Walkera #4 is quite
crash resistant. I had lots of mild
crashes with my Walkera #4 with minimal
damage. When you crash, the main rotor
blades usually pops off, or you only
have to straighten them to fly again.
The helicopter skids can take a some
beating, and are not that expensive to
replace if you need to. Buy yourself the
training kit that fits most of all the
small electric helicopters. The training
kit clips onto you helicopter skids and
helps you with the hover learning
process so that you don’t easily damage
your main rotor blades.
Reason to buy the Walkera #4
The Walkera #4 is a nice indoor and
outdoor helicopter in light winds.
It is quite easy to learn with, due to
its low main rotor head speed.
It has a powerful tail rotor motor.
The build in gyro is very effective and
can be adjusted later on.
It can fly up, down, left right, yaw
left and right and can hover still in
midair.
It is cheap to maintain.
The parts are easily obtainable and
available.
The Walkera #4 is quite crash resistant.
Transition into forward flight is really
good.
I hope this helped you on your first
helicopter purchased.
Happy flying...
My Walkera #4 in
action flown by myself.
For a first
time buy, you can't go wrong with the
Walkera #4.
This is the
Newest! Latest! Improved! 2007 model of
the famed Dragonfly #4 Helicopter. New
features for this newest version are
"Self regulate for balance", "New
cabin", "New Rotor Blades", "New Rolling
Head", and MORE!
