The popular OMP HOBBY M1 and M2 mini helicopters now get a bigger brother - the 3D "380" class M4. The M4 has a 120° CCPM swashplate with a flybarless rotor head (FBL). A powerful brushless motor directly drives the 875mm diameter main rotor; the tail rotor is driven via a toothed belt. You can install your favourite flybarless controller and servos, at least a 60A ESC, ideally with governor function, a 6S LiPo 2200mAh battery and of course a reliable RC set.

Let's take a closer look at this latest addition to the OMP Hobby hangar. The fuselage structure is based on a pair of carbon fibre sidewalls connected by duralumin and plastic crossbars. The "heart" is a duralumin structure carrying a SUNNYSKY R80-5 brushless motor with an attached main shaft housing with bearings and swashplate servo mounts. The main rotor is direct drive, the tail rotor is driven by a toothed belt. The swashplate and rotor head with blade grips are all metal from precision CNC-machined parts. All control rods are fitted with tie rods to allow rod length adjustment without the need to remove the ball links. The tail boom is made of a duralumin tube, the vertical stabilizer and the sidewalls of the tail rotor drive housing are carbon. The rotor head and blade grips of the tail rotor are also all-metal; yaw movement is controlled by a servo mounted in the lower fuselage with a carbon rod. The undercarriage is made of tough fibreglass-reinforced plastic.

A basic set of main and tail rotor blades is supplied with the model; 385mm blades for the main rotor and 71mm blades for the tail rotor.

You will need at least a six-channel RC set to control the helicopter; for full conventional and 3D flying, you will need a computer transmitter with 2–3 adjustable flight modes with at least five-point collective pitch curves for hovering and aerobatics and an additional mode for autorotation.

The helicopter is ready to get an FBL unit - you can easily use most units suitable for helicopters of this size, such as Bavarian Demon 3X or AXON, Futaba CGY760R or CGY755 and many others.

Of course, needed are high-quality fast and strong digital micro servos with metal gears; for the swashplate, the KAVAN GO-1020MG servos worked very well on the M4 prototype, and for the yaw the upcoming super-fast KAVAN GO-1021MG brushless servo.

The electronic speed controller should have a load capacity of at least 60 A and a governor function. Suitable are e.g. 65A OMP HOBBY controller designed specifically for the M4 helicopter, Hobbywing Platinum PRO 60A V4 etc.

For power supply, you will need a 6S 22.2V 2000–2200mAh LiPo battery with a 60C discharge rate necessary to fully utilize the motor power and capabilities of the helicopter.

The easily removable sport canopy is made of very lightweight moulded durable plastic - choose from three colour schemes to ensure good visibility and "readability" of the helicopter's position in the air.

The M4 is a full 3D helicopter with a controlled collective pitch - and as such assumes and requires appropriate pilot experience. It is not a drone where you just give it throttle, it takes off and hovers "rooted" without any control inputs. The M4 will be fully enjoyed by intermediate to advanced pilots who already have experience flying collective-controlled ("six-channel") helicopters. However, with a sufficient amount of perseverance, humility, previous training on an RC simulator and under the supervision of an experienced pilot, even a novice helicopter pilot can take up flying the M4.

The helicopter kit includes: a complete set of mechanics parts, SUNNYSKY R80-5 brushless motor, nose and balance rotor blades, and building and setup instructions.