Raptor resurection

[w3bbo]

I don't know whether this should be in the beginners or here so please feel free to move mods if you deem necessary.

So I got given a second hand Raptor for Christmas by my lovely wife along with a budget of £200 to get it flying. I make no excuses for being a complete and utter novice with heli's with me only having any sort of experience with the cheap £30 indoor micro heli stuff. So rather than spend £1000's on my first nitro heli I thought I would give a second hand one a try. If it crashes (which it will no doubt) I havn't lost too much and hopefully by then I will have decided whether it is a hobby I wish to pursue further. I'm hooked thus far and I've not even flown it (or started the engine for that matter).

Here is a little history from what I know. It was one of a pair of Raptors, the other being a raptor 90 which my m8 has inherited (lucky beggar). Both were owned my a chap who has now passed away and to the best of the chaps wife, were both flown regularly. However they have been stood in a loft for a couple of years since he passed away.

Like I said I have a budget of £200 to begin with and I plan on totally stripping it down and rebuilding to give me a thorough understanding of everything involved along with it acting as a service.

I have taken some pics which I could do with a little help identifying certain parts to see if there is anything glaringly obvious I have missed:





I've taken the liberty of removing the body (v1 raptor 30) which I will shortly be replacing with a v2.



Futaba Gyro - Good/Bad - Need replacing?





Servos - Are these good/bad/need replacing?



Fuel gunk?



Engine 'Irvine'?







Here is perhaps my biggest question of all. What Transmitter will work with this receiver? The identification marks it as a 35MHz so I take it 35Mhz will work with a 35Mhz receiver. Will it also work with a 2.4GHz transmitter which seems to be the norm now or do I have to upgrade the 35MHz receiver I have to a 2.4GHz?

I was looking at a cheap Futaba 6EX however the receiver is a 9 channel and by the looks of things, I need a 7 channel transmitter rather than 6??? So, what decent but relatively cheap transmitters will work? OR am I better off getting a different receiver and transmitter combo? Also not the microchip in the bottom pic - what's that?

I know there is a lot of info here but any assistance you can give me would be a fantastic help. In return I promise to upload pics of the strip down and rebuild which may help others in the same predicament as me!

Thanks in advance!

[Delarado]

Hi mate,

The only thing i can comment on is that the 35mhz receiver will only work with a 35mhz TX, and it looks as if your using 7 channels there - but im not sure why (Im new to helis)

If you decide to go 35 mhz you can pick yourself up a TX and a pair of frequency crystals (the little thing that says 35.140mhz is the crystal) and that should allow you to control stuff.

Re everything else I say try firing up all tehe electronics while its still together and check all the servos still work. That way you will also get a better understanding of how things move so you know what you need to pay attention to when rebuilding. Im sure there are probably some upgrades that could be done to the servo's and such like, but by the looks of things itll fly just fine how it is (providing it all works!)

[Adrian]

Will look good once youve dusted it off,look at renewing all the fuel lines for a start,id get a new tx/rx combo if the funds will allow it.

[w3bbo]

Yeah the fuel lines will be the first to go. I'm contemplating a v1 to v2 upgrade but I have suspicions the head has already been done - dunno why the body didn't get the same treatment.

So what tx/rx to buy? I don't want to go crazy as I just want to try it out first - £150 ish second hand would perhaps be the most I would go for now.

[soggybongo]

This site will help you loads mate when setting it up.

Raptor Technique

you will know if the head has been done as there will be hex bolts in the v2 and nuts on the v1 blade grips the other parts are.

Main rotor hub
Spindle
Thrust bearing
Thrust collar
Feathering bearing

[w3bbo]

Raptor Technique is already bookmarked - invaluable source of info!

Yup, I can confirm I have hex bolts on the head so that's deffo a V2. The frame is a v1 as it doesn't have the cable runners. Dunno about the rest.

[bigbas]

hi i think u may find the seventh channel is being used for a battery monitor because u only need six to fly a stock raptor!!!!!!!!

[w3bbo]

So is it worth getting a 6 channel transmitter/receiver to operate on 2.4ghz and sacrificing a channel? OR buying an older 35mhz transmitter to go with the 9 channel receiver I have?

[trillian]

So is it worth getting a 6 channel transmitter/receiver to operate on 2.4ghz and sacrificing a channel? OR buying an older 35mhz transmitter to go with the 9 channel receiver I have?

OK, a few things just from the pics.

1. It only needs 6 channels at the moment, so a 6 channel TX would be OK. That is a PCM RX and when it comes to 35mhz PCM JR and Futaba don't mix because they used different pulse codes or something if memory serves, so you'd want to get a Futaba TX if you want to use that RX. These days 2.4Ghz is much more common and has lots of advantages although 35mhz does still work. With 2.4 gig you're less susceptible to interference from stray RF signals and you have other features like model match and a choice of lots of newer TXs, it would just be a matter of what is the biggest priority and what will fit in your £200 budget. (A good sim being a priority for example).

2. The gyro is fine and tail servo is fine. The other servos are marginal, they will be slow on the cyclics and collective and some may advise not to use them at all but for learning they might be OK so long as they all work properly.

Soggybongo aready mentioned the Raptor Techniqie site which is a really good resource.

Getting it checked over by someone experienced would also be a good idea as there are things you learn to spot over time that may be missed in the beginning when there's so much to take in.

[w3bbo]

Excellent answer, thanks mate. Futaba 2.4GHz with a new transmitter it is then! The £200 budget is not set but I don't wish to go much over that for the time being. I have funds set aside for a sim.

Any recommendations on a tx/RX combo? I was thinking of the 6EX? Thanks

[xygax]

Bin those S148s they are nasty...

Steve

[electricsceadu]

i'd change the fuel lines both outside and inside of the tanks and the exhaust pressure line
i would also change
the rx battery and switch
the gyro and tail servo are pefectly ok
the other servos will fly the raptor (they are not the best but it will be ok to learn on)
as for a tx it's up to you either buy a used futaba 35mhz tx and a set of new xtals
or buy a 2.4ghz tx/rx combo
there is nothing wrong with 35mhz and there is also less chance of interference these days as most people have moved over to 2.4ghz


and i've forgot
training legs and a sim
and before you try to fly it get someone that can fly to check it over for you

[trillian]

Excellent answer, thanks mate. Futaba 2.4GHz with a new transmitter it is then! The £200 budget is not set but I don't wish to go much over that for the time being. I have funds set aside for a sim.

Any recommendations on a tx/RX combo? I was thinking of the 6EX? Thanks

Well if you go 2.4 gig then you'll be putting a new RX on there anyway so you can choose to go with the Spektrum / JR type or the Futaba 'FASST'. I have never used the Futaba 2.4 gig systems myself but plenty of folks do. If you went with a Spektrum RX you could use Spektrum or JR TXs.

[w3bbo]

What are good (but cheap) replacements for the s148 servos? Bare in mind I don't plan on doing aerobatics any time soon! Figure of 8 seems so long away for me at the minute!

Will Spektrum tx/rx play nice with the servo's I have? As mentioned above JR seem to have issues?

Thanks for the amazing help so far guys!

[electricsceadu]

the 6ex on 2.4ghz fasst is fine
i use futaba fasst and as yet i've had no problems
if you want to go spectrum a dx6/dx6i or a dx7