Raptor V2 ARTF Version 2 of the popular Raptor 30 from Thunder Tiger. 90% pre-built and includes the new PRO 39H engine from Thunder Tiger.

Having just sold my Moskito expert, I was very keen to get my hands on another Hirobo Shuttle, which it has to be said is so far my all time favorite heli. My others not quite being so comfortable or just plain old fun to fly. So off i went to Moor models in watford with a big wad of cash in my pocket. You know that feeling when you buy yourself a new expensive pressie, FANTASTIC go do it you know it makes sense. The only shuttle left was the CCPM version, now I know this is supposed to be much better in terms of contrel response etc. but I prefer simplicity wherever practical and though long and hard about putting the standard T.S version on order. Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted the Raptor sat on the shelf, I had heard good reports of this heli but due to past expeirience have alway stuck with what I know.

I asked Alan, the owner of the shop if I could have a look inside, which of course he agreed to. On opening the box and examining the contents I must confess to being completely stunned at the qaulity of the parts inside. Metal swashplate and metal ball joints every where (replacing the normal plastic ones can be a right pain) and also quite a few ball races as standard. The instruction manual looked pretty complete and very well laid out. "SOLD"

I exchanged the main blades for some NHP Pro's plus £15.00 cash difference and for an engine decided to go for the Irvine 36 ring. Feeling £350.00 lighter and with a big smile I thanked Alan and went straight home to get building.

The instructions start with a list of all the extra bits that are required and a useful pre-flight/post flight checklist, however there is no mention of dedicated circlip pliers which are essential to one stage of the build process

The building commeces with the fuel tank, most of which is self explanatory, however many people tell me that it is worth replacing the fuel tube to the clunk.

Irvine 36 ringed

Next in line is the clutch bell assy. and you have to first glue in the clutch liner with 5 minute epoxy before fitting the top gear which just screws in (tightly) and fitting the two ball races as shown in the manual. this is easily done and takes only a few moments. Do slightly roughen the inside of the bell though to help adhesion of the glue.

Carefully roughen the inside of the bell

Clutch assembly fitted

Next thing to do is to assemble the right hand side frame as above. You can see the white hex. inserts that ake the fixing screws which MUST NOT BE OVER TIGHTENED. Now the part that was mentioned earlier about the circlip pliers. This is the main gear assembly. Once the main gear and belt drive are aligned you can insert the one way clutch and bearing. Fit the two circlips after greasing the bearings These can be a tight fit.

Assembled main gear and circlip pliers

Exploded manual diagram

Four more machine screws hold the assembley together and that completes the main gear unit.

I must confess to being very impressed so far with the way that these parts are coming together and the general quality of all the components. every joint has a tightness to it that gives the impresion of very close tolerances during manufacture.

Once you have put together the washout unit, Elevator controls and collective pitch arm and fitted them to the main frame, you move on to the rotor shaft and its associated parts

Main frame

Collective pitch arm...

E.G swashplate, washout unit and locking ring. These are slid onto the rotor shaft with the holes closest to the bottom of the shaft downward and then the shaft is installed down through the main bearings and through the center of the main gears. At this point you can bolt the gears to the shaft, when this has been done, pull the shaft upwards sliding the locking ring down as far as it will go and tighten the set screws.

At this point the instructions advise you to fit the landing gear but I thought that these would get in the way when installing the engine etc. so I skipped this section for now.

Swashplate

Getting on with it

All done

This is merely a case of putting together the clutch/ fan assembly and fixing this to the crank shaft. Very simple. It is best here to lock the crank shaft by inserting a tooth brush handle into the carburetor manifold, this will stop the shaft rotating. Note:- DO NOT USE one of those brushes with the rubberised handle or the end will be lost forever inside the crank shaft.

Once this has been done the engine can be fitted to the alloy mounting and then to the heli frame. Be careful here to make sure that the mounting bolts fully tighten, the threads in the engine mounting are not always clean. It is also necessary to use washers here and they were not suplied in my kit.

