Pimp my Raptor

[Rappy1]

G'day guys thought i would show you through the rebuild on my heli as i am bored and it may interest the odd person.
I have not flown it for over a month as there were a few things that i was needing to sought out mainly just wear and tear items like play in the tail rotor hub and the governor casing has come apart.
I intend to pimp up a little bit and you will see what i mean on my way through the rebuild.
Here is a photo of it before rebuild, it is tarted up with a few aftermarket parts and flys pretty well and i intend to keep it that way.

[Rappy1]

Here is one of the first jobs i have done while pulling it down. I thought i would polish the tail boom supports just to give it a cheap upgrade look. The upper support is a shot of one befor and bellow is the finished one.
I started with some corse sand paper to remove the powder coating and then went to a fine grit to finish, after that gave a good hand polish with some Auto-sol they look rear cool and very shiny

[HeliRaptor]

It looks nice.

I would be careful making parts shiny like that though. It gives the Sun Something to reflect back at you. It could make for it to become hard to see if it acts like a mirror to the Sun. Something to think about.

[Rappy1]

You have a good point
Fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at it, the country I live in has so much glare from the sun that when the sun thinks its time to shine you need to wear polirised glasses otherwise you spend your whole time squinting. Luckly I have a great pair of sunnies that cut out all the glare

[heli-cuzz]

Looks good Rappy1 :cool:

[tdswan]

Yes, that sun is a problem for me with my Gasser. The muffler is so massive on it that any time I fly it nose-right I've got to look at it in a different spot.
http://www.rchelimag.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=94

[homerlex]

Looks pretty nice before the rebuild. Can't wait to see it after :)

[Rappy1]

Yeah it is not a bad heli and flys well. I have a laser cutter arriving in the next few days for work so thinking i may build a carbon kit to replace where all the servos and batteries are kept and also make a aftermarket carbon base plate the same as the standard one but to fit the os 50sxh

[Rappy1]

here is a photo of one of the issues I need to fix. The quik uk tail push rod has been rubbing on the housing bolt, this could cause noise and also wear. maybe now is the time to fit the right bolts.

[Rappy1]

These are the new bolts which sit bellow the top of the mounting and have a sh$t show of trying to rub now

[Rappy1]

I have finished the rebuild of the tail rotor and have made a few changes, I have robbed a different tail hub off another helicopter which has the 2 grub screws instead of the standard setup. i have blobed some super glue onto the pins that link to the tail rotor to prevent these coming out during flight and also fitted a bolt instead of the grub screw into the end of the rotor shaft which means i can check to make sure thelocking pin theat it tightens has not come loose as part of my preflight

[Hoomi]

Just don't let that German guy from VW Unpimp your heli...

:p

[Helifino]

Lookin' mighty fine rappy!!

[Rappy1]

here are some more photos of my rebuild. On the home stretch. If you look back at my first photo of the rap you will see the collective is black, I used some weld clean and removed the anodising from the tray and polished it up with some autosol, the photos don't do it justice

[Rappy1]

more photos

[Rappy1]

The hot looking head

[Rappy1]

I am showing this photo to show what i have done to the pickup for the governor. apply heat shrink over the casing of the sensor as they tend to come apart on most peoples helis. This is the governor made by futaba.

[tdswan]

Lookin' good, Rappy! You're stickin' lots of jing for all of that bling! :D

[Rappy1]

Here are the final photos for know. I have removed the alu collective tray as the bearings need to be spaced and at the moment i realy cant be f#cked doing that. Befor you point out the missing servo screw and other bits and pieces, I am aware, they will be on there tonight i can assure you that.

[Rappy1]

I used that spiral wrap around the wiresand it looks great and should protect them. it is amazing how hiding the wires behind some black protection makes the frame look tidy

[Rappy1]

My new radio to go with the heli

[Rappy1]

The final shot showing how small the Rx is on these dx7

[HeliRaptor]

Looking good. Where is the second RX? I only see one with the antennas going horizontal. The second one should be at least 2 inches away and have the antennas Vertical.

[Rappy1]

Gday you should be able to see it in the secound to bottom photo on page 2, it has its light on

[HeliRaptor]

Got it. I must being going blind.

