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When it rains, or there is too much wind outside or simply when we don’t have the time to drive to our RC flight club, until now our only comfort could be flying a small 3-channel toy or a little coaxial helicopter, whose reactions had very little in common with the reactions of a “real” RC helicopter.
The Nine Eagles Solo Pro is a 4-channel helicopter of very reduced dimensions, but it is single rotor, not coaxial, and it is provided with a new revolutionary auto-stabilization system and it flies nearly like one of the “big ones”…. at a small scale : Ideal to stay in good form and to practice new maneuvers…
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First Impressions :
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See also:
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Nine Eagles Solo Pro
Tips and Tricks
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Being very similar to his cousins, the Nine Eagles "Solo" and "Flash" (also known with the commercial name of Nincopter 190 Micro), basically the same size, its little weight and robust nature call our attention.
The tiny tail motor is provided with a direct drive rotor (no gears or pinions), while the main rotor blades come in one piece each.
The flybar at the main rotor comes at a 45º angle and contains two small weights, the same new auto-stabilization system which you can find in the latest RC helicopters as e.g. the Walkera CB180, Nine Eagles CHIP (bigger than the Solo Pro) and others.
This new auto-stabilization system is the latest advance on the market and being a very straightforward idea, there are already opinions saying that it will replace the coaxial helicopters as the ones for initiation.
The servos are included with the electronics, so far the smallest plate of a “4 in 1” with gyro which I have seen.
The transmitter calls our attention for also being very small in size, but at the same time totally ergonomic, which makes its handling very comfortable and easy to grab and to control the sticks.
This digital transmitter comes with a LCD panel, which keeps you informed about the percentage of acceleration applied and the positioning of the trims. We are speaking of digital trims !
Besides the comfortability and the precision which this implies, the position of the trims will be saved even if you switch off the transmitter or it ends up without batteries.
The transmitter has a compact antenna like the rest of 2,4 Ghz. transmitters and it also functions as a way of charging :
At the rear it has a little lid which when opened permits to introduce the LiPo battery (a real cute little LiPo :-D).
The transmitter receives the necessary current from 4 batteries size AA. With the kit we provide 4 alcaline batteries.
In any case, the consumption of the helicopter isn’t very high, so you can easily recharge the helicopter Lipo when a battery charger for 220V is not used.
This is the transmitter on the market which is easiest to change from Mode 2 to Mode 1. It is enough to change the position of the antenna (two screws) to change it from Mode 2, the way it leaves the factory (gas at the left side, the most normal), to Mode 1 (gas at the right side, a mode which many airplane pilots use).
Flying...
It is definetely harder to take off than the Nincopter Micro 190 or the other Nine Eagles coaxial helicopters, but at the same time quite a lot easier than other helicopters of the same size which I have tried.
Additionally it has a very surprising function at the transmitter : when you accelerate from cero (something we only do when lifting off ground), the swashplate automatically inclines towards the right side, in order to counteract the natural tendency to slide to the left during takeoff.
Once we are hovering, correctly trimmed this helicopter is as stable as any coaxial heli, you can even leave the sticks “hands-free” as long as you like.
If we then push the right stick to any direction to stop hovering, the heli abandons his impressive immobility in order to become agile and quick, just like his big brothers, other single rotor helicopters, which makes flying very entertaining and not short of adrenaline…
You can swap between two different types of sensitivity by pushing down the left stick of the transmitter : expert or exterior mode (more sensitive), this mode comes by default when you switch on the transmitter, and beginner or interior mode (less sensitive). Both positions are indicated on the digital LCD panel of the transmitter in the form of a circle or a semi circle.
Flying in “beginner’s mode”, hovering is made very easy and the reactions of the helicopter come with moderate velocity.
In “expert’s mode” the helicopter becomes very lively in reactions, allowing without any problems or strange effects to fly in circles,eight-shaped circles or generally quite fast movements. It also allows you to practice “nosing” (hovering with the helicopter looking at you) : to practice this position the Nine Eagles is way better than a flight simulator…
The flight time is quite superior to that of other helicopters of the same category : Despite the small size of its battery and depending on our way of flying, we’ll be able to fly between 9 to 12 minutes with one charge of battery.
We want to point out, that the motors hardly show any warming after some flight time, which makes us assume that the life time of the little motors will be quite long. The tail motor is obviously expected to have a shorter life span, due to its tiny size and because of the rotor being directly connected to the shaft, with no gears in between.
Kit Contents:
Like always, we will be speaking of the kits available in our shop, FUTURHOBBY, which probably won’t be the same as in other shops.
