It all started at the Sandown Park Symposium in 2001 when Jan Henseleit joined the crew at NHP to demonstrate the Rocket and ThreeDee to the UK punters. Both models were flown in the required 'jaw dropping' manner and orders flooded in - I was just watching, green with envy, never even imagining I could ever own one myself.

Later on in the year and a few visits to NHP in Altrincham, where I pick up a lot of spares for the rest of the fleet, the Rocket initially and then the ThreeDee were displayed to maximum effect and I started to put some pennies aside.

Not thinking I would ever get enough I opted instead to buy the Robbe Futura SE and all the bits to go into flying a 60 size competition helicopter.

Content with my new acquisition, and the rest of the fleet seeing the occasional outing to the field, more visits to NHP still left me with a burning desire to own the ThreeDee.

On reducing the size of my fleet (by means of finding gullible members of the public!) selling a couple of smaller heli's, I suddenly found myself in a position to be able to buy the kit (nothing to do with my becoming the club Treasurer!), and engine together. Not ½ an hour from selling the last model, a visit to the shop resulted in me coming out with a nice new ThreeDee and OS90FX with Carb, Pipe, Blades and a couple of other bits I needed to put the thing together.

Why the ThreeDeeNT over the Rocket and other products on the market? Simply the quality, the design, and the performance available was the best available - there really is nothing else out there that even comes close to the ThreeDee. The Rocket has a lot of similarities, but is built for speed over anything else and I wanted a more 'rounded' helicopter to develop my skills.

Building the ThreeDeeNT was an absolute dream with an initial inspection revealing that all the bits were present followed by a few nights 'beavering' in the workshop resulting in a model looking like it was flying at 'mach one' whilst it was just standing on the bench!

All the mechanics went together with absolutely no slop anywhere and all the machined parts fitted perfectly. The tail gearbox was such a good fit (required the use of a hammer to fit) that at one point I thought the carbon boom was going to give way before it reached its home position! The MFS (Moving Flybar System) system was a completely new concept to me (and most people I suspect) and initial concerns over the possible wear in the system haven't become apparent after a good fifty flights.

The engine is huge when you're used to 'thirty' size machines and the gearing being single stage reduction belt drive has the largest main gear I've seen in any model helicopter. The special Lotterle carburettor is extremely easy to setup with the barrel set at any angle to match the servo position - not being able to compare it with the original OS carb, I don't know first hand if it performs any better, but taking advice from people who know and interpreting the detailed instructions I have a fair idea I went down the right route. The Hatori pipe is slung underneath down the middle with a spring to hold it in place at the back.

The radio choice was recommended in the instructions so again this advice was followed so I could be sure to have the best start. The CCPM system requires pretty heavy duty equipment as we will be swinging 710mm blades at +/-11degrees, and the instructions went into great detail as to how to set it up to give the desired performance with a jig supplied to get the linkages to the right length. I chose to use PCM as I wanted a failsafe on the throttle as a minimum and with all the carbon and metal in the airframe and mechanics coupled with the overall unhealthy environment we subject our radio gear to in any model helicopter I felt I needed as much security as I could get in signal integrity.
The gyro was picked out of another model (CSM400) and initially connected to a Hitec Digital high speed, but subsequently has been replaced with a high speed Coreless Futaba unit. There isn't much choice in the battery size or position, but the suggested pack fitted perfectly and powers the electronics for a good hour before the checker indicates time for a 'top up'.
Interestingly enough, there was a definite negative in going down the digital route which somewhat went against my thinking at the time but having seen the results it has become obvious to me that Jan has 'been there' and 'done that' and what you have left is the optimum all round for this model.

With the model down on the field, canopy removed, the engine was fired up and the radio ATV and throttle hold / fail safe set accordingly - then it was time to put some air under the skids. A hover was held with an extremely rich mixture for the first full tank through the system.
This process was repeated a couple more times and then the mixture needle wound in slightly on subsequent flights. Now it was time to 'see what she can do' so with the canopy re-fitted and a full tank I was given the main runway to show the model off.

Now when I was building this kit one of my main concerns was the visibility. I purchased some fluorescent spray paint, and white undercoat which was all emptied onto the canopy in the suggested format. A couple of stickers later and I stood back to admire the job - 10 feet is the best distance, any closer and you can definitely tell I've been at it!

So, middle of the main runway, blades spinning up nicely, gently 'squeezing' on the throttle/pitch and up into a steady hover. Fling the left stick up all the way with a little forward cyclic and she was off like there was no tomorrow - getting very small very quickly, and funny that the canopy looked the same colour all the way around now.

I could see that this was one model you just couldn't afford to take your eyes off even for a second.
A few circuits later and it was time to pull a loop - now I'd seen these things fly before (in the proper hands!) and knew I could really stretch the manoeuvres so a slight pull back on the cyclic with the relevant pitch settings all the way round and a huge circle was drawn in the sky. OK then that's the loop taken care of, now for the roll - right stick over and, Oh my god! If you're not ready for it, it's gone around twice before you even blink. I've flown 'plank fun fly machines' with slower roll rates.
I completely lost orientation on at least two occasions during this first 'aero' flight which scared me sh*&less. I've since added various different colours to the model, and 'striped' the blades - that big disk really helps when you can see it.

The ThreeDeeNT is a positive joy to fly, there is always enough power to do what I want to do (current skill level given) and there seems to be plenty left over to try doing things I could only 'play at' on the simulator. OK, there is that thought in the back of my mind of how many £'s are in the air when she's up there, but I don't think anybody gets anywhere dwelling on that kind of stuff and I know my flying has improved since I started throwing this one about a bit.

So how much will it cost you?