Missione: Addomesticare la bestia selvaggia

Mission: Taming the Wild Beast - E-Sky Big Lama

Few weeks ago, my brother bought something very catchy. He posted the photo in Facebook, and it immediately caught our attention. We could not believe it. Dad was especially surprised.

My brother bought a radio controlled helicopter. Big Boy's Dream Toy. And thus, the R/C fever began.



Helicopter. As a child, I have always been intrigued by this marvellous machine. I don't particularly like planes or boats or cars. Comprising of nothing more than a big, high-powered fan, the helicopter can hover in the air and even fly faster than a car. All these are achieved by a mere huge ceiling fan. The rotor pushes a gush of air towards the ground and the helicopter can be lifted off the ground, hovering higher than a skyscraper.
Amazing. Pure amazement.

I remember my interest for helicopter began with an old computer game called SimCopter, a helicopter simulator. I remember I had a lot of fun playing it. Since then, every time I see a helicopter, I will be very interested, whether it is in a game or real life or movie. Helicopter is just an amazing machine. I dream of being a helicopter pilot. It must be a very awesome experience to fly one, or just being in one when it flies.

Radio controlled helicopter has always been my dream toy, not planes or boats or cars. I thought of getting one when I was very young, around 12 years old, and I thought it was very easy to fly one. Looks like I had underestimated the art of flying R/C helicopter. When dad asked me to search the internet for any nearby hobby shop and suggested we go and look around to find, I thought he was just wanted to look around.

There is one hobby shop in The Store, Pandan. Luckily, because it is very near to our house. We went there and looked around, not really acting like a buyer. My jaw dropped when I saw the size of the Lama V4. Overall length should be around 50cm, nose to tail. That was bigger than I expected. A lot bigger. I initially thought of those palm-sized model, small and handy. Then the shopkeeper recommended the Big Lama, good for outdoor, and even bigger at 60cm. My eyes almost popped out. And when I saw the display model of some kerosene or nitro powered helicopter, my eyes popped out. Overall length was more than 1 meter, and it looked like it weighed over 1kg. Ultimate model.

Sturdy and rugged, Big Lama is said to be designed for outdoor flying. Dad said outdoor can be played indoor, but not the other way around, so it's more worth to buy outdoor model, moreover our house compound is large enough to play. The shopkeepers, 2 guys and 1 girl, all Malay, were very helpful and friendly. The younger guy is an engineering graduate, with certificates and a graduate photo proudly hanged at the shop's entrance. Bachelor in mechanical engineering from Universiti Tenaga Nasional, and Master in engineering design from University of Liverpool. He is an international R/C player, skilled in helicopters, planes, boats, cars (drifting)...

The older guy looked like a repairman, servicing those spoiled model. He looked inexperience in flying until he showed us what he can do with those toys. He can hover the Big Lama right in front of his eyes, with the tail touching his nose and not moving! That stunt blew my mind off. Dad said he was checking the rotor blades alignment. He also showed us some photos of what we can do with 3D models, models that can do out-of-the-world stunts like flying upside-down, colloquially named potong rumput.

Dad said he bought this for my birthday. An early but very big surprise! The shopkeepers advised me to use the Flying Model Simulator software included in the package to familiarize with the control. The girl asked me to try it out in the shop, and I crashed like I had a hill of money to buy new one. Our presence attracted a lot of shoppers' attention. More and more people flowed into the shop to see what's going on, not to mention the crowd-attracting test flights. People were still very intrigued at these toys.

The shopkeepers are not those all-I-care-is-make-your-money type of salespeople. They are really enthusiastic player. They will advise you on anything you need to know about flying an R/C helicopter, from how to charge the battery to how to avoid crashes. Here are a list I learnt by hard myself:

1. NEVER, EVER turn off the controller BEFORE disconnecting the helicopter battery, and NEVER EVER connect the battery BEFORE you switch on the controller, as it will literally fly off itself. I did not really believe this, but today I tried switching off my controller while playing. The helicopter went haywire as its rotors spun itself at full speed! Luckily nothing was broken. My theory is that there are a lot of stray radio waves in the atmosphere, and the helicopter inadvertently picks up any radio waves of similar frequency and operates the motors, thus spinning like hell.
2. REMEMBER to put the throttle at zero before connecting the battery. Today I accidentally left the throttle at medium and went in house to check on the manual. A sudden buzzing and whirring sound started me and I realized that the helicopter was flying. Damage report: one crash kit broken. Luckily!

Damage report: 1 crash kit

Well, let's get the flying started! I'm going to tame you, Big Lama!

Retrofitted Big Lama