Honestly honey, it just followed me home!

My big surprise this week was supposed to be that my new business cards from Moo came in.  That really isn’t as lame as it sounds.  They are very cool cards, designed by yours truly.  Anyway, I raced in the back door and nearly broke my neck racing back out the front door to retrieve my cards from the mailbox.

The reason for the nearly broken neck was a very large box.  A brief review of the shipping label had my curiosity piqued.  Hmmm…Hobby E-Store.  There was only one thing that item that I could fathom might come from that store, and be the right size.

I wonder who might have sent such an incredibly cool toy to me without saying anything?  Thank you!

Notes after [trying] to fly…

I’ve had an E-Sky Lama 4 for a long time.  In the picture above, you might notice a lot of tape and aftermarket parts.  There is a really good reason for that.  I crashed it a lot.  In fact, I probably bought the thing two or three times.  By now, I’m pretty good at flying it.  I thought that transitioning to a collective pitch would be pretty easy.

I was wrong.  First, the Belt-CP is bigger.  A lot bigger.  That makes it scary for two reasons.  First, it will hurt more when it hits you…and it will hurt more when you buy new parts. 

Now, the other scary thing is that it’s a 3D helicopter.  That means that faster blades do not really equate to more lift.  It just means that the blades are moving faster.  You have to tell it how much lift to give you.  It doesn’t care for idly sliding sideways, the way my Lama does.  The slightest, tiniest movement on the controls sends the thing rocketing off in a different direction.

After trying to do a simple hover (in my very small living room, where there is no wind), my heart was in my throat and my pulse was in the range that I normally expect only when running away from rabid squirrels.

After a few minutes, I began to remember my humble beginnings with the Lama.  For several days I would get it an inch or two off the floor and then I would have to set it down because it was out of control.  It will probably take the same amount of practice with this helicopter.  The only problem is that I doubt Evelyn will sleep through the noise, or Aimee will permit me to fly it in the living room while she’s here!

By the way, if you’ve ever tried to fly a 3D helicopter on FMS…yeah, it really is that hard to fly one in real life!