For a few years now, I have been toying with the idea of getting into competition with RC helicopters. I`m a fairly decent 3D pilot, but not on a level that would be competitive. Although I understand the skills it takes to compete in speed competition, it just doesn`t interest me.

Then.... there is F3C. Precision hovering maneuvers, along with precision aerobatic maneuvers. I think I found my little niche in the RC helicopter hobby. F3C takes skills, nerves, and dedication that I never realized or gave credit for in the past......Until I tried it.

Wow! Is it ever a hard discipline to learn, but at the same time, so much fun. Learning to fly the maneuvers is just the beginning. There are several settings that are completely opposite of how you set them up on a 3D helicopter, which are definitely a challenge to get used to.

The idle up pitch/throttle curves are the same as for 3D, but in normal mode, is where things get tricky. I won`t get too far into the settings, but they make the helicopter very docile in the hovering maneuvers.

I competed in my very first contest last weekend (March 19-21, 2021) at the 2021 AMPS Heli Smackdown in Homestead, Florida and I walked away with second place. I`m totally hooked on F3C now, and 3D is going to have to be put on the back burner for a while until I get F3C down pat.

I`ll still do 3D demo flights at events, but F3C competition is going to be my main focus.

Hi everyone. I am happy to announce that I have joined the Kontonik Drives U.S.A. flight team. I am honored to be able to represent these amazing motors and ESCs. I`m looking forward to long and happy relationship with the Kontronik family.

Over the past couple of years, I have been building a lot of helicopters. But none of them were for me, they were for friends and others who needed help with building and setups. So this time around, I`m getting to build one for myself.

I had been planning on building a GAUI X5V2 for myself, (still might do that) until GAUI announced to the team that they were working on a new machine. We were told about it about midway through 2019, and I decided I would wait for this one instead of doing and X5x at this time.

The helicopter I`m speaking of, is the GAUI NEX6. This helicopter can be built as a 6s electric, a 12s electric, or as a nitro helicopter...accepting 50-60 size nitro engines. The kit comes out of the box to be built as a 6s electric, and can be upgraded to 12s electric or nitro by purchasing the 12s or nitro upgrade kits, sold separately. The upgrade kits are around $100 for the nitro upgrade, and $65 for the electric upgrade.

The NEX6 has a belt driven tail, and the drive train is very smooth. It will swing up to 610mm main blades, and 82mm-95mm tail blades.  It also incorporates the use of the GAUI R5 (GAUI`s speed model)  rotor head, which is very nicely built. There is also TONS of room for electronics mounting, which makes for very clean wiring jobs. Which I am a stickler for.

It is a very light helicopter, weighing in at 8 pounds ready to fly (my personal setup) as a 12s. Without the flight battery, mine is weighing in at about 5 pounds.

The canopy is brightly coloured and is easy to see from long distances...it also matches my KBDD 600mm Extreme Edition main blades and KBDD 95mm CF tail blades very well.

Xpert KD1 cyclic servos

Xpert KD1T tail servo

Bavarian Demon AXON fbl

KBDD 600mm Extreme Edition main blades

KBDD 95mm CF tail blades

Pulse 12s 3000 mAh 45C stick packs

Scorpion Tribunus II 200A ESC'

Scorpion backup Guard

Scorpion HKIII 4025-550 motor

Jeti REX7 receiver

Jeti 200A MUI sensor

The parts for my OS105HZ DRS helicopter engine came in a couple of days ago, and I was so excited about getting started on the rebuild. Man... there was a lot of damage caused by that retaining pin that came out. I had to replace everything in the engine except for the case, crankshaft, and carburetor. Everything else was a complete write off. But.... It`s a brand new engine again, and It`s in the helicopter and ready to go again.

This weekend, I`ll take it out and go through the break in process again and then work on finding the really good tune I had on it before my little oopsie. I even installed the .2mm shim in the head, so I can run 30% nitro if I decide to do so.

Well...well...well. Seems I made a rookie mistake when I rebuilt my OS105 last time. While I was installing the wrist pin retainers, I damages one of them (bent it a little) and caused it to not seat 100% correctly. The result was the retainer coming out and getting into the piston liner...not a good day...LOL. It did a LOT of damage, and resulted in a pretty large repair bill.

I knew I should have changed the retainer out, but I didn`t, and my engine payed the price. Live and learn, I guess. I have the parts ordered, and it shouldn`t be long before my engine it back to normal.