Predator Gasser

[tdswan]

Anyone got one of these? Looking into getting one, but I can't find much on them anywhere. How's it fly? Any problems with ignition and electronics? Any pitfalls anyone should look out for?

[Ace]

Should maybe consider joining a club someone there could probably help,on forums you could read for days because ther so much different opinions

[tdswan]

Tou-che, Unfortunately, noone in my club has one....I'm not looking for my first, I'm looking for #4.

[rcfan]

Did you try runryder.com? rcuniverse.com? helifreak.com?

[Ace]

I was just messing with ya,saw the chance and i grabbed it, no insult intended :)

[tdswan]

Oh, I got a chuckle. It was pretty witty. Thanks for making me eat a little crow. :-)

[hellian]

an article on a gasser heli would be nice in RC Heli. .. just a suggestion :)

[Stator Gator]

I converted the second Predator gasser to ever fly (converted from the 90 kit)
It's a great heli and I highly reccomend it.
And this is coming from an EX century team pilot.
I suggest you get the carbon frame model, as the frames survive much better in a crash than the alum. ones

Thanks
Tom

[larrytoelle]

Howdy Tom,

Guess you and I will be bumping into each other more often ...

Just got your Stator Gator this week ... it had a Bergen EB attached to it.

LT

[Mike48]

I have the gasser. Flys Great lots of flight time like 30 min cnat fly that long myself. Mental burn out after like 10 to 15 min got to land and relax!! :D vary stable in hover.

[tdswan]

Any issues between the radio and the ignition? Precautions to take to prevent this. Any major flaws in the build process? Noone in my club has one, everyone flies glow so I just don't want to spend $1500 or better on a flying headache.

[Joey.S]

I have a Predator Se and i really enjoy it, cheap to run no mess to clean up. I have had no ignition interference yet, i use a jr9303 tx.

Joe

[BubbaJoeLouis]

I have the gasser. Flys Great lots of flight time like 30 min cnat fly that long myself. Mental burn out after like 10 to 15 min got to land and relax!! :D vary stable in hover.

Is it easier/harder than flying something smaller? like a .30 or .50? Is it very responsive? I would like to get one, but I dont need it super responsive, I cant do 3D for a while yet.

[axis]

I saw one fly this weekend and it was awesome!! I really want one now. I asked the guy a ton of questions about it. He had 2 of them there. One with a RC Camera Unit on the front, basically it was converted into a work horse.. and the other was sleek, black and looked supa fast.. I saw them both fly and I am very impressed with it. I am done with glow but I am looking into one of these myself. My LHS even carries parts so thats a massive plus.. The heli was also suprisingly very aerobatic as well. He was doing effortless loops and rolls and the thing seemed sooooo stable too..

Oh an he said that they use lantern fuel instead of gasoline. Haaa it smelled like hot dogs when it was running.. lol

[tdswan]

I have begun my trek towards the Predator Gasser I have been coveting for months now. Ordered the servos, gyro and other misc. electronics and tools I will need for this undertaking. Ouch! The 3 servos for the collective alone were over $200 even on special!!! I went with Futaba 9252's: coreless motor and 92 oz. of torque. GY401, of course w/ the STELLAR 9254 digital for the tail! I'm just pumped to get the kit ordered which will probably be in a month or two (unless I talk the wife into another $1000 on the credit card). I'll keep you all posted!

[tdswan]

UPDATE!
I threw the question at her tonight. Almost got her talked into it! Soon, she'll be powerless to resist! She knows that all she wants is to see me happy! I'll have her brainwashed soon!

[mb323]

Your an instpiration to all of us Tdswan. ;)


Good luck, we are all rooting for you! :D

[Motions]

TD, didn't I teach you anything?! Your supposed to have a credit card she doesn't know about or maybe a Paypal account. :D

I hope she doesn't visit the forum and read your post or you will never see a gasser. :eek:

[tdswan]

TD, didn't I teach you anything?! Your supposed to have a credit card she doesn't know about or maybe a Paypal account. :D

I hope she doesn't visit the forum and read your post or you will never see a gasser. :eek:

:p Oh, she's smarter than that. Plus, sometimes she gets home from work before I do and gets the mail. I probably wouldn't pull the extra credit card off for long! She did cringe a little when I told her $1200 to finish it. :o

[tdswan]

UPDATE!!! I know it's been a while....
I'll be ordering the gasser soon. Probably just days off! I, of course had to agree to some minor terms and WILL have to pay the full amount back, but that's not important right now. :D

[axis]

SWEET!! Post up when ya get it.. Racing season is in full swing right now so I am swamped in the shop and havent been on here much but, it is good to see that you kept your focus!! LOL

[tdswan]

AAAHHHHH!!! BACKORDERED!!!!
Man! I just can't get a break, looks like 2 weeks on backorder if I understood the guy right, he didn't speaky de english so good. He seemed to know his job at least.

[tdswan]

Shipping on 5-10-06!!!! Woohooo!

[Helifino]

Looking forward to some pics! Keep us posted.

[tdswan]

It Came!!!!

[Felony44]

Dam thats one hell of a motor

[midi0101]

Hey TD,

I'd be bery interested to know how that machine flies....

Any problems putting it together ?
Any problems with radio interference ?

Thanks,
Michael

[tdswan]

Everything looks to be pretty easy so far. There's a couple of things in the manual that are vague and the parts aren't always in the bags you'd expect, but it's pretty easy thus far. I've only done the rotor head and part of the frame & gas tank so far. I'm skipping around past the engine because I need a runout gauge yet. I'll keep you posted on any other problems. I'll be running a PCM system on it so I'm not anticipating any radio issues, but who knows.
I was amazed at the size, JUST the canopy sitting on the floor is as tall as my Raptor 50 canopy ON THE BIRD! I'm afraid it's not going to have enough headroom in the Avalanche with the tonneau covers on!

