lol...not really knocking your cheapy hitec! i've used hitecs in a lot of places and always happy with their performance but when it comes to the tail on the heli I'll throw a dig on it just for that added piece of mind. You aren't kidding though, I thought it flew great for what it was and to hear you talk about it I didn't think it was going to have enough power to get out of its own way but it definitely looked like a stable rock up there. I would have suggested seeing if messing with the gain toned that down but looks like it did. Definitely two thumbs up for ingenuity and making it work, that engine sounded pretty happy in that raptor imo and with the cost of fuel way it is, thats a great way to get some relaxing flying in.
I'd love to see it inverted though
edit - you know, come to think of it, after the lovely performance of that hien I might ought to see about stuffing that saito into a 30 along the same lines of your conversion