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Esprit Model . Thunder Power RC . Real Raptors

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e-Electric General Discussion > Piccolo Pro or Hornet CP
 
 
Carps
Veteran
Location: Caterham, Surrey, England

I'm thinking about getting one of these little helis to keep me going through the miserable UK winter.

I have read through some old threads on the subject, but was wondering what the current opinion is - Hornet CP or PiccoloPro ?

I would do most flying 'inside', but would like to take it out and about on calm days.

I am also quite keen on getting a body - I understand the Ikarus fuses can be made to fit both models. Is this correct ?

What electronics are recommended ? Is the PiccoBoard worth it, or can I use a micro RX and normal gyro with the Piccolo tail ?

Lastly, are there any mods that are necessary on either model ?

Thanks in advance
12-15-2002 Over year old.
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rickc
Elite Veteran
Location: Creve Coeur IL. (Peoria Area)

I have had a Piccolo but it was the not the Pro version, I currently have a Hornet CP. This seems to fly better in my opinion. The shaft driven tail I believe is the key. With the Piccolo the tail rotor was driven by its own motor and a turbo lag effect was present, mostly noticeable on trying to stop the heli quickly after a fast pirouette. The Pro version may be better now I'm couldn't say. There are lots of aftermarket parts for these heli’s. I went with a Hacker B20-22S and a Schulze controller, then add on an aluminum swashplate and several other goodies and you can wrap up abut as much in one of these as you can a nice .30 sized heli. My opinion is that it beats a sim all to heck for wintertime flying.

Rick
12-15-2002 Over year old.
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bobj
Veteran
Location: United Kingdom

Piccolo Pro or Hornet CP

Hi
I am not a expert on the micro models but have flown them a fair bit, although I find the Hornet to be a better design (more like a proper Heli) all the Hornet CP's I have flown have been very lacking in power, with the std 7cell pack it hardly gets out of ground effect and even with 8 cells the performance is poor.
I think to get good performance you would have to go down the brushless motor route which although much better in the long term will
increase the cost a fair bit.
The Piccolo Pro in it's standard form is much better with enough power to loop, roll, flip and fly around inverted out of the box.
We are still along way from having a indoor 3D micro heli right out of the box but the Pro certainly beats the Hornet for now, I know that a number of guys have really pushed their Hornets performance limits but they have a lot of time and money invested in these, hopefully in the future we can all reap the rewards of this effort.

One other thing as you are in the UK, since Irvines took over as distributors for MS things have not been as great and spares support is not as good as it could/should been!

Hope this helps.

BTW I see you have a Golf for sale on your website, be carefull with this, Nicky just had hers stollen when trying to sell it, call me for more details as it might effect yours!

Best regards
Bob Johnston

Skyline Models
12-16-2002 Over year old.
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FinnDave
Elite Veteran
Location: Kouvola, Finland

I flew a firends CP Hornet yesterday, it is new and so is he...it was using some sort of lithium battery (I know kess than nothing about electric power) and I have to say it was by far the most difficult heli I have ever flown. Circuits were not too bad, but hovering very hard, better if 1 metre or so up than down in the dust.

I would need to be very desperate to want to fly indoors before I would consider buying one of these. Even here we able to fly conventional models outside yesterday.

Cheers,

David S., Kouvola, Finland
12-16-2002 Over year old.
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bobj
Veteran
Location: United Kingdom

Hornet CP

Hi Dave

Any of the micro models are little ba##rds compared with a conventional sized model, generally the smaller, lighter and lower the head speed then the worse they are, the standard Piccolo is the worst because of this but they are all good fun once you get used to them.
They all suffer from some degree with ground effect hence the need to hover them at least one rotor diameter in the air.
What you might well find is that if you mates model is new then everything will be tight and sticky and will get better with use or careful sizing of the ball links.
I have a mate who spent all winter flying a standard Hornet and managed to learn nose-in with this, obviously when he then tried it on a larger model it was no problem at all.
The std Piccolo opens up all sorts of possibilities as it is so tough and has so little energy so not much chance of damaging anything, you can fly it around the house/office, thought door ways, land or heads etc.

I think you would find if you flew your mates for a few flights you would soon get used to it and not find it so bad.

Best regards
Bob J

Skyline Models
12-16-2002 Over year old.
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FinnDave
Elite Veteran
Location: Kouvola, Finland

Hi Bob,

Well, when I visited you 18 months ago, I almost bought a Hornet! Might have been a better bet than that Voayger E I carried home

I know that the one I was flying yesterday was not really set up too well and was using the wrong sort of gyro (my old Hi Tec 130, in fact!) and it stil flew, after a fashion, but i was doing a lot of work on the sticks!

My problem with the tiny helis is still that to get one set up to fly reasonably well it seems that you have to spend as much as you would on a 50-sized glow model, and for me, that's where I'd rather spend my money!

Having read so often how 'bouncable' these micros are, I was surprised that the boom of this Hornet has been broken 5 times now, as well as some other damage!

Cheers

David S., Kouvola, Finland
12-16-2002 Over year old.
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Bugflyer
Heliman
Location: Maryland

I am currently flying a new Piccolo pro. It is controllable and flies well. I have a hornet fixed pitch which flys great for a fixed pitch machine. Last year I converted it to CP. It did not seem to have much flight time and it was hard to get the pitch set up right so the tail would not swing. I converted it back to fixed pitch. The Piccolo Pro I have now is exactly what I was looking for in a micro heli and flys well right out of the box without a lot of mods. I am having a great time with it . It is also very nimble doing loops and stall turns with ease. I would highly recommend it. I don't think you can really enter forward flight indoors in very small areas with any of these small machines unless you are a real ace flyer but you can hover .

Remember Gravity is the Enemy !!!
Bugflyer
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
bobj
Veteran
Location: United Kingdom

Hi Bugflyer

My thoughts exactly, if you are prepared to throw time and money at the Hornet CP then I think it could be the better model but for out of the box no hassle fun the Piccolo pro beats it hands down.

I recently wrote a little about this on our website, if you are interested then have a look at "Micro Heli's" on the the right hand side of our font page skylinemodels.co.uk

Best regards
Bob J
02-07-2003 Over year old.
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e-Electric General Discussion > Piccolo Pro or Hornet CP
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