Picco Control -- Anyone seen or used it? Plus more newbie ?'s.

I am new here. I have been watching the board for a while and learning as much as I can.
I have not yet purchased one yet, but I have decided that I am going to try a Piccolo. I have been reading whatever I can get my eyes on about them and have visited Paul Goelz's site several times already.
Paul was kind enough to answer a couple of questions I e-mailed to him directly. Thanks again Paul.

I am still unsure as to which way to go, separates or Piccoboard? While surfing around looking for best locations and prices, I came accross a "Picco Control" made by Century. It apparently has the 2 ESC's and the mixer but no Gyro, allowing you to select one of your choosing. This made sense to me if I'm going to go the 'separate' route in the future.

Has anyone seen one of these units, or had the opportunity to try one out? How did it work out?

If I do decide to go separates, would two of Castle Creations Pixie 7's work OK?

Please note that I will be going to brushless after I feel
that I am confident with the machine. Doing it in stages will also allow me to bring the project in under the 'money radar' (aka Wife)

So basically, with the stock Piccolo motor(s) which ESC's would be good? I've read that the Orion motors draw up to 9 amps,what does the stock motor draw?

Sorry if this is a bit long-winded. First post nerves. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

If anyone has any ideas I'd be glad to hear them. Also, if you have any questions for me, ask away.

Thanks,
Bill.

P.S. Can any of you guys/gals in Canada recommend a source for the Piccolo and parts?

Twister,
I don't know anything about the Pico Control I'm afraid, but just wanted to add that probably the main difference between going seperates or not when starting out is the type of radio you will need. The picoboard gives you the tail mixing built in, aswell as the gyro etc. If you don't use a Picoboard then you'll need a transmitter that can do this mixing, which usually means it has to be programmable or specifically designed for heli use, and costs a lot more than the cheap 4 channel radios you can use (and are often included in a Pico deal). I don't know if this Pico Control board you have found will do this mixing.

I fly with a picoboard and have never had any problems with it and would probably recomend it to anyone just starting out, but if you already have things such as a good radio, micro reciever etc. then seperates may be a better way to go.

Hope this helps.

Thanks LozMod.

The JR Radio I have is a Heli radio capable of mixing.

I am still a bit uncertain of which way to go though. The Piccoboard sounds good because it is designed for the Piccolo. But if something goes wrong, i.e. the Gyro quits, or one of the ESC's has a problem then the whole system is down.
Separates sound good for that reason, but then the cost is higher.

I'll continue to read what I can find and in a month or so, when I'm ready to buy, I'll take that first step.

Thanks again.

Bill.

This is strictly my opinion. If I had know what a pain the picoboard is I would have gone with seperates right from the start. The reason I say this is do to Ikarus lack of service on the Piccoboard. It's been almost two months and I still don't have my board back from Ikarus. My board was bad right from the start, my buddies also just went bad! If you get a good board, then you are alright, but god help you if you have to send it in for repair, it could be a long time before you see it again. I spent $175.00 on the plus board and a HH module. I could have gone with complete seperates with a nice CSM HH gyro for about $130.00. If something goes wrong, then you only have to repair or replace a single component. However, for a new person getting into this, going seperates will be more complicated to set up. You will have to splice and soldier some wires, and also find good ways of mounting all the components, wich can sometimes be challenging. It is easer to upgrade singel componets with seperates. Those are some of the pros and cons of each. It's a hard call. For me, I wish I would have gone with seperates, but that is just my opinion.

It's interesting no one uses the Century board because it looks like it might be a nice way to go as it gives you better gyro options. I can hardly knock the Piccoboard though, as I have 5 of them all working quite well. I've only lost 1 gyro, and that happened when I put a Piccolo into my basement rafters at full throttle (small throttle reverse spasm). Paul fixed my gyro and it's now good as new if not better (newer gyro).

Jeff

Thanks for the reply Nitroguru1. (I'm feeling like I should bow now, or maybe light some incense?) Sorry, had to respond to the 'guru' part. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Connecting and soldering is not a problem. I've been involved with R/C for about 18 years. Making battery packs, connecting ESC's and such doesn't worry me. I have been tending to lean towards the separates route more and more after gathering prices.

The more recent question is maybe I should start with the ECO 8? I have loads of Sub C cells already. I have many motors and several ESC's that I could choose from to get it going.

I'll have to ask a few more questions I guess.

Thanks again.

Bill.

Twister,
Eco 8. Good choice, but now your talking collective - and if you haven't flown or setup a heli before then you may want to stay clear of collective for a while (unless you have someone to teach you with a buddy box setup). I'm still trying to get to grips with it and finding it very difficult (the setup more than the flying).

For learning on your own I personally don't think you can beat the FP Pics. They take crashes well, where a similar Eco 8 crash would cost loads in repairs. I would advise that you get some fun out of the very durable FP Pic before moving on to something else but don't know your experience in heli's. Its the only heli I know of that can be crashed so many times and be back into the air with a little CA or a few relatively cheap parts replaced. Its also small enough to fly just about anywhere - don't know if I'd want to fly an Eco 8 in my back garden.

I started learning on a Concept 30 but the expensive crashes put me off heli flying for a while - that is until I got my hands on a Pic and have never looked back. I'd thouroughly recomend it as a good entry to any kind of model flying let alone heli flying.

Loz

For what it's worth, I like the Piccoboard for a beginner. It makes the setup that much easier that you can worry more about flying and less about setting up. I too have been into R/C for years and years and I've never seen a better starter setup than the FP Piccolo with PB. One thing I would say though is that the HH module is a waste of money. Other than that, I'm still flying with my original PB+ which has been crashed more times than I care to remember.

[gaanel]

Hello,
I will add my opinions as well. I think I would go with a Fun Pic and the Piccoboard w/o receiver. You can get the fun pic for about $89.00 and the piccoboard for about $78.00. I also tried gas helicopters before and one simple mistake can cost much. I have wrecked the Fun Pic so much I can't even count the times. Every wreck has either done no damage or been repairable with super glue. By going this route I also kept the money under the wife radar. I have been slowly adding improvements (orion, ball in socket, etc) and she really has not noticed.
Plus, as mentioned before, collective pitch is much more complicated to get set up. Start with the fixed pitch so you can learn the basics of flight, then move up from there.
Gary

Thank you all (Gary, Mark, Jeff, Loz) for your comments.

I assure you that I'll be doing some serious SIM time before trying the 'actual' thing. I have downloaded the FMS simulator and a circuit to connect it to my radio. (Although for a few bucks I might order one and save the headache.)

I did try a "Mantis" .45 powered FP Heli about 20 years ago but found that I did not have the patience or the $$ to keep it up at the time. I think I actually 'bounced' it up off the ground for about 5 seconds. Once.

Hopefully, I'm older and wiser now (HA!) and will be able to learn to keep it off the ground. Preferrably in a controlled manner.

I'm looking forward to it.

Bill.