Great Wall : Xieda 9958

[BrandonR.]

I just ordered one of these for $45.00 shipped and I wanna try to let others know what I think when I get it and try it out. From any videos I've seen, it looks like alot of fun.

If any1 else has one, feel free to add to the thread and let me and others know your opinion and diagnosis is.

It seems like its a fairly new company and/or model. And for $40-$50 it seems like a good deal. I like the standard design, the availability of parts and it has a 2.4Ghz TX/RX. The batteries also seem to be "E-Flite" standard connections, so no relying on the TX to charge up if you already own a charger.

Some brand names bother me due to the originality or oddness of the design and parts. Example : DH, Syma, and JXD. But the 9958 seems to use a " known to work " design and setup that I feel better about buying. More to come in some weeks when I receive it.

[jeblackford]

The most awesome ever. Moded mine with MCX lower hub, and MCX lower blades. This thing has withstood so many crashes and it keeps coming back for more.

[BrandonR.]

Nice to here you can use those parts!
Do they fit exactly, or do they need to be modded?

[RoboHeli]

Hi

The mcx lower hub/blades and even the MSR flybar are drop-in replacements. There's been quite a lot of discussion over at RCG about this helicopter:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1454770

and a summary thread:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1536792

which talks about all sorts of mods--how to mod a swashplate, which tails are good, which programmable TXs work, etc...

[BrandonR.]

Thanks for the links!

Ok, so I got it in last week! One purple Xieda 9958. The package arrived in great shape. All is good.
Here are my first impressions so far after flying for about an hour, inside and outside.

1. Good design. Typical of small heli's. Could use 2 set's of linkage balls on the top of the swash-plate, nothing major.

2. Only needed a little trimming to get hovering, left the linkage lengths where they are. I expected this and was going to do it anyway.

3. Fast in High-Rate, "Senior Mode"! I think my TX came with the high/low rate mixed up because I start in high as default, and I have to switch to low for indoor flight. Did not realize this at all until yesterday.

4. Outside flying is only possible under good conditions, ~1 - 3mph wind max! Anymore than that and your constantly having to face into the wind just to stay in your own yard. It is so fun outdoors with some actual space! You may be surprised how well it fly's.

5. The only mod's I've done was taking 2 thin plastic washers, from a Scout Main shaft, and used them to tighten up the blade mount posts ( where they pivot ). And I did the ball pivot mod for the flybar. No slop ma'am!

6. The 150mAH battery is of good quality, I charge it @ 2C or 300mAH, and go from 3.40V to 4.19 in 25 minutes. And that will give me at least 10 minutes of flight time. But I will pass on a warning i've read elsewhere, do NOT use the charger for any other battery that does not have built-in protection or charges at 1C. You will end up destroying it and maybe starting a fire.

7. It fly's with a tilt. Hovering and looking at it from the rear, I noticed it tilting to the right. But it seems to fly ok this way doesn't seem to be a problem. Has anyone else noticed this?

Other than that it is well worth the $45.99, shipped from china, I payed for it.
It definitely took me some practice to be comfortable with this heli, not knowing i was in high rate forced me to learn real quick too. I am happy with this purchase and would recommend the 9958 to anyone who either wants to step up to a 4-channel for cheap, or for anyone who just wants to make their fleet bigger.

Also, alot of mSR, mCX and Solo Pro parts fit this heli very well, and there are a ton of mods.


EDIT: A must do mod! http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1238257
This can be done to the 9958 as well, i just did it and will post pics very soon. It's real easy too.

Ordered....$16.83 shipped through evil bay.
1.mcx2 lower blades
2.mcx2 lower blade hub
3.msr swash-plate
4.msr grommets

[RoboHeli]

Let me know how the swash works for you. I've heard from the guys at rcgroups that you have to mod the swash by separating the top part of the msr swash (with the balls) and mating it to the lower part of the 9958 swash with the servo arms.

[BrandonR.]

The swash balls for the mSR are indeed smaller. So I went and ordered a set of mSR link arms for the head. I think they may be a little longer than the 9958 arms, which may give me more blade pitch and allow the head to move smoothly too with no binding from being too short. And ill replace the servo arm links with the msr ones.

The top half of the mSR swashplate seems shorter than the 9958, which may cause too much tightness resulting in either TBE or slow cyclic response. And also since the arms will be leaning out somewhat due to the longer ball links, from swash to flybar, the arms will have to be a tiny bit longer, I think.

[RoboHeli]

I don't mean to continually push rcgroups here, but the guys over there have been compiling a FAQ thread for the 9958 for some time:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1536792

it lists some good information on mating different swashes together.

[BrandonR.]

lol, its ok.

I just wanted to kinda start a small one here too. For anyone who's not on rcgroup.

[RoboHeli]

Nice idea! I'm all about sharing the wealth.

I recently was lucky enough to score a Turnigy 9x from Hobby King and am using that to fly my 9958. For indoor flights where there's not a lot of room, I added a mix so that when I pirouette (RUDD channel) it mixes in a little bit of ELEV channel to compensate so that the helicopter turns more smoothly. This kind of mixing is what the MSR, for example, does by default in its 5-in-1. It makes turning around a lot safer indoors--and then when you go outside, you can disable the mix with a switch.

[BrandonR.]

Yeah, I've seen alot of posts about that TX and setting a mix with the 9x. Im gonna continue to use the default TX until I can save for a 9x. Too bad my dx6i doesnt bind with it.

I've noticed mine tends to start sliding a bit when I use just the rudder. But I started getting used to turning with both sticks at once. I have been using the method where you point both the sticks in the same direction you wanna turn, resulting in tight stable turns. I tried using the method where you point the sticks opposite from each other to turn, but I find it less controllable that way and a little wild.

