Good service from Century?

[antsis]

When I built the pred 90, my starter was not strong enough to turn the OS91 over. I went into my LHS who sold me the Century minimax starter which is a small geared unit supposedly capable of starting engines up to 140 size.
Initial uses seemed to be fine, but then the problems started. First off, there's a pin that acts like a key to lock the gear to the motor shaft. This would fall out periodically and I'd have to strip the unit down and re-fit it. Eventually, I glued it in, but then other problems cropped up. On the wand is another gear locked in place by another pin. This pin snapped one day and out of sheer frustration, I took the starter back to the LHS and asked if they could do something with it. They told me it would have to go back to Century in the US. Not holding my breathe, I went and bought a dynatron.

Well, four weeks later and I went into the shop to find a brand new minimax starter waiting for me. Century had replaced it with no questions asked.

I was surprisingly impressed. Hopefully this trend will continue with their parts backup.

[Steve]

I use a cheap'n'cheerful Turbex £20 starter connected to my flight box battery which is fine for all my engines except my 90.

When it comes to the 90, I add a 6V Nicad (an old elctric flight pack - the old heavy ones!) in series with the main battery which just gives the starter a lovely boost.

Have been doing it for at least a year now, and the starter is fine.

[Disc]

Yea Century are not bad customer service if you have a problem.

I only had problems with getting some Swift spares but all sorted in the end.

Predator 90... i'd just check the head as there were some reports of a few comming to bits! If you stripped it and rebuilt then no worries otherwise check it after a few flights. Also get the metal "A" arm for the elavator the plastic ones can break and will trash the heli. The weak point in the predator kits.

[antsis]

Disc

I haven't had any problems nor heard of any with the head locally. In fact, some problems I heard about were where the ball unscrewed from the swashplate on a 60 and another where the ball unscrewed from the mixer arm on the metal head fitted to a gasser. I've been looking at the metal head , but will undo all the links and put fresh loctite on them. I'll probably do the A arm at the same time.

[Disc]

antis: if your Chucking the Pred around in 3D or plan to the plastic A arm will break at sometime and probably sooner rather than later! I think the 60 can get away with it but 90 or Gassers its just not worth the risk of having the plastic one in the kit.



how do you find the 90? There was one on the BMFA website I nearly bought managed to hold myself back.

[antsis]

Disc

I've had the oppotunity to fly the 60, 90 and gasser. The 60 was the first and I compared it to my Raptor 60. I couldn't believe how smooth it was and it auto'd forever. This and the aquisition of the Raven were deciding factors in selling the R60. As luck would have it, a guy I knew from indoor flying had a R50 and the pred 90. He was still learning and had got the pred as a step up from the 50. He then saw how big it was, asked about my R60 and a deal was struck.

I was a bit intimidated by it at first and tended to fly the raven more. I've now got more used to it and foundit to be smooth, solid and goes where you put it. The auto's are awesome, but I found this with all the pred heli's. Another member in our club bought one with the YS91. He has two R50's, but now prefers the pred. However much people berate Century for their models, the predator is a really nice heli.

I'm not into 3D, preferring scale, but the pred is my any day model. I normally do the usual aeros, but have started inverted and flips, so the metal A arm will be the next upgrade.

[Disc]

Ah

Anyone want to swap a Raptor 60 for a Predator

Ad on the BMFA website.. hoping for a trade.....


my Raptor 60 for a Predator...

Anyone?

[antsis]

Disc

Check this link http://www.bmfaclassifieds.co.uk/detail.php?id=4181. Ian Contessa was selling a pred 90 at a really good price. Don't think he'll want to trade though, but the price he's asking is give away.

[Disc]

antis:

Er stopped myself buying that one.... Not sure what the raptor 60 is worth though....

[antsis]

Disc

My R60 went for £525 all up RTF. I reckon you should be able to get near that figure with yours.