Walkera #38 Out of The Box!

Hi, i'm Craig, i am brand new to RC heli flying. I bought a Walkera #38 from Ed at rtfelectric.co.uk and i was very impressed by his knowledge and how quickly he delivered. He also happens to be one of only a few importers of Walkera stuff here in the UK. I recommend him!

The box is pretty big. Turns out, so is the heli :-) I was really impressed, it looks great and it's big. What more can i ask for? (Cheaper crashes?!!!!).

What's in the Box?

• 1 x fully assembled CH-46 chinook heli (the smaller twister skylift is a CH-47 i believe)


• 8 x (full set) spare blades + replacement screws (x8) and nuts (x8).


• 1 x lipo 7.4v 2200mAh battery


• 1 x lipo balance charger


• 1 x wall plug transformer for the lipo balance charger


• 1 x WK-2401 Transmitter


• 1 x Transmitter-to-sound-card adapter for flight sims on the computer


• 1 x Adjustment tool

Everything in the box (including the packing!) feels like good quality to me. The shell of the heli is a bit thin (its made of lexan so should be durable) but i understand that's for weight reasons. Internally the chassis feels absolutely solid and not built for weight saving ;-).

The Heli

It looks cracking, and theres no time wasted on building it up and worrying whether you're millimetre-off-centre hole you just drilled will cause it to drop like a rock ;-). I like it!

It's powered by 4 x 370 motors, i understand these are pretty big. I've read some folks complaining that the battery pack is a little small, and the motors are underpowered because of this. I don't have an opinion on that yet, but i'm sure i will soon!

Lipo Charger

The supplied charger isn't great. It's rated at 0.8 amps per hour. That means recharging a 2.2A battery takes approx 3 hours. I will be buying an upgraded charger that will do 2Ah (i read this battery should handle up to 2.2Ah safely), with a battery charge meter so i can measure my battery usage vs. flight time accurately. This last point is important, because i read that you should never fully discharge a lipo battery.

The Transmitter

It seems pretty cool. It takes 8xAA cells, though the shape of the holder suggests to me i can purchase a rechargable pack somewhere (the transmitter also includes an input for a charger).

It comes with a cable for hooking up to the computer though i've not tried that yet. I run Linux on the desktop and i expect most sims will be Windows only -- but that's completely unverified as yet!

Extras

I spoke with Ed on the phone for a bit before buying, i was sure i wanted an extra battery pack, but i asked what other spares i should consider. He suggested blades -- turns out, these really are essential. Buy 3 sets :-)

Ed also suggested undercarriage for those not-so-elegant-landings. I'm not convinced i'll need these soon, but they were only £4 or so, i'm happy to have them around at that price.

The Total Cost

All in for my Walkera #38, an extra battery, an extra set of x8 blades & an extra set of undercarriage == £190 (including next day delivery). Having looked around at the other options open to me, i feel this was fair value and i'm happy with the price.