:
When I went to collect my Walkera 4#3B from the post office,
I was thinking how will this little heli compare to my
Walkera 4#3. The Walkera 4#3B is the upgraded version of the
Walkera 4#3. The first thing that catches your eyes when you
open the box is the metal rotor head and swash plate. The
Walkera 4#3B has a colorful canopy and main rotor blades.
With the helicopter in my hand, weighing almost nothing
(48g), I was amazed by all the super small parts. I think
Walkera have successfully upgraded the Walkera 4#3 to the
Walkera 4#3B by designing a very small, light and simple
four-channel radio controlled helicopter.
Technical and designing review:
Let’s start with the main rotor. The main rotor blades are
made from a strong durable plastic. They are a bit flexible,
but in a good way. Due to the Walkera 4#3B light weight, the
load factor on the main rotor blades are minimal, so the
flexibility of the main rotor blades doesn’t affect the
flight performance of the helicopter at all. You will get
away with minimal or no damage to the main rotor blades when
you crash due to its flexibility.
The rotor head assembly is all
metal, which is a great improvement. The blade holder rock
side ways on two miniature high quality ball bearings. The
balancing bar for the flybar-paddles is made from steel. Two
little screws on the flybar connectors can adjust the
paddles.
The metal swash plate is very
simple with two servos connected to it via ball linkages.
The swash plate bearing ensure for smooth cyclic movements.
The main shaft runs through the
main frame on two ball bearings. The main gear is connected
on the bottom end of the main shaft.
The Walkera 4#3B have two 3.5g
servos. One servo for elevator, and one servo for aileron.
As small as the are, they give precise elevator and aileron
movement for excellent cyclic control. The servos simply
clips into position on the main frame which make replacement
very easy if necessary.
The main motor of the Walkera 4#3B
is a brushed motor with strong magnets which give the
helicopter plenty of power for its size.
The Walkera 4#3B have a four
channel 2.4G receiver (elevator, aileron main motor and tail
motor). The gyro and speed controller is build into the
receiver. Unfortunately you cannot adjust the gyro
sensitivity, but I found the gyro very effective as is. The
servo extent can be adjusted on the receiver according to
your flying skills.
The Li-Po (3.7V 400mAh) battery of
the Walkera 4#3B gives about 8-9 minutes of flight time. It
simply slides into the battery frame, which make battery
changes very easy.
The landing skids are made of
extremely thin spring steel, and although they are very
light, they will handle hard landings with ease without
breaking.
The tail boom is made out of a
hollow graphite rod with the tail motor wires running
through it.
At the end of the tail boom you
will find the tail motor holder. The Walkera 4#3B have a
brushed tail motor with strong magnets to ensure ample power
to overcome the torque of the main rotor.
Although the tail rotor is very
small, it is very effective through the reduction gears. The
tail rotor shaft runs on two miniature ball bearings.
Overall the Walkera 4#3B have seven
high quality ball bearings to ensure smooth running on all
moving parts.
The Walkera 4#3B comes with a Li-Po
battery charger. A red light will be on during charging, and
a steady green light will show after charging is complete.
It will take approximately 40-60 minutes for the Li-Po to be
fully charged after flight.
The Walkera 4#3B comes with a 2.4G
transmitter. This technology allows the transmitter to bind
to the helicopter receiver with precise code pairing and
strong anti-jamming (no more worries about interference
while flying).
Setup:
The Walkera 4#3B is a ready to fly out of the box
helicopter. No assembling needed. Do an overall check for
any lose components before your first flight. You need to
charge the Li-Po battery of the helicopter, and for the
transmitter, you need eight AA batteries. They are not
supplied with the Walkera 4#3B kit.
Flight performance:
The Walkera 4#3B is the best four channel heli for its size
that I have ever flown. You will be amazed how well this
little heli flies. This heli can be flown outside in no wind
conditions, but is truly an indoor heli that will give you
hours and hours of good fun.
Take care on you first flight. Don’t assume that the
helicopter is trimmed correctly. Hover first and trim the
helicopter so that it hovers still in one spot without any
input from the elevator, rudder and aileron stickers on the
transmitter.
Hovering the Walkera 4#3B is fairly
easy once trimmed. Transition into forward flight is
exceptional good for such a little helicopter. I found a bit
of nose down elevator trim makes forward flight much easier.
Left and right rudder rotations is equally fast with full
rudder inputs. It will do about three 360 degree turns in
one second with full rudder application.
The gyro of the Walkera 4#3B is
very effective during hover and in flight. I get eight
minutes of flight time on a full charge. Ten-minute flights
are achievable with hover flights.
The Walkera 4#3B is very silent
during flight. You hardly hear any motor or rotor noise.
Reason to buy the Walkera 4#3
The Walkera 4#3B is a nice indoor
helicopter.
It is quite easy to fly if you have previous flying
experience.
It has a powerful main and tail rotor motor.
The build in gyro is very effective.
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.
The Walkera 4#3B is quite crash resistant.
Transition into forward flight is exceptionally good.
It can be flown outside in zero wind conditions.
And it’s not that expensive to buy.
Conclusion:
If you want a really small fixed pitch four channel
helicopter, this little Walkera 4#3B won’t disappoint you. I
highly recommend this new upgraded addition from Walkera. If you are
a newcomer or experienced R/C helicopter pilot, you will
have lots of fun flying this little engineering marvel.
Wow… you will be amazed