RAPTOR NEWSLETTER #4 Nov 18, 1999 Hello Raptor owners: Here is our Raptor newsletter number 4. This is published by Thunder Tiger/Ace. The purpose is to keep the Raptor owners updated on what's happening. We will be sending this out by email to everyone who is on our tthelihotline email list. Please pass it along to your Raptor friends. (1) We have just received our samples of the optional metal and carbon upgrades for Raptor. They include a metal swashplate, metal mixing base, mixing arms, Bell-Hiller mixing arms, metal roll bellcranks and metal fore/aft cyclic control swing arms. They are in silver color and they look very nice. These optional parts are designed for 3-D pilots who want absolutely zero deadband on their controls. They are manufactured using Swiss CNC machines at the Thunder Tiger factory. There will also be carbon fins. They will be available in your favorite hobby shop by December. (2) We now have a remote glow plug adaptor designed to fit the Raptor and other helicopters. This permits connecting the glow plug battery without removing the canopy. It retails at $8.99 and the Thunder Tiger part number is TTR3803. We also have a glow plug driver that comes with a 1700 mah 1.2 volt ni-cd battery and a build-in meter that checks the plug condition. It retails at $24.95 including the battery charger. The Thunder Tiger part number is TTR2197R for red or TTR2197S for silver color. (3) The carbon graphite main blade custom made by Vic Cambell of the famous V-blade Manufacturing is now available. Vic Cambell and James Wang worked together to generate the specifications. Each blade weighs around 105 to 110 grams. Due to the forward CG, the blades give incredible high speed flight stability and smoothness. Now you can hang at the end of the autorotation. They have a wider chord and a thinner airfoil than stock wood blades. The blades are slightly over $100, but they are worth it. Each set comes perfectly balanced. You just have to bolt it on and go fly. They are designed as the ultimate 3-D blades for the Raptor. Plus, you will get that beautiful black graphite cloth look on the blades. These blades will be distributed exclusively by Ace. (4) We also have two new 550 mm wood rotor blades for the Raptor. They are manufactured in the USA by Yale Products. We are very happy to have James' design input for these two blades. These wood blades are made with five laminations. They have a walnut leading edge, a hard maple spar, two laminations of balsa wood mid-section, and an obechi trailing edge. The airfoil is a 15% thick symmetrical airfoil. The blades come with lead weight glued in very close to the leading edge to bring the chordwise CG to 27%. Hard maple blade root re-enforcements are glued on at the factory. The blades are covered with a white shrink tubing and are balanced and ready to use. The white shrink coverings are tougher than our clear covering and are less likely to loosen up. The blades are available with a curved swept tip or with a square tip. Both design fly very well and have a street price in the twenties range. The swept tip looks more modern, but the squared tip design actually produces more lift. For practicing 3-D, you can't beat the price and performance value of this new squared tip blade. The covering at the tip are purposely left open to allow trapped air to flow out to prevent the covering from lifting. These two blades are torsionally very stiff which make them ideal for practicing 3-D. Their ruggedness also allow them to take plenty of abuse from beginners. (5) Last time we recommend Raptor owners reheat the transparent blade cover every few months or when they are not drum tight. Any shrink covering for rotor blades will loosen up after a while. Remove the blades from the helicopter and then hold them over the hot steam coming out of a hot tea kettle. The hot steam will shrink the covering tight again. You need to be patient when doing this. Hold the blade about ten inches away from the heat. You will first see the covering starting to sag, then after two or three minutes over the steam, it will start to shrink. Do not hold the blade too close to the heat, because the heat can instantly burn a hole through the covering. How do you know when the shrink coverer needs to be re-shrunk? Just twist the wood blade gently, if you can see the covering lift up easily, then the covering is too loose. (6) We are still getting questions on our hotline on how to set the pushrod length for Step 12. We have a diagram on our web page (www.acehobby.com) showing the pushrod lengths for 3-D as well as for beginners. The newer kits' instruction manual includes a separate sheet showing the pushrod lengths. The two long pushrods that are labeled as 105 mm in the instruction manual should be changed to 100 mm. 100 mm will give about 1500 rpm and 6 degrees pitch in hover. (7) The new plastic tail rotor pitch fork BK0025 is now