[Rappy1]

I was a little board at work/home today and I started rebuilding the Raptor, so far everything on the main frame is back on. just need to do the head and the tail rotor/ boom. I have fitted a heavy duty switch a new 401 gyro battery indicator and some fuel line bits and pieces. it is starting to look like a heli again

[Rappy1]

I made up on the laser cutter a mounting bracket from 2mm clear plastic to mount the 2nd reciever on, if anyone wants one i will charge next to nothing, just cost of material and freight for all you RC Heli mag forumers. It is much neater and i started to find i had run out of room to mount it so bolting to the top servo not only helps absorb any vibration it also keeps it clear of the other electronics.

[blax1]

Nice going Nathan, the way you are going, she'll be up sometime this weekend :)
:cool: dogleg bracket for mini Rx..

[Rappy1]

I wish, busy weekend this, should be finished hopefully by the end of the weekend so ready for flying maybe 1 day next week. Things are looking good on it i am reseting the governor as we speak before stripping the head and rebuilding, i pulled the collective tray off this Jingshi thing i own and put it on the raptor, and also used the frame off it as well as it was a bit more clean, haha. will keep you posted
cheers Nathan

[cbflys]

Are you sure you have enough rubber bands up front? ;)

[Rappy1]

haha, that was my old setup. We have one of those people at our club that thinks you need so many different ways to protect your radio gear. I bought one of those covers that goes over the radio gear now made out of something like wetsuit material, looks much more neat. and less rubber bands, more to fling at who ever disturbs me while working on it

[cbflys]

Nice. That's what I use rubber bands for - target practice!

[Rappy1]

All ready to go again, just need to get some long threaded shafts for my muffler as the other muffler is history after the crash and wait for the epoxy to cure on the tail rotor pushrod. only damage to the ater market head was a stripped flybar seesaw thread. I have just fitted the factory one and will keep with it as a replacement Quik uk seesaw was about $30, not worth spending the extra money on it. I even gave all the metal, carbon and body a wax at the same time :D

[DJB2.0]

Rappy1

I just It looks like you are using 3M tape now, right? saw how you mounted your reciever.


I learned something on another forum, that is definately worth sharing. You might want to try this. (RC HELI, be sure to put this in your little "quick tips" section in the magazine!!)

Step 1, get some Velcro.
Step 2 Stick a Prickly side piece on the heli where to mount the rx
Step 3 Stick ANOTHER prickly piece on the back of the RX
Step 4 Take 2 pieces of the fuzzy stuff, and stick them back-2-back. Make a "pillow"

The fuzzy "pillow" will work as an excellent way to prevent any high frequency vibes from transferring the way into the reciever. It's a great little shock absorbing cushion.

BTW, that Purple Quick UK head looks great on that heli.

[Rappy1]

cheers for the comments DJB i will have to get onto getting some of that velcro, sounds like a good idea, The stuff i currently use is from the hobby shop, they call it servo mounting tape for use on rc cars.
She looks like a cousin of your old raptor except in purple instead of the blue :D

[heli-cuzz]

Looks great, Nate. :cool:

[Rappy1]

I thought i would take a photo at night to show just how many leds a simple setup has these days, it look pretty colour full in a dark room,

[Rappy1]

Here she is all finished, charged up ready for her first flight after her birthday :D Should get her up sometime today with some luck, don't you just love the feel of how silky smooth the blades turn on the raptor, They really feel like there is no resistane at all in the flight line. You almost need a rotor break to stop the blades turning

[blax1]

Wow Rappy1
She is looking awesome, what about the Led lights :cool:Great Stuff.
Good luck with it today, just take it easy, until you get your thumbs tuned in... :)
Very Very Nice!!!!!! :cool:

[Rappy1]

Cheers ralph
She really is looking good now, and the 401 should be much better than the 240 i was using before. the 401 seemed a piece of cake to setup and was not as bad as i was thinking. Murphies law aye, as soon as the heli is ready to fly the hot strong nor west winds also come about :mad: Oh well it will not stop me. it is always more fun playing in a gale anyway, huge climb outs and huge speed, what more could you ask for, hehe. The leds seem to be making there way onto everything now. sure makes finding problems much more easy. all there is is the 401 (red) the bat indicator ( green) and the two for the spec (orange) but starts to look like a christmas tree

[cbflys]

Two words Rappy .... FLYING PICS

You did a nice job on that bird - have a blast with it.

