Raptor 50 settings

[Mack]

I only have the gyro and tail servo to get and then I am finished building.
Looking at the set up I am very tempted to set it up for 3D straight away. Will I as a beginer struggle to fly it in this set up?

[chappers]

not recomended. with a 3D curve and so much negative when you panic and land quickly the heli will bury it self. also with a 3D set up it will far too sensitive on cyclic.
you be better off having a tame cyclic set up and no more than 1 degree of negative pitch.

[Mack]

That sounds bad, bury it's self. Thanks Chappers I will play it safe.

[Raptorite]

Hi Mack,

What I tend to do when setting up a model for a beginner is to set the model mechanically to have full 3d settings and then limit them on the transmitter by setting the pitch curve to have something like 35% at the bottom.

What this means that is if the mechanical setup gives you -10, 0, +10 then having the bottom point of the pitch curve at say 35% equates to around -4 degrees.

Similarly depending on the model, in order to get maximum cyclic movement I normally have the ATV's set to around 120% travel both sides. In the case of a beginner, this can be limited in a number of ways to make the cyclics more docile. Either by limiting the ATV's to around 85%, the same can also be achieved using dual rates and there is of course the good old expo to make them feel even more docile around centre stick for hovering.


Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Pete.

[chappers]

now im not being argumentive but, do you really suggest -4 degrees for a beginner?

[Raptorite]

Hi Kieth,

In the past I have setup various sorts of levels of bottom pitch for beginners, ranging from 0 to -4.

From experience I found -4 to be about right, as they need enough to be able to bring the model back down with out being too vicious. I know what you are thinking, that -4 is possibly a bit too much if the pilot gets flustered and dumps the stick. This is obviously something that can and does happen from time to time, in this situation, having a higher bottom stick pitch may possibly save some of the impact and thus potentially reduce any damage to the airframe.

However, I have found that the biggest cause of getting into that sort of situation is the fact that the model climbs sharply for a variety of reasons, and of course once the model gets too high and out of the pilots comfort zone, their natural reaction will be to bring the model back down as quick as possible, therefore dumping the stick. This is particularly true with a bottom stick pitch of 0 or even -2 ish, as chances are it will feel to the pilot like the model isn't descending quick enough, thus causing them to bring the stick down even further. It is this sort of reaction which although a very natural one is the most likely to cause a heavy impact and boom strike.

With the bottom pitch at -4, if the wind does get under the rotor disk for example and lift the model sharply, the pilot will have enough negative pitch to have a pretty responsive feel to lowering the stick, therefore the tendancy will be not to get into a panic and dump the stick completely.

I also always tell anyone I am instructing that if they get into difficulties, always, always lower the throttle stick slowly and smoothly no matter what the situation. This will, in my view further reduce the risk of a boom strike. If they do manage to bring the model down a bit quick, at this stage of the game they will more often than not have a training undercarriage attached to the model which will absorb most of the impact should the landing be a little heavier than ideal.

I would welcome your thoughts on this.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Jamez]

Negative Pitch

As a beginner, I tend to agree. My intial set up was with only -1 pitch and could not get the thing down quick enough, then as the head speed dropped by lowering the throttle to much the heli would decsend rapidly, not allowing enough time for the head to get back up to speed to slow the descent and heavy landings happening. Have now increased negative slightly and seems to be better.

[chappers]

as i often say "if it works for you its right!" however i will only add ive seen more damage done due to too much negative than too little, its a natural reaction for beginners to bottom the stick in a panic, combined with too much negative.... etc etc. but as i say if it works for you thats fine.

[Mack]

Hi Jamez
What pitch did you end up with?

[G-DAVE]

There is always a difference of opinion regarding beginner setup.
We always recommend -1 bottom end pitch - Jamez said that with that pitch the Heli won't come down quick enough "That's what your aiming for for a beginner".
What he describes is more down to throttle curve set up - just as important .
If your throttle curve comes down to sharp then the head speed will decay and cyclic control will go mushy -
Dave 8)

[Jamez]

Erm will have to check

Erm will have to check exactly, just increased lower servo movemet to be honest. But will let you know when I check (I don't own a pitch gage at the moment but I know a couple of people who do). My biggest problem is flying a fixed pitch micro, reduce throttle and it comes down. When I was flying the nitro it was, reduce throttle, nothings happening, reduce a bit more, still nothing, reduce..... oh my god its coming down now oops theres the ground, thank god for trainning gear. Incedently I have a linear throttle curve from tickover, 50% mid stick, 100% top stick (only have a 3 point curve but thats good enough for me)

[eddz]

begginers fly

hi,im a rapter 50 owner and as a begginer ive followed all the setups in the manual,with all my atv's at full i have no trouble with flight.I also started without training gear which to some people might be daft but with-in a short time and no repair time ive managed to tutour myself.But if you really want to fly straight away with 3d setup get a flight sim as i did and c wot happens.Ive been flying 6 months now and now im just startin small 3d manuveres.i spoke to collin mcginn at the vario show and he was very helpful.