So there we have it, from here on the construction is made simpler by adding the undercarriage. This provides a stable platform upon which to stand the heli whilst the rest of the assembly is done. I think its all gone pretty smoothly so far, as long as you get a clear image in your mind of the next step before you start putting bits together you will have no problems even as a beginer. The important thing is not to rush into it as certain fittings are handed.

At this stage you shoulbe roughly familiar with the layout of the manual and that assembly starts from the bottom up in the illustrations. I wont go into great detail here but I will point out areas that I feel need clarifying.

Part 27 the flap damper is an extremely tight fit in the rotor head and you need to use a lubricant to insert it more easily. Please make sure that this will not degrade the rubber. As a builder i used plastic drain lubricant but there are many other possibilities (Fairey liquid is one.) once this is done you must then insert part 15 the flap collar through the centre, now this takes some doing. My solution to this was to fit spacer tubing onto the shaft and tighten the nuts on the feathering shaft to press the collars into place.

Assembled rotor head

The next thing to note is that the thrust bearing that fits between the ball races within the blade holders is a three piece affair that consists of : Two outer cases, One ball race. If you look carefully you will see that the channels in the two cases are different sizes, the smaller of the two must be towards the blade end.

Moving on to the fly bar. Before starting this section, make sure that all threads in alloy fittings allow full adjustment of set screws, this is definately one aerea where this kit could be improved. If this is not done then you will have great difficulty in securing these fittings. The manual says that you should lay the fly bar flat to ensure that the paddles are at the same angle to each other. Well if you can do this with all the fittings attached then you are a better man/woman than I. Use two books of equal thickness and pack up the trailing edge of the paddles equally so that the leading edges are at the same height from the book surfaces.

Next use the paddles to sight in the fly bar control arms so that they are exactly level. You can now fit the mixing arms completing this assembly and attach to the main shaft. Recognizable yet as a helicopter? WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO :-).

At first sight the tail rotor assembly looks more complicated than it actually is. But if you keep to the manual and study the drawing you sould have no problems. The manual says to work from left to right on the drawing, in doing this the first thing you will notice is that the belt pulley is already fixed to the shaft. This is excellent news as roll pins are a notorious pain in the tweeds for anyone without some sort of vice and a pin hammer, Especially when fitting plastic and nylon parts. The rest of the assembly is straight forward and very easy. So that completes construction Except for the shiny stickers.

Day1..

Choddy, Chinman and I set of for Bumpy Green. On arrival, as always with a new heli, I did the usual range check and pre-flights to make sure there were no horrors about to take place. Also I always fit the training gear for first flights just in case. The engine was a little tight to start but this is never a bad thing.

I tuned it a little rich to start with but after running a tank through, it started to settle down. next I trimmed for the hover and lifted off for the first time. "WOW" right from the off this heli surprised me in that it was just so stable. Off with the training gear.

Just sitting there using minimal inputs

Chinman was very close taking this picture. Without a care.

Having completed a few hovering manouvers it became clear that this heli was a real pussy cat and so I pitched forwards into the circuit. My first thoughts were that although fast something was missing at full throttle and I couldnt quite put my finger on it. However I continued with the flight and enjoyed every minute finding the Raptor both smooth and responsive to each command. Soon it was time to bring her in for a landing. The Raptor just greased in sideways and back to the hover. My only negative observation was that it was a little uncomfortable in a strong breeze. Bear in mind that this was in the Training and sport configuration as described in the manual. Time was getting on and we headed back to choddy's house.

In a low fast circuit..

Day 2..

Following the previous days flying I had decided to configure the Raptor for aerobatics as per the manual. This involves moving the ball joint positions on the collecective pitch and washout arms. Also I had decided to decrease the pitch at the top end of the range as the motor was loading up at full throttle. Decrease the stated pitch curve by 5-7% on positions 4 and 5 in all curves and increase the same in the throttle curves both top and bottom ends. This will give a far better head speed. I can only tell you that the Raptor came alive at this point and although my aerobatics are limited with a heli it would certainly out perform my capabilities. Rolls and loops are very smooth and easy. Nose in feels comfortable and will offer no surprises even at speed.

