mydartswinger

OK, I'm at the point where I can burn through a gallon of fuel or more without crashing, and am starting with mild aerobatics. I can maintain a steady hover in up to about 18mph winds. I can also maintain an inverted hover at altitude for several seconds before my nerves force me to bail out. I'm flying a Raptor 50 V2 with the red dampers, white paddles, an aluminum head, KBDD tail blades, Thunder Tiger wood main blades, OS .50SX-H non-Hyper, JR DS8311 on pitch, JR DS811s on aileron, elevator, and throttle, a Futaba GY401 gyro w/ a Futaba S9254 servo on the tail, and the carbon fiber chassis brace. Aileron and elevator throws are set to 100% in my DX7. No dual rates are set.

I'm finding that my roll rate is yawn inspiring, making loops near impossible (they turn out to be back flips, which is fun nontheless), and rolls are slow enough at full throw to keep them non-axial. The recoveries from these maneuvers are less than solid.

I'm wondering if I should go ahead and switch to the Thunder Tiger carbon blades that were included with my Raptor (purchased used, in excellent condition). I know I should switch to the JR DS8311s (or better) on aileron and elevator. That upgrade is planned in the future.

As the title states, where should I go (setup/parts wise) from here?

Thanks guys.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Green paddles, balls on the outer holes of the mixing arms, decent blades.

Might want to see how much cyclic pitch you're running.

mydartswinger

Thanks for the reply Barracuda.

I checked my mixing arms, and there's only 1 hole on each end on the aluminum arms that are installed. For good measure, I also checked the washout arms. They are in the outside holes. The green paddles shouldn't be an issue for me to pick up, I'll check on getting them sometime this week. BTW, I also ordered the PV0499 tail rotor hub to replace the stock one It should be in this week, and I'll have it installed by the weekend. Yes, thankfully it survived this weekend's flights.

I've never checked my cyclic pitch. What should I do to do so, and can I use a collective pitch gauge to do it?

I guess that means that I should bite the bullet and install the carbons. I think I should be fine with them since I'm capable of some aerobatics now (albeit not the prettiest).

Thanks again.

glydrjocky

The only place to go from here is UP!!!! Dont forget us folks over in Hirobo land though! One of the guys in our club has the green paddles that Barracuda mentioned and he does some pretty wicked flying with his Raptor 50. Oh, then he went and put a Kassama head on it and well, that's just a whole other ball game now! That heli went from wicked to insane!!!

mydartswinger

Thanks for dropping in, Tony.

Believe me, I have no intents on forgetting ya'll in the Hirobo forum. I've still got, and will still be flying my Shuttle. The Shuttle should save me a bit of fuel over the Rappy. LOL. As much as I love my Rappy, she is a thirsty girl. Either that or I just loose track of time when I'm flying her.

I think I'll just stick with "wicked" for now, instead of going "insane". Remember, I'm just starting with aerobatics. I'll tune her up a bit to make her "wicked", and that should be sufficient until I'm ready for some "hard 3D", then I'll go "insane".

Later.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Set the collective to 0 pitch with the blades straight out and back.

Put a pitch gauge on the main blades.

Give full aileron and measure the blade pitch in each direction.

Turn the blades 90 degrees so the flybar is straight out and back.

Do the same thing measuring elevator throw.

You're looking for 7 to 8 degrees.

mydartswinger

Made a bit of progress on her tonight. My LHS didn't have the green paddles, nor has my tail rotor hub come in. However, they did have the red paddles. According to Thunder Tiger, they are ultra light paddles, just as the greens. They carry the same part number, but with the addition of a -R. They match the trim of the canopy a bit better than the greens would have anyway, IMO.

I also changed the woodies out for the TT 600mm carbons.

I checked the cyclic pitch as well. It's running roughly +- 8 or 9 degrees on both. I had increased the control throws on aileron and elevator since the last flight, so the current pitch is about 25+% more than what it was running on cyclic before.

We'll see how she flies next time out (of course after tracking the blades again).

Later.