Raptor 50 V3 AKA Titan

[Nutz 0]

It is late I am tired if there is any grammer mistakes in this review PM me & I will edit. LEON

 

Raptor 50 V3 Titan.......The build

 

OK this is the first Raptor I have built form scratch, I have stripped & rebuilt helis, including my current Raptor, but this is the first new kit I have assembled. I started building the moment I got home with the kit (no messing), I liked the way each section in the manual had its own bag to open & build. I built most of the heli in around 4-5 hours, the last hour was watching TV & building the control rods, dam they make your fingers sore.

 

The first thing you have to do is assemble the clutch bell, starter shaft & pinion, I found it nice that the clutch liner was already pre-glued to the clutch bell, this is nice as it does not stop you from waiting for the epoxy to dry before assembling onto the heli.

Moving on, the 2 half’s of the main frame where next up on the assembly line and a nice feature here is that the supports that hold the frame together are metal around the 2 bearings for the main shaft compared to plastic on my V1. So after putting the fuel tank, bearings, tail belt guide & clutch assembly in I bolted the 2 half frames together along with the servo compartments

 

The next item to assemble was the main gear, tail drive gear & the one-way bearing, the manual says to apply some one-way grease which Thunder Tiger did not provide in the kit. I will still assemble the whole heli but I will need to grease the one-way before flying or there is a chance the one-way will lock up!

 

The washout assembly was very straight forward but care was needed not to lose the small circlips that held the pin for the radius arms on also the manual mentions using CA for the self tapping screws into the plastic.

 

Pitch & elevator plate where nice & fiddly as the bag contained loads of small screws, bearings, pins, inserts, washers & rods of all different shape & sizes. I found the best way was to separate this small items into groups for each part of the assembly. The manual is good for giving initial setting up lengths of the link rods. After assembling the elevator plate, there is a new step for the Titan which is the push pull assembly. The Raptor Titan has a push pull for the pitch, elevator & ailerons which means there are 2 rods driven from the servo to another control arm for better precision. It also means more control rods need to be made.

After putting together the aileron levers & elevator arm it was time to put in the main shaft, now I would normally apply some lube here but I had no Triflow so I will have come back to lube this later. The Titan has a full metal swash which is very solid in comparison the older metal plastic types.

 

After in stalling the main gear assembly onto the main shaft along with the swash & washout/base assembly, it was time to put the fan on the engine. At first I thought the fan hole was too small/tight for the fan & I did not want to force it on the engine, after investigating the manual says that it is ideal to have a conrod locking tool for this task, so I knew a little brute force was needed. After attaching the fan to the engine, the engine & pipe were ready to be mounted onto the motor mount, and then the motor mount into the frame. I like the way the motor mount now has 3 points each side for the mount the be bolted to the frame, as on my old Raptor I lost one of theses bolts, which meant the engine was only being held in one side with 1 bolt (2 per side).

 

I chose not to use the Thunder Tiger skids even though they were a nice titanium colour, instead I used some after market ones that were on my other heli.

 

Next was the head assembly, I like the thrust washers used here as when the blades are turning the load is on the axis of the bearing so a normal round bearing would were quite quickly as there are not designed to be side loaded. You also need some silicon oil or Vaseline to slide the feathering shaft as the dampers are really tight. Once again don’t forget to use CA glue on any screws going into the plastic. The Fly bar is another bag full of small screws, bearings, pins, inserts, washers & rods. Remember to use thread lock on any metal to metal parts. I was a bit disappointed that the fly bar holder did not, nor have prevision of a head button (this will soon be sorted).

 

After the head is assembled it was mounted to the main shaft & some pitch rods made up.

 

Now it was time to build the tail section, quite a few parts & I assembled the blade grips around the bearings, but when I went to mount it to the hub I realised I had done it wrong & had to take it all apart. What you have to do is place the bearings on the hub, then secure the hub to the shaft with the long threaded grub screws & the lock them in place with the nyloc nut, then you can mount the blade grip half’s to the bearings. I then put the first half of the tail case on followed by the bearing, tail gear, pin & grub screw to hold tail gear in place on the shaft then the belt, other bearing & bolted the other half of the case on with the roller guide.

 

It was time to feed the belt through the Titanium boom & mount the boom to the heli. I then made up the titanium boom supports & screwed them to the heli along with the tail fins.

 

I got some SAB tail blades at the show so the went on along with the supplied Thunder Tiger header tank, but I left the supplied Titanium tail servo mount off as I am going to get a boom mount instead (saves readjust if I adjust the tail belt tension)

 

Next was mount the 4 servos in the servo frame, which was straight forward, then the pain staking assemble of a load of control rods, now do you remember I said the Titan uses a push pull system, it means there are a lot more rods than a standard Raptor. This took quite a while whilst watching Big Brother (what he hell is wrong with Nikki & Shahbaz they should not be aloud into society). Anyway Control rods made & installed I decided to leave it there for the time being.

