Heli V Fixed Wing – Building

Over the past few years the range of toy helicopters available through gadget and electrical shops has seen a massive increase. The choice is now huge. However these toys should not be confused with hobby grade fixed wing aircraft or a real remote control helicopter. Thanks to advances in technology it is now possible to buy “ready to fly” (rft) helicopters but if you are thinking of building your own then there is a difference between helicopters and fixed wing models.

Fixed Wing
These are usually built from a plan or a kit and involve a lot of detailed cutting and painting. Fixed wing modellers tend to be either builders or fliers as the amount of effort required to build a fixed wing model is huge. Having said that not all newbies have to commit to the long slog of building a kit. There  are RFT remote control planes on the market which will certainly give you a taste of what it is like to fly a fixed wing model.

Helis
If you do not opt for a ready to fly remote control helicopter then you will recieve the model in kit form. It is then a matter of assembling it . There will be no cutting, glueing and painting. Building a helicopter will consist of screwing or bolting a large number of components.

The above does not hold true for those who want to build a scale remore control helicopter. There are only a few scale kits available and they can be  very expensive. They are really only for the truely dedicated enthusiast.

As an aside, just from observation, it would appear that those interested in flying a remote control helicopter are mainly interested in getting the model flying. This is no as pronounced with fixed wing enthusiasts. There is no real explanation for this. It maybe due to the fact that helicopters are relatively new to the mass model market and is more focused on action.