freestyle
Veteran
Location: Redmond WA USA
| Sounds to me like you're ready for flips... but you're also more than ready for rolls, so don't put that off too much longer. 
When I was where you are in the learning curve, I found myself wanting TONS of cyclic response. It's hard to fly smooth that way, but having snappy response means the heli spends less time knife-edge, so you lose less altitude during flips and rolls, and it means that if you botch something you can get the heli into a comfortable orientation quicker.
It's hard to say without seeing your heli fly, but I bet you're right about the cyclic rate not being high enough. Once you get comfortable with flips you'll probably want to turn it down again, but for now, faster cyclics might be just the thing to give you the confidence to flip and roll.
If those wheel collars are out by the paddles, move them in as close to the main shaft as possible. I'm not familiar with the Century 3D paddles, but the lighter, the better. In in doubt, you might try KSJ's, or if the Hawk has a 4mm flybar, try Freya paddles without any weight. 1800 sounds like a reasonable head speed for aerobatics with 570s, I wouldn't change that (don't slow it down any though... lower head speed = lower roll rate).
Is the bell:hiller ratio adjustable on the Hawk head? If it is, set it up for maximum bell, minimum hiller. In other words, you want the flybar to have as little authority over the main blades as possible, and give the swashplate as much as possible.
One other skill that you might want to work on at this point, in the sim if not at the field, is inverted flight. Go way upstairs, and from FFF do a half-loop or half-roll, and try to fly a circuit. Then work on inverted hovering. Inverted flying is not a prerequisite for flips, but it can't hurt, and it sounds like you're about ready. Start in the sim, get confident and consistent there, then take it to the field.
One more thing - from a tail-in hover, I mostly do forward flips, as a safety precaution. That way the heli is flipping away from me, not toward me. For back flips I start nose-in. It's not a major issue, I just feel safer this way, so I thought I'd mention it. |