[Rappy1]

haha Chuck thanks.
Well i fly most of the time on my own so getting somebody to take a photo can be a challenge. I took the tripod along and did the 10 sec trick, where you start the timmer and get the heli airbourne in front of the camera in 10 sec ready for the photo. here are some photos of my day flying

[Rappy1]

here is a action photo of me and the heli

[Rappy1]

and another, looks good in the hover

[Rappy1]

here is one nice and close to the camera, but half the heli is missing

[Rappy1]

Even some of the locals came by for a gander,

[Rappy1]

Finished the day with a table top landing, The wind was very strong and gusty over 30kmph, but i had a lot of fun and used up all the fuel i had. Heli seems to be running the best it ever has. 401 seemed to do its job well. I went home a happy man,
Ps those ruber bits for the skids are great for landing on the table, stops it going for a walk when the table is uneven

[blax1]

Great photos Nathan :) Good to see you behind the sticks again :cool: The heli- seems to hover as flat as a tack, nice and stable considering the wind you wrote about...
Cheers Ralph

[Rappy1]

yeah i seem to have hovering down to a tee, I guess you have to when half the time it is blowing a gale. I kept my flying fairly basic today just a few circuits and some hovering to get back use to the feel of things again. But boy is it nice to have that nitro power again, i will be like my old mate cuzz there now, and sucking back the nitro each week. I feel i could fly the heli in a hurricane pretty well, i will take it out one day when there is the 120 kph nor westers and see how it handles it we just had a light one today. My caliber 30 went through some pretty strong winds and never complaied so i am sure the raptor will. You will really love the power of the Os 50 hyper, it just has so much balls to it, and even if the tunning is not bang on it seems to be happy. i guess thats what ya get when you buy an os.
I thought what something i will do from now on after a rebuild is spend the evening after going over everything and checking each nut and bolt as i feel it is very easy to over look something on a rebuild and it may not come apart first day but after it has been exposed to some vibration and flying these problem will give an early sign before it is too late. I guess it is better to be safe than sorry

[Rappy1]

Well thanks to some encouragement from a couple rcheli forum mates. I regained my interest after many other distractions recently. Did a little spend up and bought some new parts as last time i had a minor crash due to a screew coming loose on the on the elevator lever. The heli was getting rather old at that stage with many years on it and yes a number of crashes. The funny thing being the heli never been damaged enough to need a new frame. However after many strips and rebuilds the threads WERE getting worn. Last time i took it out the screw came loose towards the end of a flight while about a couple meters up and took a hit to the ground. i was quick enough to close the gass when i noticed something was going pear shapped. The crash was not that bad even the blades survived however the flybar bent and more than likely the mast as well.
So thats the history now she gets a new clean up and rebuild. I have replaced the frames this time as they were in dire need of it. I bought a new clutch for it as well as i want to use it on another heli i have. So bought a new one that got holes drilled in it keeping it cool but really it just bling. They only $7us so not really a bank breaker. will be interesting to see how it holds up compared to the standard raptor one. I never replaced the liner on the old one and it still ran great with out any issues.

Now one question does anyone no what the screw hole in the middle rear of the frame was for? did something go in there on older model ones? I just notice it everytime i work on the heli but never seen any with something mounted there. i not talking about the header mount either it just to the left of it though, around an inch away

mm nice new frames. it like looking at a brand new heli again. It feels nice to be back working on it :)

[kcgraves]

Now one question does anyone no what the screw hole in the middle rear of the frame was for? did something go in there on older model ones?

Looking good. Nothing like nice new parts. :D

If your talking about the one above the fuel tank I have no idea, my Titan has it too. Nice place for a cable tie though. Might have been a frame stiffener rod at some point. My EVO 50 has a lot of those holes all over the frame and I have put 60mm spacers in a few of them. The Raptor frame seems much more solid so I haven't added any spacers to it.

[strat1960s]

I like the polished look. Another thing to consider is rust. You removed not only the paint/powder coating, but also the rust barrier. Any moisture in the air will eventually cause rust. I'd at least clean them up to remove any oil or grease and clear coat them.

Ted

[tdswan]

Lookin' good, Rappy. It's actually fun to resurrect a heli once in a while. Crashin's all part of the hobby!

[Rappy1]

I like the polished look. Another thing to consider is rust. You removed not only the paint/powder coating, but also the rust barrier. Any moisture in the air will eventually cause rust. I'd at least clean them up to remove any oil or grease and clear coat them.

Ted

Its sweet ted it all alloy. This actually an old thread of mine from the start of last year. due to certain reasons :rolleyes: some of the parts on it back then no longer on it. I did however have a problem with the aftermarket collective tray made by thunder tiger. it did not sit well against the frame and had small amount of play too. i removed it in the end. Well tonight i thought seeing it apart i would find some spaces and take that play out of it so now it nice and tight. here is a pic of the tray that was stripped of its powered coating last year. I autosoled it at the time but not touched it since. it been sitting in the garage for the year. and still like chrome. the black coated bolts by thunder tiger are another story on the heli. last time i looked they were black now they all brown

[strat1960s]

Rappy,

Looks great!