Pesonally I have always been a fan of the shuttle....

Till I bought a Raptor. There I've said it and I mean it. The shuttle is great and nobody can take that away, But the Raptor just blows it clean away. I believe that a person should not have to buy a product that actually "needs" upgrading from the box to make a sensible flying machine and allow the modeller to progress with that machine.

The Hirobo shuttle has always met that requirement and some to my mind but now it has some very healthy competition. Up to this point carbon Main blades (which I use as standard) and a tuned pipe (as no pipe at all is suplied) are my only modifications. Excellent Product Mr Thunder Tiger. Thanks.

Having just been to the sandown show, I couldnt resist a visit to motors and rotors. I had never been to them before but found them really helpful. Mr. Wilsher relieved me of a very reasonable sum of money (About £50.00) for a set of 3d paddles, Some SAB Blades (Main and tail) and a carbon fin set. These have now been fitted and flown with some seriously impressive results. I am now the proud owner of one magic helicopter. Go out and upset the bank manager you'll be glad you did from begginer upwards.

3-D Paddles	SAB Main blades (carbon) Worth the investment
SAB Blades with reflex section.	SAB Tail blades (Carbon)

Raptor V2 ARTF Version 2 of the popular Raptor 30 from Thunder Tiger. 90% pre-built and includes the new PRO 39H engine from Thunder Tiger. £354.99 RRP Our Price £335.99 Delivered!

Update to Review - Upgrades added
12th October 2001

Article by Grot from Bumpy Green Model Aerodrome
8th June 2001

Comment by Martin Tsang on 00000000000000. Rating none

I have a brand new Raptor 30 V2 with all the bits to go with it. But its a cristmas present off the missus and im not allowed it till crstmas day.... ITS JUST NOT FAIR!

Comment by Matt Carter on 00000000000000. Rating none

Just got my first heli, a Raptor V2. People tell me that flying helis is hard, well, if this is hard, BRING IT ON!!! It hovers well, its stable, and I feel that after a week of hovering, I can move onto forward flight. Well done TT!

Comment by steve on 00000000000000. Rating none

Hi i hear a lot of great things about the raptor 30 can anyone tell me who is offering the best deal????? thanx steve

Comment by on 00000000000000. Rating none

don't buy helicopters there crap all they do is go up and down and round and round

Comment by Mike on 00000000000000. Rating none

Hi, First powered R/C model, First Heli, my V2 Raptor 30 is impressive. The engineering and design are very good. I opted to build it and generally the instructions were well written if not a little vague in a few places (for a beginner) The photo illustrations are not the clearest I've seen. I was recommended to buy the OS30 SH engine in preference to the TT unit. What a superb piece of miniature engineering! I definately endorse the practice of radio 'buddying' with an experienced heli pilot. My Raptor wouldn't be flying now if I'd gone solo first time. With my appetite whetted I'm now looking for a scale body and there doesn't appear to be too many for the Raptor! M.

Comment by Matt on 00000000000000. Rating 5

I used :-( to have a Raptor 30, the original model with TT 36 engine and upgraded needle valve. My first heli, but I taught myself (I also fly fixed wing) to fly, the Raptor that good! Put in a good tail rotor servo, a heading hold gyro, increase the rates, and it will do almost anything! A couple of tips; reverse the u/c so that it balances on grass, isolate the fuel tank lugs from the dimples in the main frame (mine nearly wore through), install a shroud over the top of the engine to duct cooling air over the head better, and install a remote glow plug connection. Also, a battery drill with a hex key in the chuck makes a great starter. Highly recommended.

Comment by Kyle on 20040721134926. Rating 1

Yup

Comment by Bill on 20050326184317. Rating 5

Been flying fixed wing for 14 years thought i would try a heli my friend recomended a Raptor 30 so i bought one a couple of months ago a ready to fly kit sanwa rd6000 and a csm 310 giro what a great combination the thing is so stable for a non heli man i haven't enjoyed myself so much in a long well done Thunder Tiger

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