Rave 450 build thread

[PeteStewardson]

Well after building another 450 Pro, this time 6s, I've decided the 450 isn't for me. The Align is much better quality than the Flasher I had, but still it doesn't fly as nice as my Phoenixtech TT360 did.

Since the TT360 isn't imported anymore and spares are impossible to get I decided to try a Rave 450 instead. I'm going to use the Hyperion 6s 1100mah lipos in the Rave so will keep those but the 450Pro will go up for sale eventually.

I'm going to run FBL with a Spektrum BeastX box, MKS DS92A+ cyclics, DS95i tail, Scorpion 2221-2010 motor ( 6s ) and a Scorpion 55A ESC.

Should be interesting comparing it to the Phoenixtech as the TT360 shared a few of the ideas on the Rave and was compatible with some of the parts.

The Rave kit and Radix blades arrived today. First impressions are good. The box is decent quality, opening the box gives a glossy colour manual ( a change from the cheap Align jobs ) The box seems quite empty, everything is in labeled bags labeled with the steps in the manual, and no pre-assembled parts. I like having nothing pre-assembled as it saves stripping all down first anyway.

Will get some pics and post more along the way.

[cupracing]

Watching with interest, it's stange you didn't get on with the 450 pro. I know a few people now that have swapped their rave for a 450pro as it flies better to them.

I personally love the look of the rave but it isn't cheap unfortunately. I take it you will be using 350mm blades?

[PeteStewardson]

Yeah Radix 350mm blades. The extra blade area makes the heli a lot more stable and smoother to fly. It should fly similar to the TT360 as that ran 360mm blades.

[PeteStewardson]

Not got the pics uploaded yet as I've got a wedding tomorrow so the kit all needed charging etc and packed ready.

I have though got the main frame all built up.

The main frame sides don't need any sanding out the box. That's a big difference from having to get the fine sandpaper out and go over the entire frame before you start assembly. The frames are quite thin so it seems very flimsy to start with. As you put more parts together it gets pretty solid though. I've added the CYE frame stiffeners as I've gone along which add an extra 2mm thick piece of carbon between the motor mount and the lower bearing mount. These are offered as many complained the frame was very weak here and broke in a crash. Once in place there's no flex there now.

The bottom plate, and gyro mounting platform is a U shaped piece of plastic. This seems a bit weak and could probably be better, I prefer the carbon bottom plate idea used on a lot of other helis. One very concerning bit is the bottom of the frames where the landing gear mounts. This seems like a major week point until you put the landing skids on. It's better then, but still only time will tell how well this holds up.

A nice touch is the motor mount screw holes are slotted. This means you can adjust the mesh of the motor after bolting it to the mount, nice. I noticed that CYE now include a set of the black agressive 3D tail drive gears in the kit. The white ones were known to be soft and strip easily ( something the TT360 copied ) but the black ones are much better and have a much more accurate mesh. I have a few sets of these already and would have used them anyway but nice that they are included as standard now.

Overall I think I preferred the TT360 V2 frames as they took ideas from the Align 450 Pro rather than the Rave so the frame when built was much more solid. The carbon was also thicker so more likely to survive well in a crash. Having said that I like the extra size and easy access the Rave gives, and the gyro mount being directly under the main shaft is nice although in practice I don't know if that makes much difference.

[scallybert]

Watching with interest, it's stange you didn't get on with the 450 pro. I know a few people now that have swapped their rave for a 450pro as it flies better to them.
[...]

Yeah Radix 350mm blades. The extra blade area makes the heli a lot more stable and smoother to fly. It should fly similar to the TT360 as that ran 360mm blades.

I'm curious to see how this turns out. I've got both 450 Pros (325) and G5s (350) both with SK-720s, and I seem to fly the 450 Pros more. The G5 doesn't seem to fly better (maybe not so good) - but does give longer flight times (1300mAh*6S). Having said that I've spent more time on the FBL 450 Pros.

My jury's out on this, but I'm not currently convinced that the 20mm bigger disc (in itself) makes a massive difference on this kind of FBL heli. I think it's currently overshadowed by other factors.

I must play with the G5s more, though.

[338federal]

Hi! I have Align 450 sport with 480 tarot stretchkit. I´m flying with radix 350mm blades but 360mm. Do they exist?? What headspeed are you use wiyh 350mm blades??

[scallybert]

G5: 2450 (2463) rpm.