rc12

I crashed and totaled my raptor 30 today on it's 5th flight today. I don't have enough money to fix it or buy a new one. all that's left that works in the engine and the muffer. I cracked the frame right down the center and the whole rotery assembly is a mess with 99% of the screws missing.

*This hit the ground so hard that it the fuel tank exploded and it caught on fire, luckily we had an extinguisher in the car so we could put it out. but when it crashed it truely wasn't a cracking sound, but a low "thump" or a "whooomp" sound*


so what should I do?

thanks, drew

Oh yea, I'm not poor, just i'm 13 and learning 3D so my money is mostly spent on nitro and those new CF blades (which got burnt up)
*pictures soon to come*

dlaque

Sorry to hear you crashed!!!!

Save up and buy a Raptor 50, if you want to do
3D thats the puppy to have!!!!!!

I know what it feels like to total a heli,
dont let it get you down, youll be up and flyin again in no time!!!'


Good luck.

David.

P.S. I have a raptor 30 frame,canopy and tailboom complete with landing
gear mainshaft and some parts of the rotor head. If interested e-mail me at
[email protected] , i will let it go super cheap to help you out!!!

AIRPLANE FREAK

My Feedback: (14)

Also, you should really try and not upgrade to the bling till you get good, that way when u crash it is stock stuff, buy stock its cheaper keep practicing, when u get to the point that u feel really confident then upgrade to the bling, save your dollar for stock crash parts...sorry about the crash, but i am sure u will be up and flying in no time...no upgrades to the bling till you can sting with that RAPTOR.

rc12

The probalem is I won't be up flying anytime soon, I'll be traveling all this summer and school is crazy. so I won't be back in the air till next summer at the soonest. Then I will have to relearn, and with no trainer, that means more crashing.

Charlie

Get yourself a simulator and take it on the road with you, every time you get near a computer, load it in and practice (that will help keep your thumbs in tune). If you have a laptop to take with you, that would be a real bonus.

WhtBronco

You'd be surprised just how quick you pick it up again. Now this was with planes, but I took 8 years off and my first flight back I had only a couple guys watching me. I took off, shaking like a leaf, flew a couple circuits, started doing loops and rolls, and than all of a sudden the muffler fell off and it went extremely tail heavy. With half down elevator to stay level I landed it with only a minor bend in the main gear due to catching a gust of wind about 18" off the deck. This was on a Q-500 racing plane, BTW. I flew this plane for about 10 more flights and then got a Dave Patrick Ultimate which is still flying with no crashes after 2.5 years.

If you are past the point of learning to fly as you say you are starting 3D you'll remember first or secod flight. A simulator would be a great help to, no matter what level of pilot you are IMO.

Talk to dlaque and see if you can work out a good deal with him. Sounds like htat could work out very well for ya.

rc12

The sim won't help much. I'll be flying most of the time which sounds good, right? wrong. I had one in the past when I flew planes, but they wouldn't let me take it through security becuase they don't know what it is.nor understood when I explained it. Also I will be going to places like wyoming and nevada, charleston s.c, and Berlin germany. where computers will be in short supply and my laptop is too slow to run the sim, only my desktop can. Also I found out that my helicopter is junk except for the muffler. all the electronics melted and it hit so hard that it put a huge crack in the piston part of my engine (a few cm below the head). it's a tangeled mess worse than any crash that I have ever had with it, or my planes before.

foleysf

Sorry to hear about your crash man, I know the feeling when your looking at your machine going down, it is difficult when your are making those early hops without an experienced pilot to give you a bit of guidence, rc heli's are fairly unforgiving beasts and crashes can be expensive, especially when you are in collage as I starting flying during collage also there were times when I just couldn't get the spares for some periods, but like what some of the guys mentioned a good simulator is worth gold and will give you the confidence to bring your flying to the next level, I would highly recommend reflex xtr, its the best physics engine I have ever seen in a simulator, although you will need a fast machine to run it on,

best of luck on your future flying man.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

start mowing a lot of lawns! If you want to fly helis, you are going to be in for some expense. If you can't do that, and your folks aren't going to pay for it, you have no choice but to wait. Sux, but thats the way we all started. I learned at 12 and have supported the hobby myself since then. It makes you appreciate it a lot more. Work your tail off!! It will make you a better person.

JAYNC

My Feedback: (7)

My raptor 30 V1 crashed on saturday. I had 4 good flights prior in the day and on the 5th flight I was hovering around and then put it in idle up 1 and started forward flight. after about 5 seconds of forward flight I heard a noise and the heli lost all lift and came straight down on the gear. The engine never shut off and the blades were still spinning. Once I shut the motor off, one of the collective links were disconnected from the swash. One of the carbon blades was broken and the tailboom broke. Its no big deal since I had a brand new V2 w/49 bearing, tt.39 arf sitting on the build table. I hovered the V2 this morning and it hovered very well, these helis are so stable and easy to set up. I just wish I knew what went wrong. I am guessing that the link just wore out and disconnected therefore loosing the lift and come straight down. I knew it wasnt anything on the pitch or roll axis since it came straight down on the gear, maybe there wasnt enough lube on it and it bound up on the head somewhere. I am relitively new to nitro heli's and like them a lot.

foleysf

hey jaync, I would say your pre-flight checks may have saved your machine if it was caused by a ball linkage on the collective, after each flight you perform the checks inspect the links by pulling on them if they pull off the balls or appear loose then its time to change the ball and then link for the sake of a few cents its a bit frustration loosing the machine due to a linkage problem that went unchecked before flight those quick few minutes before the flight make all the difference.

JAYNC

My Feedback: (7)

I did look it over before I flew it, I am new to these things and am not sure what a loose link feels like. I know that they should move but how much I am not sure of. Like I said though, the helicopter was pretty old and I was flying on borrowed time. I flew it enough to learn nose in and did a few loops with it. Is there any way to guage how to tell if the link or ball is worn out. Maybe if you can pull them off with your finger they are too loose. I dont know, any ideas. Thanks

WhtBronco

There shouldn’t be any play between the ball and links. They should be able to rotate freely, but no have any slop or move around on the ball. Hope that makes sense. Certainly if you can pull the ball link off the ball with your hand without a lot of pressure they are too loose and likely worn out

JAYNC

My Feedback: (7)

Yeah then thats probably what caused the crash, I guess,,,,, now I know.

RebarDWG

definitely heli's are not for the poor. I probably spent $1500 just gettting started. When i was 13, i had a helluva time saving up $150 for a skateboard. But to get your heli back up and running.. i'd suggest selling some of the things you dont need around the house. Ebay is a great place to get rid of it. Good luck on your journey.