Ted

[Rappy1]

Thanks!
well bedtime now it 4:15am got to get to bed befor the wife notices the time :o . got plenty done. only issue the clutch bell needed sanding but apart from that looking good. Just the tail left to go and rotor head blade balancing radio set up the usal stuff anyway good night

[Rappy1]

Almost back together now just the servo links and radio setup really.

I mentioned it last year but got a telling off from one of the members about using loctite on the muffler gasket. I thought this time i would photo the stuff i use. Loctite make it and it normally in a blue tube, however this time i trying some Permatex brand one. Anaerobic the name you look for not rtv. It is a fuel proof sealant unlike rtv that allot of the time fails once the nitro hits it. It has no smell to it and a much stronger sealer than rtv. most vehicle manufactures use this stuff in areas that exposed to oil full time like gearboxs and the lower engine. It does cost more than rtv but it does a much better job and have had very few leaks in the past from using it. You only apply a small smear to the bonding surfaces and the other nice thing it does not tend to break off like you will get if you use too much rtv silicon.

[Rappy1]

Anaerobic gasket maker

[vermonster]

looks great Nathan...:D

[heli-cuzz]

Finished the day with a table top landing, The wind was very strong and gusty over 30kmph, but i had a lot of fun and used up all the fuel i had. Heli seems to be running the best it ever has. 401 seemed to do its job well. I went home a happy man,
Ps those ruber bits for the skids are great for landing on the table, stops it going for a walk when the table is uneven

Awesome!!!!
Great to hear all is well. http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/verschiedene/g015.gif

I like, very :cool:
http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/verschiedene/a014.gif

[Rappy1]

Cheers guys, yeah i like that photo too cuzz. currently away over the last few days i just signed onto a wifi hotspot in the hotel we staying in. to havve a look over the forums :D

[blax1]

Cheers Nathan no slacking off now, keep that rappy going around..
Hey its Saturday night I'm watching the Bledisloe Cup 2008------------------- awesome game.. :eek:

[Rappy1]

Hey Ralph :)
Yeah i think i got the heli bug back again. I back from being away so just have a little catch up work to get done then i will be back into it at the weekend. I wont ask you who won the cup, but it been a great sporting weekend with the warriors winning somehow :confused: as well

[Rappy1]

Ok so today i went and bought myself a 2 in 1 voltage reg from Align. Looks the business so look forward to using it. More stuff to go along in the big electric pile up front on the heli

[Rappy1]

I dont know if i should feel pleased or p!ssed off. but i have found what i think to be the source of my tunning issues I had issues where after awhile of flight the engine would start cutting out. What i notice is the bowl like shape on top of the piston but also there is a crack in it too. So hopefully a new piston should get it back running the way it should. I need to find the cause though as i not had this happen before. i have never used a piston locking tool and the damage looks almost like what you would expect from one.

[tdswan]

You're lucky you caught that when you did! Good catch!
It's likely a defective piston, or a lean run. Not much more can cause that in my experience. Once the hole's started, it's only a matter of time before it collapses.

[heli-cuzz]

Nate, you should be happy you found the problem. I know it sucks that it happened, but a lot more damage could have been done. It seems more like a defective piston, a lean run will usually scrape the piston and cylinder sleeve walls as well as the top of the piston and headbutton will be pitted.

Is it an OS? Send it in for a warranty issue.
How does the rest of the engine's components look?
{Connecting rod/Cylinder sleeve/headbutton/front&rear bearings}

I'm surprised you even got it to start with a crack in the piston like what you're showing.

[Rappy1]

here is the photo of the head. there is tiny pit marks. i unsure if that is as pitted as a lean run. I have been having trouble with the mixture on it lately. this may of been the cause or the result of the poor mixture i am unsure. i think i might go over the entire fuel system to be 100% sure nothing been alowing it to get like this.

ps Yeah it an os 50sx hyper. It never gets run on anything higher than 15% might be the reason the bearings never gone :rolleyes: (touch wood) everything else seems fine on it. the bearings smooth the con rod looks good and the bore also fine

[cbflys]

Looks like you were running it too lean. That's what happens.

The OS .50 Hyper many times doesn't have the head bolts torqued correctly from the factory. If you try tuning with the loose head bolts, it ends up too lean.