[RoboHeli]

There's a nice post (with video) that talks about making solid turns with the MSR that might be relevant here as well:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...ostcount=12295

[BrandonR.]

Thats kinda what im doing already, though from reading that I have a better feel for what I need to do.

[MESummersII]

Hope this is a good place to throw in this question without starting a new thread. Posting this here since this seems like a less popular heli and you guys have flown it. I am a 'new guy' to this hobby and I'm only about 3 weeks into it. I'm sporting the scars of being that guy that read a few things, went to the LHS (one of the few acronyms I know on this forum so far) where the guy really didn't know much about R/C Helis I'm finding out, and bought myself a Blade SR (Huey model who's Huey body no longer exists...). I am feeling the growing pains of rushing my choice of first bird and only finding helpful forums such as this one.

Anywho, long story short, I'm thinking about purchaseing a smaller bird I can practice a few basics with indoors once the kids are in bed. I was researching some on the mCPX and came across some good reviews on the 9958 which is a lot more afordable. I don't really have access to any known clubs or instructors around here so would this little bird be a good lower cost alternative to the mCPX for me to learn a bit on?

[RoboHeli]

Hi,

The 9958 is a fixed-pitch heli. That means that the blades don't change their pitch like the mCPX and SR. Thus it will be easier to learn to fly as it's not nearly as twitchy. Personally, I'd recommend the MSR (not the MSR X) over the 9958 if you could find one cheap (AND well tuned since you'll be buying it used...) but the 9958 is a *GREAT* low-cost alternative. There is a fair amount of part compatibility between the mSR/mCX and the 9958 so if you feel up to doing a bit of tooling you can take a stock 9958 and make it into a much higher performing bird if you work at it. However, that being said, the stock 9958 is a lot of fun to fly and it's a good indoor heli to learn on.

Starting out with a collective pitch (CP) heli like the big SR and even the smaller mCPX is going to have a much steeper learning curve. If you've never flown anything before, I'd even recommend starting out with a 4 channel coaxial like a mCX2 since that's a very solid and reliable helicopter. That will get you familiar with the basic four channels of control while being very stable and easy to hover. However, it does have enough performance to be quite interesting when flying indoors. Then once you're comfortable with that, the 9958 (or WL V911, or Blade MSR, or Nine Eagles Solo Pro) would be the next logical step as fixed pitch (FP) helis are a lot faster and have higher performance.

There is a very active 9958 community at the rcgroups.com forums (I think I posted a link to these earlier in this thread) so if you get into this heli and really want to learn to get the most out of it, come over there and say hi to the crazy folks there.

Since you're just learning, check out:

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/

I learned a lot of the terminology this way.

[MESummersII]

Thanks for the advice! I've messed around with the coax helis before and I am pretty good with the orientation part. I've flown a few planes back in the day as well. My lack of experience comes when you start having to tune things and modify them to get them to work right. I'm trying to learn that part. I have the patience to take it slow and have a steep learning curve but I've read a lot of negative info on the SR without different upgrades and mods to it (mainly issues with the motorized tail rotor).

[RoboHeli]

Alright! Sounds like you're totally ready for the 9958 and FP helis then.

I've never flown any collective pitch helicopter other than in simulation (Phoenix Pro) and whenever I do it typically ends in tears (until I respawn that is...lol). I can say that from everything I've heard, diving in and trying to master a larger-than-micro CP heli right off the bat is going to be quite a challenge! If you want to do CP right off the bat, everything I've heard about the mCPX suggests that it's a fantastic training heli. I plan for that to be the first CP heli I buy when I get bored of the 4 channel fixed-pitch ones.

[MESummersII]

Yeah, here on these boards it seems like there is a pretty even group on both sides of the fence on starting out with CP helis. Some say to start with the most simple bird and work up. Others say to start with a 450 and tune it for learning and then grow with it. I kind of wish I went that route but oh well. Hopefully I can make this SR work out well for me.

I guess my internal debate now is forking over the money for a DX6i and a sim or going a bit cheaper something like the 9958 that might not be as useful in the long run for some indoor fun and learning.

Sorry for veering so far off topic here. Any other advice would be great about the 9958 though.

[RoboHeli]

Everyone has their own path, I guess.

What are you using to fly the SR? Did it come with a DX5 or something? If you're going to do CP, getting Phoenix really does seem like a good choice so you can practice and crash for free!

Originally Posted by MESummersII

Sorry for veering so far off topic here. Any other advice would be great about the 9958 though.

I really hate constantly advertising rcgroups.com, but if you want to learn ALL about the 9958 from a bunch of enthusiasts, you really owe it to yourself to go read these threads over there:

First, you could start with the summary thread whose first post contains a massive summary of where you buy, the best mods, and lots of good info:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1536792

and then if you want to dive into detail (366 pages worth!!!) go read the main thread:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1454770

I read every posting in that thread while my 9958 was on route to me and it was very worthwhile. Note: the 9958 does not bind to a DX6i. You need to get a Turnigy 9x:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...Firmware_.html

if you want a computerized controller for it. There are a number of "clones" of this TX out there (this one might be the clone..who knows?!?) but as long as you get a TX that speaks the FlySky protocol you're good. These TX's also have custom firmware that folks say gives a MASSIVE upgrade to the TX. Here's one:

http://code.google.com/p/er9x/

and there are others.

[MESummersII]

I currently just have the Spektrum Tx that came with the SR. It is an SR specific Tx from E-Flight. I am going to get a DX6i. The 9958 I will live with the stock Tx as I'm not going to purchase a Tx for just that little bird. The SR will most likely be a toy as I learn on Phoenix and eventually get myself a 450 bird to progress on. This is my plan anyway. Thanks for the links for the 9958 info. I really appreciate it!