[tdswan]

Not done yet, but close. Family portrait. The picture doesn't really do the size difference justice. This is one BIG BIRD!!!

[Felony44]

Na you can tell that gasser is huge just look at the canopy it has atleast 3 inches on the raptor

[Helifino]

Yea, It sure puts that Trex to shame :D

[tdswan]

I fired up the gasser today!!! I didn't fly it, I only wanted to run it in a bit to check the clutch, mixture, etc. WOW! This thing purrs like a kitten. What a great running little engine. I splurged and bought the upgraded muffler for it and it was well worth the money just for how quiet it is. The tail drive was louder than the engine, even with it revved up! Now it's off tow work to set up the pitch & throttle curves! I'll keep ya posted!

[tdswan]

Putting the stickers on it tonight and my little guy got ahold of the canopy. Had to grab the camera.

[Felony44]

when you get it in the air post some pics :D

[tdswan]

Not in the air yet, but I thought I'd post a couple more of the finished canopy.

[redlegtu]

Wow, that's a big a$$ canopy. And here I am trying to start this hobby with a 30 size. I guess one would really have to see it in person to appreciate the size of the Predator.

[tdswan]

Maiden flight! Man, is this one smooth bird!!!

[Felony44]

Looks good , Good luck with that .I need to go the other way i need a micro i got rained out again today.

[TIM R]

Blackmail is such an ugly word.....but daddy needs a new gyro.....don't make me rat you out!!!

[tdswan]

Daddy's got a new gyro, Tim! SHE DOESN"T HAVE TO KNOW HOW I GOT IT! Sorry folks, inside joke between Tim & me! Good to see you're still on here, Tim!

[tdswan]

Well, the Predator made the big debut at the club meeting tonight. I've flown it at the field, of course but this is the first time for an audience. Planker & heli guys alike were gathered to see it fly. I even let one of the heli masters at the club take the sticks. He was impressed with how smooth it flew and I still haven't gotten the carbon blades on it yet! Everyone got a kick out of the pull starter. It's definately an attention grabber!

[Gary_Travis]

Get a good set of carbons on it and you will be amazed with the performance, although I don't fly the Predator I am no stranger to the gassers. When set up correctly it will perform any way you like.
Gary

[tdswan]

Yes, I did get the carbons after that post and had just began increasing the headspeed and testing them out. Then I had a mishap you can read about on the "Tragedy Strikes" thread in the general discussion. I was fit to be tied. :eek:

[Gary_Travis]

I read about the mishap sorry to hear it. But look at the experience you get fixing it. The last mishap I had I was flying some noon demo's and got the tail a little close to the ground ooops!! Totaly destroyed that one. I broke the golden rule that sponsored pilots don't stuff them into the dirt!!!
Gary

[heli-cuzz]

Nice pics tdswan :)

It's odd not seeing any exhaust. How's the zenoah run? I have a zenoah g26 on my ultra stick. Love that motor. :)

[tdswan]

You must have the BIG Ultra Stick. I've also got an Ultra Stick 40 with an Evolution 46 on it. Haven't flown it more than 3 times after getting my first heli and now it's just collecting dust. I just oiled up the engine and put it nose-down against the wall. I've had it for sale, but haven't had any bites on it.
The Zenoah runs great. I'm a little green on tuning it, but it seems pretty happy where I've got it set. Plenty of power in hard climbouts and it's also very smooth. I bought the heli for a camera platform, but I'm having so much fun flying it for aerobatics that it's hard to just settle down with it and start building the camera mount. It's very nimble for it's size, or any size for that matter.

[heli-cuzz]

Yeah, my stick has a 78 inch wingspan. The g26 is 25.5 cc and spins a 16x8 prop. The guys at my club yell at me, "IT'S A PLANE.... NOT A HELI!" LoL
My first flite with the stick, I had it in a hover for about 30 seconds. :D Flying planes is fun, but not near as fun as the heli. I learned to fly helis first. Some say,Istarted backwards by learning the heli first then the plane. It doesn't matter what is first, it's the desire to learn how to fly. Helis come first, second, and third. Planes come in dead last. :)

The predator looks sweet.You've got me wanting to purchase one. :D

[tdswan]

I learned planes first and some guys comment on going back and forth between planes and heli's being difficult. I don't even really compare the two. It's a totally different mind-set so that's why it's probably not as difficult as people would think. I don't relate the two at all.
The gasser is nice, but it's a mind game flying it after building it and knowing all the parts that go into it. The layered aluminum frame seems stout, but I'll bet it would tweak pretty good in a crash. Some people say the carbon frame is the way to go with it, but I was trying to keep it budget friendly to start with. I guess i'll just have to make sure this one stays in the air, huh :p

[heli-cuzz]

The layered aluminum frame seems stout, but I'll bet it would tweak pretty good in a crash. Some people say the carbon frame is the way to go with it, but I was trying to keep it budget friendly to start with. I guess i'll just have to make sure this one stays in the air, huh :p


Crash damage depends on how hard the smackdown is. :o

I havn't had a full impact hit yet. I've always managed to get it upright and hit on the skids{besides the two times I was shot down :mad: } with minimal damage. I've been averaging 7 gallons of fuel flite-time in between crashes. :cool:

[tdswan]

7 gallons with a gasser is quite a lot of flight time! I can fly it safely for 25-30 minutes at a crack probably 35 if I had to stretch it, but the power-hungry servos need a recharge before I attempt a second half-hour flight. It uses about 1400-1500 milliamps on a 2700Ma pack to a tank.

[heli-cuzz]

That's the beauty of gasoline power. I fly my stick for 20 minutes and still have a half of tank left over.