I like the sun above the horizon but not vertically overhead. If the day gives me a blue sky background (like today) a yellow canopy makes it easier to see at high altitude. Just for fun I flew it above and around the light pole (60+ feet) where pigeons gather to gossip in the morning and they all took off in a huff, outraged that the heli tried to join their gathering without an invitation.

Originally Posted by zen@lanset.com

I like the sun above the horizon but not vertically overhead. If the day gives me a blue sky background (like today) a yellow canopy makes it easier to see at high altitude. Just for fun I flew it above and around the light pole (60+ feet) where pigeons gather to gossip in the morning and they all took off in a huff, outraged that the heli tried to join their gathering without an invitation.

LOL coo coooo coo coo coo

I got the regular ones so I could still take off on grass .

Originally Posted by vanepico

... had a butterfly go through the rotors and it flew off, stopped the rotors and it had left a bit of its wing on he rotor

At the ball field there are little white butterflies that insist on flying directly over the main blades. They are so fast I cannot shake them off no matter how fast I fly or change direction. So far none of them have gone through the blades.

was running an engine in the garden with my granddad and a butterfly identical to earlier went straight through the prop, wasn't even hurt

Had my first inverted landing today. Inv hover and had a brownout i guess. My receiver is toast, lost an antenna and havent sent it in for servicing (i know i know)
Anyways sheared the feathering shaft. Fun stuff.

Well I got my Raptor out again today and flew 3 tanks through it. I think I have the carb adjusted about two clicks on the rich side of optimum power. I can hold my finger on the backplate for about 6 seconds so I guess I'm good. The wind was gusting to 30 mph which was nothing to the Raptor as compared to the Blade-400, the raptor would just sort of move alittle bit "like Snuffalufagus on Seseme Street " and that was about it. I am burning 7.8 oz of fuel in ten minutes doing ff flight and hovering and the head speed is about 1700 RPM. Is this good? fuel tank is stock and the engine is a TT.39 with 13 tanks of fuel run through it. Well after the Raptor, I got out the Blade and tried to hover in that same wind Wow! What a handfull it was, but I still kept it up and practiced nose in hovering in high winds for a couple of packs and all is good seeing that me and my helis all came back in one piece. Whoohoo I love my Rappy!! Hope yall had a good flying day!

Originally Posted by Steve Klyce

I am burning 7.8 oz of fuel in ten minutes doing ff flight and hovering and the head speed is about 1700 RPM. Is this good? fuel tank is stock and the engine is a TT.39 with 13 tanks of fuel run

This is electric helicopter land. You might get more meaningful feedback from guys who also fly gassers.

Originally Posted by JustinMoore12

Had my first inverted landing today. Inv hover and had a brownout i guess. My receiver is toast, lost an antenna and havent sent it in for servicing (i know i know)
Anyways sheared the feathering shaft. Fun stuff.

I used to get the ocasional brownouts. Untill I found the culprit.

I am sure most have seen one of THESE

Well I have learned the hard way that this effect is similar to what happens with belt driven tail rotors on our Heli's. The rubber belt spinning around fast in the tail creates a build up of static that occasionaly will discharge on either the Gyro, a tail servo or the RX. Should this discharge make its way to the RX, it will shut it down for a moment.

Then the RX will come back on. In most cases you will regain the servo control for an attempt at autorotation. But the motor will either still be trying to initialize or will be in it's slow spool up phase before you make it down.

A fix?

I have been spraying the belt and both Main and tail gears with a Silicon spray. I apply it on the gears using a Qtip (Cotton Swab) and I spray the belt by sticking the tube in the right side slot. Little shots while spinning the blades.

This usualy lasts about 20 packs / flights. I inspect the belt (and Heli) after each flight and if the belt looks wetish <-- is that a word? then I leave it. If it looks dry I repeat.

I have not had a single power interuption ever since.

Those that have "Random power failure" or brownout, may be having a static discharge problem causing it.

Then again, it could be.

- Signal loss (Low TX bat)
- Faulty RX
- Faulty ESC
- Severed wire
- Short circuit due to vibration wear
- and other.

Just wanted to share my invisible, untraceable, I checked everything else and it looks fine, Ahhh Haaa I found it, fixed it, and now its flying great story with you.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So_N2QjjyaM&NR=1

Blades static on Trex 500 tail blades by G-Force Heli (1 min 18 sec)

Trex 500 ESD Anti-static Spray (3 min 46 sec)

Well it is more of a temporary remedy rather than a fix. Proper grounding should be a more permanent fix. When my belt micro was suffering from static hits, I just sold it. It has cost me a lot in repairs and I was done finding a fix.

Originally Posted by Mecos

I used to get the ocasional brownouts. Untill I found the culprit.

An interesting and useful explanation and demonstration. Some people on RCG have talked about grounding the boom. Especially in the case of CF booms, I think. Now I want to get one of these meters and test my heli's!

I have seen those videos. I use static guard. I think it is more a problem of only having one antenna instead of two. One fell off, along with the plastic case (which i have heard contains a aluminum sheet)

Steve, i fly a raptor too. I air on the cautious side and make sure there is always a healthy amount of blue smoke coming from the exhaust. The oil makes a mess but i have ran gallons and gallons of fuel through mine without issue. If you dont already have one i would recommend a header tank as well.

Originally Posted by JustinMoore12

Steve, i fly a raptor too. I air on the cautious side and make sure there is always a healthy amount of blue smoke coming from the exhaust. The oil makes a mess but i have ran gallons and gallons of fuel through mine without issue. If you dont already have one i would recommend a header tank as well.

Hi, I appreciate the input. I have plenty of smoke coming out but I don't have a header tank as of yet other than removal of air bubbles during 3d flight and a little extra fuel what other purpose does it serve and is it neccesary to have one for just hovering and ff flight? Another guy at thee field has the same heli as mine but with a OS.32 and his runs at a higher head speed and is much more responsive than mine. How is the Power on the TT.39 compared to the OS.32 ? And what is the max safe speed to spin the TT 550MM woodies with glued root ends? Thanks in advance!! PS I did fly 3 packs today through my Blade-400. I was going to fly my Raptor, but after I had it loaded in my car the clouds came and it rained servos and tailbooms for about an hour and a half so by the time it quit raining it was almost dark so I didn't have time to even get it out of the car , so I just flew my Blade around and chased the neighborhood cat around alittle

Originally Posted by Steve Klyce

Hi, I appreciate the input. I have plenty of smoke coming out but I don't have a header tank as of yet other than removal of air bubbles during 3d flight and a little extra fuel what other purpose does it serve and is it neccesary to have one for just hovering and ff flight? Another guy at thee field has the same heli as mine but with a OS.32 and his runs at a higher head speed and is much more responsive than mine. How is the Power on the TT.39 compared to the OS.32 ? And what is the max safe speed to spin the TT 550MM woodies with glued root ends? Thanks in advance!!

I had the OS 36 ( i think) before i upgraded. My dad had the TT motor and there is a huge difference. I think a header tank is just a safety device that (in case you do run out of fuel in the main) Gives you plenty to land and whatnot. Its easy to tell when you have hit the reserve, the HS goes up a bit along with the pitch of the motor. I have no idea about HS with the raptors. I ran 100% for the longest time with an old set of woodies without issues. I upgraded to some Carbon blades and havent looked back. Oh and autoing the raptor compared to a 450 is like a dream.

You might be interested in reading this, defines a H tank a little better than i do: http://www.heliproz.com/DBCheaders.html
J