So as a thanks for building him a tricopter my father in law has given me a very original Raptor 30 v1 as my first venture into large nitro helis.
I used to fly a Blade 400 but gave up as I found it a pain in the ass to set up following a crash.
since then I have gone mad for planes and really enjoy all types of flight from 3D to gliding around, I decided to build a tricopter following seeing flight test you tube vids and love flying that and found it much easier to pick up after the experience and stick time gained from the planes.
So now I have the Raptor 30 and after changing to 2.4 installing a Spartan Quark Gyro with all new servos and a nice align B6T 2 in 1 I seem about ready to go and do some crashing lol.

I plan on spending some time on my sim over the next week before the big maiden and setting up the TX for Noob mode lol.

anything else I should be doing in prep, or any hints when it comes to flying larger Helis.
-----------------------------

I'm a member of a club so have a safe place to test and fly.

Yes...take it sloooow and stay low. The biggest problems I've had with helis was loosing orientation. It can happen so fast, and recovering is not as easy as recovering on an airplane. They look very confusing in the air sometimes. One last tip is to spend a lot of time on the simulator getting the helicopter out of control and then recovering it.

Do you have traing gear for your helicopter. The training gear will keep the helicopter from tipping over as you lift off the ground.

Also find some local help to check out your set up, and get you going.

I have training gear and will be getting a local hobby shop to check it out before its maiden
I used to fly a little blade 400 and have loads of time on the sim with the aid of a little msrx.
It should be fun getting this bird in the air.

The Raptor 30 is a great helicopter that will take you from basic hovering to mild 3d. Just double check your mechanical and radio setups before the maiden to prevent any unwanted surprises. Congrats and good luck!

I have had a slight engine issue following the hobby shop setting her up for me.
Seems not to hold a constant throttle and has at times stuck wide open according the the shop
I didn't witness the issue myself but only thing different from ky testing was the shop used 30% and I used 15%, and I only ran the engine without the head on.
I have taken the engine out and cleaned it all incase something was getting blocked.

I will be runjng her up later today to test.

Check to see if the screw holding the throttle arm to the actual throttle is tight and not stripped. If the screw is loose, the throttle can move to wherever it wants based upon vibration.

Originally Posted by conefree

Check to see if the screw holding the throttle arm to the actual throttle is tight and not stripped. If the screw is loose, the throttle can move to wherever it wants based upon vibration.

Great tip thanks, I'll check this first thing in the morning, I have run her up a couple of times following the strip down and I have had no issues.
However my pitch servo died yesterday so need to fit another before testing further.
Training gear is all.fitted and ready to go now.

Yup training gear is the way to go if you don't have a sim or just simply want to be careful the first few flights

first flight ever.....way to much expo 40%

Raptor 30 maiden flight, winterbourne (1 min 28 sec)

Not bad.... Not bad at all!
Sounds a bit lean though.

Brgds, Bert

Second flight, some trimming at the beginning

Raptor 30 2nd flight, winterbourne. (4 min 25 sec)

Looking good. On a safety note though, I would recommend flying further from yourself in case of an over correction or mechanical failure. Stay safe and keep up the good work!

Raptor 30 3rd flight, winterbourne. (6 min 39 sec)

Really enjoying the learning process.
Almost ready for a little forward flight.
I have noticed a slight tune issue, that when I give loads of up pitch the motor sounds stressed and I lose head speed.