We offer you the Nine Eagles Solo Pro RTF in two different presentations, in a cardboard case or in an aluminium case and both ways we are as always speaking of our well known “Spooky Tested” versions*.
*”SPOOKY TESTED” means: All helicopters are revised, adjusted and testflown by us before their shipping, in order to assure their perfect functioning.
Copyright 2009 Antonio Diez, "Spooky"
Camera: Verena Klein
www.spookycopters.com
www.futurhobby.com
YOU CAN SEE ALL NINE EAGLES HELICOPTER KITS AND SPARES HERE:
VISIT ALSO OUR SOLO PRO TIPS AND TRICKS PAGE
BASIC POINTS OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE SOLO PRO.
The Nine Eagles Solo Pro is a very small helicopter, which doesn’t mean, that just like all other radiocontrol helicopters, it can’t improve its way of flying by correctly balancing all its mobile parts, centering weights and adjusting various aspects.
There are two things which might seem a little complicated at the beginning : it’s somewhat difficult to trim and flying you will encounter a certain tendency to move forward/backwards when turning, not very intense, but maybe enough to confuse a bit :
Being as stable as it is hovering, when from this position we turn right (by tail), the helicopter will slightly move forward, away from the hovering position and if we turn left, it’ll move slightly backwards…it isn’t very hard to get used to that and to counteract it with the right stick at the same time after a couple of practice flights.
It is interesting to see, that the centre of gravity is to be found quite forward and that the swashplate doesn’t come very levelled horizontally.
Nevertheless the heli flies very stable this way, though it might be interesting to try to balance the centre of gravity and to see how it flies with the swashplate levelled.
The main rotor of the Solo Pro consists in two non-articulate rotor blades which form a set. In order for the helicopter to fly in a stable way and to react sensitive to the transmitter,it is important for the rotor to be able to tilt to both sides easily. This movement might be limited if the joints which connect it to the flybar or the pushrods which connect it to the servos don’t work perfectly smooth and loose.
Any sort of friction in any of these parts will cause the heli to show a “lazy” behaviour, therefore we recommend to check that all of them work smoothly.
If this is not the case, I don’t recommend the use of lubricator, I suggest to simply revise all the joints squeezing them a little with fine tip pliers, while you move the ball inside by hand in all directions acting on the link connected to it.
This way the joints get slightly “filed” inside, without ending up too loose-fitting either.
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Click to view prices
Nine Eagles Solo Pro flying in our shop…
And flying exterior with a slight breeze.
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If it were any smaller you couldn’t see it…
The Nine Eagles Solo Pro with aluminium case.
YOU CAN CHECK OUT PRICES AND MODELS OF THE NINE EAGLES SOLO PRO AT OUR ONLINE SHOP, THE BIGGEST VARIETY OF AVAILABLE PRESENTATIONS :
The Nine Eagles Solo Pro 2. Only the colours change.
The Solo Pro without the canopy.
VRear view of the Nine Eagles transmitter with the flight battery in its charging slot..
The Solo Pro and his cousin the coaxial .
You also have to verify that the horizontal links which are connected at the sides of the rotor havn’t turned around and form a right angle with the links that connect with the swashplate and the ones connected to the flybar.
Sometimes said links can turn round due to bad handling during transport or because of a crash during flight, therefore we very much recommend their revision after each violent landing and before each flight, just when taken out of the case.
For more information about these kind of details, please visit our webpage about Tips, Tricks and FAQ about the Nine Eagles Solo Pro.
TRIMMING OF THE TRANSMITTER
Another point of attention is the trimming of the transmitter. We have to keep in mind, that while hovering, the helicopter is not supposed to fly levelled, but to remain more or less static flying at the same spot while the stick of the swashplate is in a neutral position.
When we reach a height of approximately 1 metre with our heli, first we start trimming the rudder, in such a way, that its nose doesn’t tend to turn to any direction.
Once we’ve achieved that, we’ll remain hovering during a couple of seconds concentrating on the exact position where we have to maintain the stick. If we notice any sideways movement during hovering, we’ll continue trimming until it disappears.
Following this we’ll repeat the procedure with the elevator trim.
We find it convenient to repeat that this helicopter tends to slide quite a lot to the left during takeoff, but this behaviour is not to be corrected with the trim, as it is a completely normal effect in helicopters with tail rotor, as they take in the air from the left and push it to the right in order to maintain the helicopter without turning around itself despite the impulse of the main rotor.
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Just as stable as a coaxial heli and fast as a single rotor, now you will be able to enjoy 
