need advice on new purchase

[cobra r]

I'm interested in buying a new heli..50 scale range.Im torn in either the JR Venture or JR Airskipper.Is the extra investment about $250.00 justified to get the Airskipper or is the venture a good quality machine for modest 3-D flying.Or should l be looking at a HiroboSceadu 50?
Thanks for the help,
Cobra R

[tdswan]

Are you a new pilot, or looking to add to your fleet?

[Motions]

I'm sure tdswan will back me up when I say the Raptor 50 v2 is a great heli for beginners as well as hardcore 3D pilots. It's something to look at anyway unless your dead set on JR.

[tdswan]

Oh yeah...gotta love the tried and true design of the Raptor. Many will argue that it's a 7 year old design. True, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Minimal maintenance, tight & precise, and a good-lookin' bird if ya paint it up right! ;) Just didn't know if he was a beginner or not. If he's been flying for a while, he may be looking for a CCPM bird to try his hand on.

It's hard to get a bad one nowadays, though. I'm going to hopefully be building a scale project this summer and will be choosing Falcon 50 for mechanics. Another bird that's been around a while. A guy in my club has one, he's been flying it for a while. Also very capable.

[cobra r]

Thanks for the info so far guys.Yes l am a beginner but l've been on a simulator.lm a go into it full force kinda guy.l dont believe in starting small and working my way up.lf l crash it ,thats life ,nothing money cant fix.That being said,what research lve done l have heard good things on tiger raptor but im leaning towards a belt driven tailrotor assembly.Mainly due to simplicity.lve heard great reviews on JRs instruction manuals,parts availablity and a simple overall chassis.True,all helis these days are pretty close in relialability so l guess you start nit-picking at what you want personally.Being that l want to stay with a JR radio Gyro and Servos ,ju st thought l would stay with all JR. BUT......lm always open to others
viewpoints. Thanks again guys for all your input.

[tdswan]

The Raptor has a belt driven tail. If you're looking for design simplicity, the Raptor's comparable to almost anything as far as slimplicity.

Good choice on the JR system, I am a fan of JR. I lean more towards Futaba servos, though. They are all compatible with JR and I run Futabas on my Raptor with a JR receiver and gyro. the gyro came with a JR servo, so I'm using that, but my cyclic is run by Futaba 3050 metal gear digitals. They're quite fast and have a TON of torque. Another favorite around my club is the Futaba 9202 digitals. I'm not sure on specs for them, but they're pretty widely used.

I'm not trying to railroad you into the Raptor, just giving you some real-life experience. I've flown a few others, it's hard to get a bad one unless you set it up wrong.

[Motions]

You don't need to get the same brand model as the electronics. JR has really good electronics and a couple of friends use all JR on their Raptors. I use all Futaba only because that's what I started out with and know. I can't comment on the JR models cause I've never seen any, but I do fly Raptors and I love them. Easy to setup and maintain.

[cobra r]

Thanks again guys,your info means great deal to me.One more off the wall question.If money was not an issue would you go with a 60 or 90 scale over a 50 scale.
Thanks again.

[tdswan]

For a first heli, even with cash not being an issue a 50 about perfect for learning and takng you as far as the 3-D realms. Replacement parts are nice and readily available, as well. If cash isn't an object, I'd go all out on electronics. Your radio especially. Minimum you need a 6 channel for a radio, a 7+ channel will be nicer if you're planning on maybe a scale project in the future as you'll be using the same radio for each model.

[Fasrc]

I am assuming when you say scale you mean the size of the heli and not a scale looking ship like the Bell 222 or TwinStar, correct?

If my assumption is correct than the Raptor is a great beginner to advanced flying heli. For ultimate 3D the Evo is awesome but tends to break more parts in a crash. The Tiger 50 and Caliber 50 are other great heli's. As mentioned above, all current model heli's are good. Get one that everyone else flies around you, that way you can get help with setup and any problems that may arise.

As far as the 60 or 90 questions, I would always take the 90 over a 60. cost is very close between the 2 but performance does not compare. There is nothing that comes close to the power of a 90 size ship.

Hope this helps. ;)

[Motions]

95% of the time anyone mentions scale helis, they're talking about adding scale bodies on the model. The reason you would need or like to have additional channels on a scale project is for things like retracts.

[kcasner]

I have a raptor 50, and have been seriously considering tearing everything off of it and buying a airskipper 50. That is a very nice heli.

[godspeed128]

Does Anyone have a Airskipper 50 ? I started out many years ago with a x-cel 60 that lasted about two years and I could not afford it anymore. Now I would like to get back into the game and I really like the Airskipper 50 .

[Walkera Down]

Hi Cobra,

I might as well throw my 2 cents worth in. Sounds like you are about where I was or am - fairly new, using a sim, not knowing where to go next. I considered the Air Skipper along with others. I finally took the plunge and bought a Raptor Titan a month or two ago. I just crashed it a few days ago after having some great learning experiences with it. I don't know about anything else but a Walkera Dragonfly and a Blade CX; however, I have been VERY pleased with the Titan. I have it on training gear and had it tuned way down (or so I thought). It surprised me by how easy it was to hover and manage. My crash was caused by my failing to notice (the night before I crashed, I was rechecking my tx settings) I programmed my tx with 150% instead of 50% on the high limit of my throttle servo control!! Being this was only my 6th flight, I lost it when I got it a little further than I was comfortable with and ...

I don't have the experience with any of the other birds, but I sure think one heck of a lot of my Titan. I might have gone with a 30 if I had it to do again but I would still stick with the Raptor.

Hope it helps.
Harold.