Walkera HM5G6

Unexciting name aside, there’s no denying that this little variable pitch, twin-rotor, ready-to-fly machine is small, impressively so. It packs a lot into its tiny shell four-channels, two sub-micro servos, an integrated gyro/receiver/ESC unit, 2.4GHz control and power from a diminutive single Li-Po cell. Everything’s bolted to a plastic frame along with a wire landing skid, tubular boom and free-feathering tail rotor, while two suitably tiny brushed motors keep everything in the air with the help from an aluminium swash-plate, metal rotor shafts and head.

The instruction manual is written in the best Chinglish tradition but its generally fine although the DIP switches on the reverse of the transmitter to which it refers are servo reverse toggles of course. The metal trimmed transmitter has a nice quality feel, is mode 1 or 2 convertable and requires 8 AA cells (not supplied) although a Nicad or NiMH battery could be fitted and charged using the charge jack supplied.

The HM5 is supplied as an RTF package so nothing more is required to get airborne. The Li-Po battery is filled by way of a wall-socket charger and should be ready to use within an hour, the charger LED turning green to signify so. Binding the transmitter and receiver may be tricky until the throttle trim slider is moved down and I’ve found that powering up the model before switching on the transmitter is sometimes required too.

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FLOAT LIKE A….
Like all small helicopters the HM5 is best a few feet off the ground where rotor wash won’t affect the handling so a blip of power is the best approach for a ground take-off so as to get the machine up to a happy height. I found my HM5 to be incredibly sensitive to fly straight from the box indeed one servo arm was moving so far as to lever movement of the servo itself – clearly an unwelcome trait that was cured by removing the canopy and reducing the servo travel by using a screwdriver to turn the dial at the combined ESC/receiver unit. I’d recommend this adjustment to anyone before the first flight. Adjustment made, the controls remain sensitive to the extent that gently squeezing the sticks is all that’s required to make the HM5 go where you want it.

Some minor tail end (rudder) trim adjustments seem to be required across a flight, a trait shared by many machines of this type but the HM5 is incredibly stable, she’ll hover beautifully hands-off with the drive mechanism delivering smooth glitch-free power to the main blades.

Fixed-pitch beginners machines often seem designed to hover and do little else but pushing the nose down a little means the variable pitch HM5 adopts a nice forward flight pattern so steering the little machine from room to room is perfectly possible, flying endurance is about 7-8 minutes.

The more I’ve flown it, the more I’ve come to enjoy this sweet little helicopter, reduce those servo throws, take a little time getting to know her and the HM5 may well become your preferred indoor heli hack.

Datafile
Name: HM5G6
Model type: RTF micro helicopter
Manufactured by: Walkera

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