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On September, 1998, Mr. Shigetada Taya released two 3D computer rendered graphics of two new helicopters designed by his design house. One of them is the Amigo/Raptor. Mr. Taya was once a World Champion, and he had design a lot of helicopters (example: Kalt Baron, Kyosho Concept), his own venture to manufacturing helicopters under his own brand name shocked the industry at that time. Mr. Taya even retained Mr. Yamaguchi, the top 3D pilot in Japan, in designing, testing, and flying the Amigo. Mr. Yamaguchi was a very talented pilot in Japan, and he was nicknamed the "Curtis Youngblood of Japan", his involvement in designing the Taya helicopters also rocked the industry.
The Amigo/Raptor was manufactured by Thunder Tiger. There were several versions, and two names of the same helicopter. Amigo was only used in Japan under the Taya brand. There was only one version of Amigo, and it was a fully assembled version that comes preinstalled with a OS32SXH. On the other parts of the world, the Raptor name was used together with the Thunder Tiger brand. The Raptor line had four different versions: 4830A Raptor Pro assembled with TT36H and full ball bearings; 4831A Raptor Export assembled with TT36H and 29 ball bearings; 4832A Raptor Beginner kit with TT36H engine; and 4832 Raptor Trainer kit without engine. In this page, I would only referred it as the Raptor as it was the name that will be widely used throughout the world.
The Raptor featured a lot of designs that was either new, or was not usually seen in 32 class helicopters. The rotor head of the Raptor caught my attention the most. It was a high flybar design. High flybar rotor heads were known for their precise cyclic response, but was more complicated in design, so they were that was usually seen only in top of the line helicopters like the Hirobo Eagle, JR Superio and the Kalt Omega. The spindle shaft of the head featured an unusual design, too. The spindle shaft was floated on two rubber dampers, and on the middle that was a pin to let the spindle shaft pivot inside the rotor head. Rumor has it that it was called the "Yamaguchi Spindle", due to Mr. Yamaguchi contributed his design to it. The design of the rotor head was said to contribute a very smooth and precise cyclic response that was not usually seen in 32 class helicopters.
I got my Raptor from my local distributor. He had asked me to try the Raptor and gave him some feedback. At first, I was a bit skeptical about Taiwanese made helicopters, and the reliability of Thunder Tiger engines. Also, with my long list of unassembled helicopters, there was just no time for me to try out something new, as I had a lot of new stuffs that was gathering dust awaiting me to try them out. However, with the assurance from my supplier, feedbacks from my Taiwanese friends, my respect with Mr. Taya and Mr. Yamaguchi, and a dirt cheap price, I gave in and comply to my supplier's request.
The one that I had was a 4830A (Pro) version. Mine was a pre-release sample to dealers, so the final version on sale in the market might have something different. However, my supplier ensured that my Raptor was at least 99% of the final version to be released. Inside the big box, there was an assembled set of mechanics, from the landing gear to the rotor head and flybar, on the side there was an assembled tail unit, wood main blades that was ready to fly, and a small box that contained a canopy, decal, and other accessories. For my Raptor, since its an ARF kit, assembly is very straight forward. Almost everything except radio came assembled. It was really a no brainer, and the high quality manual did illustrate each and every step clearly so for those who purchase the kit can go about and assemble the Raptor very easily. One thing about the manual was that it used computer 3D rendered graphics instead of the usual wire frames to illustrate each step of the assembly, and it was more pleasing to the eyes.
My Taiwanese friends commented that I should check the mechanics for assembly flaws when I received my unit. They said they've saw some units not assembled well, citing examples of loose screws, screws not loctite, flybar not in line, fuel tanks with clunk loose, and parts with production defects. As a result, I took the mechanics out to check the quality of the assembly. Every pivot points were very smooth. I even tried to unscrew some screw and checked that its been loctite by the factory. Everything seemed to be in-line with no visible problem.
Basically, there was not much left to assemble, since most of my Raptor came fully assembled. All I had to do was to mount the tail belt, mount tail boom, secure boom supports, prepare the canopy, install flight pack, snap on linkage, mount main and tail blades, set up radio and it was ready to fly. Even the ball links comes assembled with the required length.
