nick_onelove

<div>I finally gave into my primal urge for noise and exhaust (and longer flight times) and got myself a nitro Thunder Tiger Raptor 50:</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>It's huge. You can kind of see my RC truck in the background for comparison. It came "ARF" in about six different pieces and came together very easily. If a .50 is equivalent to a 600, I can't imagine how monstrous the 700 I'm getting next month is going to be. </div><div></div><div>It's frame is arranged a lot differently than any electric I've ever seen. All the cyclic servos, and an extra one for throttle, are stacked up in the front where the flight battery would normally go on an electric:</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Speaking of the cyclic, it uses a 90&deg; swashplate!</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>I had never seen this before on a CP heli. Pitch is controlled by a separate, dedicated servo; independent of the elevator and aileron servos. Basically there's no eCCPM.</div><div></div><div>Incredibly, it didn't come stock with a one-way bearing. This will be my first upgrade, I think it's absolutely essential to be able to auto-rotate in the event of an engine flame-out. Even all my electrics, with their ultra-reliable brushless motors, have one-way bearings . . .</div><div></div><div>Anyway, my question is concerning the tail boom servo linkage guides:</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Right now they are completely loose and can slide freely up and down the boom, I need to glue them in place. My question is: do they need to be exactly equidistant from each other? Or can I just eyeball it?</div><div></div>I'd also be more than interested to hear any thoughts on this bird or nitro helis in general.

Callouscade

My Feedback: (6)

on my 30 i put a band of electrical tape around on both sides of the guide so that it can still move slightly if it needs to.

chadxp1

My Feedback: (2)

I used a hot glue gun to secure the linkage guides on the tail boom. This will allow for removal when needed at a later time. You want these secure.

i would upgrade to carbon fiber main blades as soon as you can. They are much better and you can definatly "feel" the difference.

I love my Raptor 50 Titan SE. Its a very good bird.

Have fun.

chadxp1

My Feedback: (2)

you can "eyeball" them. Also get rid of that ACER gyro. Get a Futaba GY401. You will have problems with that ACER.

nick_onelove

I will definitely be switching to carbon fiber blades and lighter flybar paddles very soon.<div>
</div><div>In regards to the gyro: I plan on eventually converting the bird to flybarless with a Mikado V-Bar. So the hopefully the Ace RC gyro will get me few the first few flights at least, then it will be tossed.</div>

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Get rid of the push pull collective, put the rudder servo up front.

nick_onelove

Care to elaborate?

How would I go about modding the collective?

And what would be the purpose of moving the tail servo forward? Someone on a heli-dedicated forum actually recommended I move the tail servo farther back along the boom.
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BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Everyone has opinions, here's mine.
1. its better protected in a crash
2. its not subject to a hot oil bath
3. its better for balance

Remove the push pull from that servo bay.
Put the rudder servo there (the kit, if you have it came with the parts, if not you need a rudder pushrod set)
Mount the collective servo so that the shaft is towards the front of the bay, put a WHEEL on the servo, drill a hole, mount a ball, and run a pushrod such that when the servo screw/ball line is flat the collective arm is centered in its throw.
http://www.raptortechnique.com has the servo installation instructions for a 50v2, thats what you're duplicating.

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

Edit: BH was already typing when I saw your post.....


I see that the one-way statement got completely ignored on this forum. Go figure!

Nick:
The servo frame on your helicopter is the same as the servo frame of all the other Raptors out there that have the tail servo under the canopy. Moving the servo there, will protect it from the exhaust residue. All your servos are already installed. Take that plate out that is covering the additional servo hole and install the tail servo there. Take the pull-pull lever from the collective, and make the linkage go directly to the servo arm. you might have to flip the collective servo 180 degrees to accomplish this.

Rafael

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I figured we already had the one way issue covered

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

I know, this post was not intended for you. Whoever is paying attention, can recognize some players. You and me are the easiest to recognize, we use the same login everywhere.

Just to prove a point of multiple questions buried within a post and the "eagerness" of some people to post/help without absorbing the entire concept.

Rafael

nick_onelove

Ah that makes sense, on my electrics I prefer the tail servo boom-mounted just for easier access, but obviously I wasn't considering exhaust residue. Wouldn't moving it farther back accomplish the same thing though? And possibly avoid the potential play/slop/bend that could come with the super long linkage required to mount it forward?<div>
</div><div>I will definitely take your guy's advice about the collective servo, thanks for the tip!</div><div>
</div><div>And I apologize for my ignorance, my first foray into the nitro world has been making me feel like a newb all over again! I'll edit the bit about the OWB in my original post, so if anyone who reads it is considering getting a Raptor, they don't get the wrong idea. Thanks again, everyone.</div>

chadxp1

My Feedback: (2)

Here are a couple of pics of my setup.

chadxp1

My Feedback: (2)

tt

chadxp1

My Feedback: (2)

One thing Ihave done was to remove this tab shown in the picture. This allows the linkage to have a nice gradual slope to the servo.

nick_onelove

Nice, looks good Chad.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Raptors have been mounting tail servos up there for years, trust me it works fine.

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

Chad:

Your pitch servo could use the 180degree flip. See how the pitch rod is diagonal? When you do the flip, the pitch rod will be vertical and at 90 degrees with the molded plastic pitch arm.

Rafael

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yup.

Also, like I said in my other post, use a round servo wheel, not the arms that you've got. The Raptor is single servo collective, you wont want any flex in that system.