[Rappy1]

I think you just solved what i was asking. I had been flying it around and noticed a drip coming from the head. so stopped flying after that and now when i pulled the engine out to atach the earth for the glow i noticed they were not that tight. seeing as they were loose it was just by chance i pulled the head off to see how the insides were and thats when i noticed the crack. Anyway a new piston has been ordered and should reach me hopefully this weekend :cool:

[blax1]

Ya there was a guy on RR talking about loose head bolts on Hypers, better check mine, good save Rappy1, now on another note that B6T you got, that looks like the early version, they had issue's with that with fuel getting inside it, so make sure you mount it away from fuel/smoke etc, damn near impossible :rolleyes: maybe you should check with your LHS and get the later one if you can, here's a shot of the later version

[Rappy1]

cheers for the info blax. i went through your caliber build up last night as i wanted to see how you mounted yours. i have fitted the unit away from the fuel system. do you no what problems came about?

[blax1]

Yep---Hang on I'll get a link for you... :)

[cbflys]

The problem is you start losing muscle tone from lack of picking up the ni-starter :D

[blax1]

Ok Sheeeeeeeeesh when you want something you cant find it :mad: The bottom line was, if the first ones got too much fuel in and around them, they where prone to failures' so they modified the container and put it all in a sealed plastic box an in my photo, so if you keep her dry, you should be right, here's a link that Ron Lund has posted about the later model as well it to can still be susceptible to fuel enter the main switch assembly.... :)

http://www.ronlund.com/

Click on

Alert!!
Align 2 in 1 regulator

[Rappy1]

Thanks blax. i will check the condition of my switch. it should be fine for awhile as it away from any fuel splashes and mounted to the frame where i never seen any fuel land on any previous flight i had. hurry up courier i want to go for a fly.

[blax1]

That :cool: Nathan, its a great piece of gear running 6V's all round, and the servos really get going, be mindful of 4.8V for the TR servo, if that's your case? I used the Align step-down on a S9254 works a treat, and the auto glow ignition is awesome, push button 15 seconds timer, spin her up and fly -------------Awesome stuff.... :)

[blax1]

Nathan way off topic, but what the heck

An awesome win by the Warriors tonight, mate...Congratulations an awesome effort... :cool:

I hope it'll be Storm/Warriors in the grand final, both teams deserve it, Melb's my home town, go the Storm.... :D


:)

[Rappy1]

Oh is that right i didnt watch it tonight. but i remember hearing them saying durring the week the tickets sold out just like that. It a shame there home ground bit of a tip. They had a big welcoming back at Auckland Airport on monday. You havent been putting any money on it this year ralph? :D

[Rappy1]

The raps all back together. I replaced the piston and ring, fitted the align 2in 1. I also bought a new canope and decaled it up following the advice blax posted on his canopy covering. Looks absolutly superb, not a bubble in sight. just used the windo cleaner on it then used the wifes hair dryer over the decals afterwards it did a really good job of making the decals stick and also i guess it helps soften the decals for around curves, which through just applying without heat would start to bubble in those areas.
Anyway she was looking so nice and so clean she got to stay in the bedroom last night :D
I just got to finish off wiring up the fuel pump on my new flight box then she be ready for her flight this morning. Cant wait. i hope she flys as well as she looks at the moment :cool:

[tdswan]

Congrats Rappy! I've never used the widex trick, but it makes sense. The hair dryer works wonders on those seams!

Let's have a pic!

[Rappy1]

here she is. Just about to spool up for the first flight of the day. fingers x its a good one.

I was a little uncertain at first about using window cleaner as i thought it might remove the sticky. but seems ok

[Rappy1]

First flight on new piston is out the way. it running so much better now and with that align 2 in 1, it starts so fast as well. it really only takes a quick press of the starter and shes away. I am rather wrapped with it. Another good thing, there no fuel on the body or around the engine anymore. woohoo it finally a clean heli, other than the skid the muffler side. Anyway its back to flying :cool:

[blax1]

Congratulaions Nathan she looks really excellent..... :)

Another tip on decals, is to trace the outer edge with CA, particularly on the leading edges, stop them from pealing back when you wipe the canopy over, it was mentioned in RCHeli mag a couple of issue's back , great idea and works well........ :)

The 2in1 is a real bonus, no more external igniters etc, just plug and play.. :cool:

BTW-The Storm just made it, lucky, I still think it'll be Warriors/Storm GF.. :cool: