fredycompean

What is the most upgrades you can give your Raptor 50V2?
What is each one for and which are worht it?

I've flown planes for a long time and recently tried this marvelous part of the hobby. (I'm really excited, can you tell )

I have a new Raptor that jumped from hovering to doing loops on around it's 7th flight. Originaly I didn't really want anything too sofisticated because I thought I'd be a long while on the hovering and transitions learning curve, but turns out the simulator is pretty realistic and I jumped into it as if I was on the sim.

I already solved an issue with the Gyro Glitches http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_25...tm.htm#2536926, but still remain with many questions.

I had thrown in old servos (JR L4001) in ailerons and elevator and (JR NES-517) on pitch and Throttle. Airplane servo Jr 8411 for rudder on a GY 240 gyro.
But now that I want to get a little more into trying inverted flight and maybe some other manuevers, I want to know where I should focus my atention to and the capacities of this Rap 50V2.

Should I install higher torque servos? Where are they more required and which are a good choice?
Which upgrades or improvements to make on this Rap 50V2? Carbon Fiber parts, metal aluminum, etc.....

Can some of you more experienced heli guys help me out?

Thanks in advance.

Flyfalcons

I would start with some nice servos (Futaba 9252 if you can afford them, they are great)
Then go for a Futaba 401 gyro with 9254 servo
Then get some carbon blades (Thunder Tiger 600) and tail blades (Mavrikk 80 work well and are cheap)
If you want to flip and roll faster, try the Thunder Tiger green paddles - they are supposed to work very well

fredycompean

Got the 401 gyro with the 9254 and the carbon fiber blades TT600mm.
I had them as spare parts.
what's special about the Futaba 9252 servos? I mean what differentiates a plane servo like the JR 8411 or 8611 from these heli servos?

infernoMP

I fly a 90 but my friend has an R50 and he swears that the carbon fiber paddles made the biggest difference of anything for 3D

Flyfalcons

The plastic gears on the 9252 won't wear as quickly as the metal gear JR servos. They are also faster and have enough torque to handle anything your R50 can dish at them. I also use 8411s and 8611s on my large planes but on helis speed and slop-free operation is very important. The 9252 is one of the best servos for helis in use today.

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Hello, more than welcome to help out. You should definately start with a 401 futaba gyro with the 9254 servo. Best thing you could do. if you want to start trying more, make sure you have either fiberglass blades or carbon blades (I prefer maverick blades) Make sure you are flying with +9* -9* of pitch and the rotor speed about 1800 to 1850. This is were alot of guys disagree with me but I think a govenor is the best investment you can make when you start aerobatics. As far as servos, you can never spend too much here. Spend as much as possible for your budget. I run the Hitec HS-5475HB digital servos on mine and haven't had any limitations yet with my flying. I run a Hitec HS-525 on the throttle. The reason for Karbonite geared servos is they never get sloppy. Once you get into aerobatics further you may want to change the paddles to the new 3D paddles for a raptor. My roll rate isn't as fast as it could be because of the paddles. Once you do this though you loose some stability in flat level forward flight. After you get some of these things there really is no limit to what the heli can do, just limits on the pilot. I have let a very experianced pilot fly mine and I was blown away at what it does. And yes it will pyroflip. Hope this helps you out, any more questions feel free to ask.

fredycompean

yeah thanks a bunch to both of you.

What do the carbon fins do?

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I agree that servo's and CF blades are great upgrades. But if you want to get the most bang for your buck, spend it on fuel.

fredycompean

Is karbonite some sort of plastic? I mean is it like what flyfalcon said about plastic gears being better because don't ware out? I guess flyfalcon reffers to nylon gears right?

fredycompean

yeah I've heard about Byron being a very good choise and Power Master being a bad one (damage to bearings...?) what do you use with how much nitro?

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Ok, all good questions. I use Morgan fuel 30% heli fuel. Karbonite gears are a form of plastic that is as strong as metal but get no slop with age. Carbon fins are for looks only. I added them to mine and it didn't do didly. I run all this stuff myself with great success, but I have heard with the power of a 50 size raptor 30% isn't needed to do aerobatics.

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Just to be more specific..............................nylon gears ,metal gears and Karbonite gears are all differant and all have there places. For heli's Karbonite is the best. nylon is not strong enough and metal do get sloppy after time (some right out of the box).

fredycompean

Thanks

I had never heard too much about Karbonite. Wouldn't it also be the most convenient for large scale aiplanes? If it's almost as strong as metal and don't get sloppy, then I can think that with the right strength they would be best for plane applications too.

The Hi-techs you mention have 60/oz of torque and are about $49.00 sounds like a good option.

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Don't pay $49.00 for them go to
http://www.chiefaircraft.com/cgi-bin...HS-5475HB.html

This chief aircraft they have them for 34.99. Yes they would work for large aircraft but they are just now getting Karbonite geared servos with ALOT of torque. I just bought HS-6975HB's for my Raptor 90SE they are 119 oz. torque You can put the HS-5475HB's on your 3 servos that run the head. the reason I use a HS-525 on the throttle is that it is extremely fast and the govenor can keep my throttle really close to the RPM's I want, even i violent + to - pitch changes

fredycompean

so the three in the head are the elevator, ailerons and pitch?

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

exactly. What kind of battery are you running??????? I have 2700mah NiMh 4.8 volt pack these packs are 4/5A size cells. Nice lite weight yet powerful enough for 3 flights (continuous erobatics)

fredycompean

I was running HidroMax 5 cell 6.V 2000mAh NiMh, but I'm switching to 4.8 Volts again because of the glitching I had on my rudder.
I was presented two options the other day.

Rechargeable
AA Energyzer with about 2200mAh

Or SonyRechargeable
AA Wit about 2100mAh.

I'm concerned about their Amp discharge capacity though. I'm not sure how much a certain manuever can demand on the helis. I know in planes for example, a blender or a long knife edge can demand close to 6 amps current, and quite franckly I don't think these cells are designed for high current discharges.

What do you use.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

NiCad's have a higher discharge capacity than NiMH.

I fly Cool Power 15% and my R50 will hang with most of them. I don't see the cost to performance ratio of 30 percent being worthwhile. To me anyways. I also don't run a pipe, just the Hatori muffler that shipped from Heliproz with my kit and engine.

edge_pilot

My Feedback: (73)

If you buy your pack from batteries america it will be alot less money. Definately don't run 6 volts on heli's. Gyros are only made for 4.8 volts. I run a 2700 mah NiMh 4/5 A cell 4.8 volt pack. They work great. As far as a pipe, Heli proz sells them with a hatori "style" muffler. This muffler works very good. We did do a test last year with one raptor with a Muscle Pipe II and one with Hatori style muffler, The Muscle Pipe II had more power enough to notice by eye and flying. The pipe is the last thing I would change.

fredycompean

I'm running 30% nitro because at the altitude we're flying, we need the engines to run cooler. And as I understand it, the higer nitro percentage runs cooler.

Fredy

Flyfalcons

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

I'll tell that to all the guys using them (9252s) on their multi thousand dollar Furys, Freyas, and other high end helis. My 9252s in my Raptor 60 have been through two hard crashes with NO damage at all.

fredycompean

I've decided to go for the CF tail blade and servos and 3D paddles upgrades.

What's your oppinion of these brands?

Servos
JR DS811 servos

For the tail blade I hear these work great.
v-blades
80mm tail blade

Paddles
v-paddles
paddl 3mm flybar

or

ksj
a paddle with a sharp airfoil that increases rool and flip speed.

Battery
Sanyo NiMh
4.8V 2700 mah 35dlls

Flyfalcons

Fredy, I have heard good things about V-paddles and blades. You might also want to look into the Thunder Tiger green paddles as they are supposed to be responsive yet not as pitchy as the sharp paddles like MA whites. They are also cheaper than the V-paddles and should handle a crash better than the carbon paddles. I forget if you already have carbon tail fins but when I installed them on my Raptor 60 I noticed a better pirouette rate.

fredycompean

are MA whites another brand?

Flyfalcons

Yes they are, MA = Miniature Aircraft. Their white paddles are the same as used on their Furys. They are lightweight, but some people find them to be pitchy in forward flight. I have a set on my Raptor 60, and they respond faster than the stock paddles. However, I found that after installing them that there is some interaction in the cyclic. When I roll right, the nose pitches up. The stock paddles did not do that. When/if Thunder Tiger produces a lightweight paddle for the 4mm flybar on the 60/90, I will give them a shot. V-paddles would be nice but the plastic paddles are cheaper.