available by itself. The price is around one dollar. (8) We still have some new style low speed mixture screw for the Thunder Tiger TT36 heli engine. This modified low speed mixture screw will help reduce the rich spot at the 1/3 throttle position. Thunder Tiger 36 engine owners can receive a free low speed mixture screw by sending a self-addressed-and-self-stamped envelope to: Free TT36 Low Speed Mixture Screw Request Ace Hobby Distributor 116W 19th Strret Higginsville MO, 64037 If the Raptor was purchased after Sept 1, 1999 then they all have the new low speed mixture screw. (9) The Raptor 60 is undergoing testing. The inexpensive Raptor 60 will be here around Summer 2000. (10) For the beginners, we highly recommend our TTR-2000 optical tachometer. This tachometer has a large liquid crystal display that shows the rotorspeed and the receiver battery voltage. When installed on the tail boom of any helicopter, the one inch tall numbers can be seen from ten feet away. This tool will help the beginners set their pitch curve, throttle curve, and needle valves to obtain the proper rotorspeed. We recommend 1450 to 1550 as the best hover rotor rpm. The TTR-2000 is priced at $99. (11) In case you are unsure of what needle valve setting to start at. Try 2-1/4 to 2-3/4 turns open for the main needle valve and 1/2 to 1 turns open for the idle mixture screw. The low speed mixture screw position must be checked when the throttle barrel is at the closed position. The reason is the low speed mixture screw will move in and out with the throttle barrel. (12) We have reduced the price on our Thunder Tiger TG-8000 piezo gyros. The retail price is $165 and the street price will be even lower. This gyro is also designed by Mr. Taya. We highly recommend the TG-8000 piezo gyro to the beginners and intermediates because it does not have a heading, therefore, it is much easier to set up. Its special circuitry allows turning up the gain without causing tail oscillation. It also has a circuitry to minimize temperature drift. This is the best non-heading hold piezo gyro on the market. It costs more than the inexpensive micro gyros on the market, but the TG-8000 quality and sensitivity are far superior. Beginners will learn faster with the TG-8000 gyro. Advanced pilots will appreciate its high performace. (13) Please check the fuel pickup line inside your Raptor fuel tank every two months. After few months of use, the nitromethane in the fuel can make the line soft and soggy. Change the inside line every few months. For 3-D fliers, after replacing the stock pick up line with other silicone lines, please make sure the clunk will reach the bottom when holding the helicopter upsidedown. (14) The proper tail rotor belt tension is that you should be able to squeeze the belt with your fingers and cause 1/8 inch inward deflection on both side. If the belt is too loose, the teeth can grind upon each other inside the tail boom. If the belt is too tight, it will rub power and the autorotation hub can not spin freely. Do not over tighten the 3 mm bolt and nut on the lower main rotor shaft because they will distort the steel sleeve inside the autorotation free wheeling bearing. The 4 mm main rotor blade bolts should not be too loose, nor overly tight. The blades should not swing freely, but they should not be locked down, either. (15) The Raptor had a great turn out at the 1999 Ohio IRCHA Jamboree in August. About 30 Raptor pilots showed up. We also gave away free low speed mixture. Mr. Arjan Plomp from Holland crashed both of his TSK Mystar at the Jamboree. He did not come from so far away just to sit and watch others fly. He bought a Raptor 49 BB ARF at the Jamboree and had it finished in three hours. He started doing impressive 3-D before his TT 36 was completely broken in. He kept the engine running rich because it was new. Brian Rasmussen and Jeff Dickenson both did many 3-D demos. The 1999 IRCHA Jamboree video that includes the Raptor demos and many other helicopter flying is available from SKS video (www.sksvideo.com). In general. The ABC piston and sleeve in the TT36 requires three to four gallons of run time before you will see the full potential. You will also notice that after three to four gallons, the idle to hover transition will become much smoother. Have a great flying season Anyone who desires to stop receiving the Raptor newsletter please email us, and we will remove you from our list. Sorry, we can not fill request to send out previous newsletters. === Thank you for contacting us at Thunder Tiger Helicopter Hotline. Our goal is make sure that you enjoy your Raptor RC helicopter at anytime, all the time. Dr. Rap tthelihotline@yahoo.com ===== Thank you for contacting us at Thunder Tiger Helicopter Hotline. Our goal is make sure that you enjoy your Raptor RC helicopter at anytime, all the time. Dr. Rap tthelihotline@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com