 

Things left to do

 

Install on/off switch

Transfer Gyro & tail servo

Install some Quick UK parts

Balance JP Carbon main blades & install

Epoxy exhaust to engine

Adjust carb connection

Grease one-way

Triflow main shaft & tail shaft

Loosen ball joints with ball sizer toll

Install battery monitor

Get Canopy sprayed or decaled (not yet decided)

Set-up servos

Set-up Pitch

Give it a finally check over

 

 

I have included the manual in this write up & will post some pictures when I have a bit of time (just done a 16 hour shift)

 

http://www.acehobby.com/ace/PDF/HELI/TTR4853.pdf

[Nutz 0]

I will post some pics and the other part of this write up once I receive the rest of the parts required to finish this heli & I have given my other Raptor it's farewell flight (which could be sometime with the way the weather is at the moment)

[Darren 0]

You need a control rod building tool, a couple of pieces of alloy with slots in them ( a bit like a blade holder - ish ). These slot over the ball end and makes the process of twisting the rods to length so much easier and no more sore fingers.

 

typically, I've lost one of the pair of mine, but I'll bring the other one on Thursday to show you

 

Good review, one comment is about using CA on the screws into plastic - I'm undecided if this is a good idea. I had to separate the frames on my original 30V1 but it made such a mess I ended up with new frames

 

I know certain threadlock eats plastic, CA seems to permanent so don't really have an alternative suggestion - just consider what you may need to undo.

[Nutz 0]

I got a Hudy turnbuckle tool

 

But I was to lazy to use it, I think it is similar to your control rod building tool.

 

As for the CA, it was only applied were the manual stated, that was mainly around the head, servo & control ball joints. I did not use any CA on the frame as I believe the white inserts that the frame screw to are of a softer gripper plastic that the rest of the harder black plastic frame & head.

 

I should also mention that the CA is only needed on the self tapping style screw & not the machined type screws into the plastic

[Lofty 5]

Call me sad! But that's my type of manual lots of info & diagrams, one you can look at for hours & hours.......

[Nutz 0]

Been working on the Titan this week too.

 

I got the epoxy out & mounted the Throttle Jockey magnets, Exhaust, Battery Monitor & tail control rod ends.

 

After remounting the engine with exhaust & Throttle Jockey sensor fitted to the helicopter, I wiped out the fuel tank to check the clearance of the magnets on the fans & all was alright.

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Now during the week the deliveries had been coming in thick & fast, so with all the bits ready it was time for the standard head to come off & on with the Quick UK goodies. While I was at it I thought now would be a good time lube the fly bar & thrust bearing with some Tri-Flow grease (remember you can only use silicon on the fly bar because of the rubber dampeners). The head went back together OK but I found the guide pins on Quick UK head had some resistance as the washout base moved up it, so I had to whip the pins out of the standard head & stud lock them into the Quick UK head which made it fell a lot better. Whilst I was messing with the head I resized all the balls on the helicopter so everything has less resistance & moves more freely. I also applied some Tri-Flow oil to the main shaft & mounted some light paddles to the fly bar.

 

After mounting the Quick UK head , washout base, fly bar holder, light paddles & head button I moved on to the tail linkage. I have gone for a boom mounted servo as if your tail servo is mount to the fuselage/frame & you adjust your boom it puts the mechanically centre out for the tail/gyro. The quick you boom mount is superb & looks quite nice to.

 

The next part is always time comsumong, setting up the radio, as you want to get it just right. I balanced a pair of carbon blades (no balancing was required, quite good those JP’s), put them on & then checked the pitch. I had made all the linkages as per the manual but I was getting +14° -8° on the pitch so the first thing that need doing was the pitch range, a few turns in on the pitch rod for each blade & I was getting +11° -11° which is what I was after. Next it was time to set up middle stick which was given me +3° on the pitch so after adjust the pitch tray linkage that had me at 0° for middle stick, I adjust the end points, sub trims, dual rates, exponential, throttle cut, throttle hold, pitch curves, throttle curves, governor & anything else I have forgotten. So now the helicopter is ready for its maiden flight. I still need to get my canopy back as I have friend spraying it for me. But for the initial running in & finalising the set-up it will not be required. I might test fly it on Wednesday depending on how the week goes.

 

Anyway here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nutz 0]

Just got back form the Raptor V3 maiden flight & all was well until 3 minutes in & the carb lever broke at 3/4 stick, it could of been very dangerous had I not been running the engine in, luckily because the engine was very rich the revs started to decrease above 2/3 throttle.

 

Anyway the engine started instantly on the first spin of the starter & I walked the model out to the field, unfortunately the bottom stick was a bit too low & the engine cut. When I tried to start the engine again it would not start, so I checked the fuel pipe & went back to the base settings on the needles, the engine still would not start.

Even thought I had an LED on the glowstick to say it was OK, when I took the glow plug out and put the glow stick to it there was no glow, I put another plug in the engine and it started straight away. I took off and trimmed the tail, 1 click back on the elevater, 3 clicks right on the aileron and I turned down the gyro to 60%. I forgot my tacho so I am not sure how much head speed I have.

Even though the engine is very rich for running in & anything above 3/4 throttle gives me a power drop the climb out was very impressive, the cyclic response is very quick (I think it could be down to the light weight paddles installed) and to my liking. So after a 3 minute flight & 3/4 tank of fuel I now need to speak to Weston UK on why the carb lever broke as this could of been quite serious if the engine was tuned & running correctly.

 

Lets hope my Raptor is ready for the weekend as my Raptor 30 has now gone.

[Nutz 0]

I thought I would update this tread as I have not done so for a while & enclose some up to date pictures,

 

The Raptor is flying great along with my Trex SEV2 they both have been problem free after the initial set-up & adjustments where done.

 

Here is some of the latest Pictures of both helis