There were some things that one should make note of when assembling the Raptor:
I used a Futaba 9Z to control the Raptor. However, I used standard servos (Futaba 3001) and basic gyro (Futaba 153BB) just to test the Raptor's performance with the average flight pack that most beginners use. I tried to keep everything stock just to test out the Raptor's performance out of he box.
With everything installed, I started to setup the Raptor on the bench. Every control point was smooth, even with the low torque and speed rating of the Futaba 3001s, control arm movements were quite snappy. The pitch arm mechanism was another item that was interesting to me. The pitch arm was a platform that housed the aileron servo on one side, the elevator control arm on the other side, and a bearing pivot point about 1/3 length from the elevator control arm. The elevator control arm had two A-arms that was connected to the 12 and 6 O'clock position of the swashplate. During pitch change, the pitch servo controlled the pitch platform and the whole platform pivoted up and down like a seesaw that raised and lowered the elevator control arm and the swashplate. The whole design was so genius in that it made use of the weight of he aileron servo as a leverage against the force to raise and lower the swashplate for pitch changes. As a result, there was no need of a large force to control pitch changes. There were two control points on the pitch platform, with an outside hole for modest pitch movement, and an inside hole for more pitch movement. I used the inside hole on the pitch arm to give a 21 degree pitch window. With that kind of pitch window, I checked and found that linkages did not bind at the extreme. Pitch setting for each main blade was controlled by adjusting a linkage that connected the mixing levers. One bugger that I had was with the rudder. The rudder servo was located on the front, lower side of the main frame, and there was a very long linkage with two sections to control the rudder. The section from the rudder servo to the rear of the main frame was z bended to clear various mechanics, and was connected to a straight section that lead to the tail pitch arm by an aluminum rod joint. This design not only introduced slops, but also increases the danger of losing tail control if the rod joint was loosened during flight. To coupled with the complications, I had a little bit of hard time setting up the gyro and tail curves, as I was long be spoiled by using head lock gyros!
On the first day of flight, it was a clam weather, with minor gust. I set the main needle to be two turns. At my astonishment, the engine started at a touch of the starter, and I only needed a 1/4 turn on the idle needle and the engine was set. Although this setting was a bit on the rich side, it was ok for break in period of the engine. While flight trimming the helicopter, I tried to bang the throttle stick to see vertical performance, and even with 12 degree of pitch, the Raptor zoomed up the sky like a rocket. The engine was so powerful that it wiped my prejudice against the quality of Thunder Tiger engines. The engine was smooth, and it did not had those nasty lean mid-range problems that I had with OS engines. After I was familiar with the Raptor's control, it was time for some circuits. The feeling of the Raptor was not like a 32 class, but more like a 46 class helicopter. It was smooth and predictable. Cyclic and tail response was a bit slow, maybe due to the servos that I used. However, even with the slow response on controls, everything was very predictable, and it was fun to fly. It reminded me of the times when I first did my circuits, but this time with a more refined helicopter. Then I tried a loop and that was the time when the wood blades that came with the kit gave in and went out of tracking. I immediately brought it down. The next tank of fuel I fitted a pair of FRP blades. With the FRP blades, the Raptor was more agile, and this time loop was answered with a nice O. I was having so much fun zooming around the field, trying some dare-devil maneuvers with it. With the Raptor I did not have the same kind of pressure as with flying my other helicopters, cause I know I can repair it dirt cheap, and even if one day I totaled it, it won't cause me any remorse. I was having so much fun with the Raptor that I did not touch my other helicopters that I brought to the field that day! The first day came to an end when I flew the Raptor too low and the blades hit mother earth. Even with the Raptor crashed, I was wearing a wide grin. When I checked for damage, it was the main blade, flybar, main shaft, spindle shaft and some ball links that was needed to be replaced, and the tail boom and support slightly bent but still useable. All damaged parts totaled to about US$20. It was when I was bending one of the tail boom support to shape, and my friend commented that with my character he thought he would not see me trying to bend part of a helicopter back to shape, but I would replaced them with upgrade parts. All of a sudden, it seemed to me that the Raptor had sent a message to me, telling that good old fun did not cost megabucks.
I liked the Raptor so much, and it really made my day! I would keep the Raptor as it was, with basic equipments, just to keep the fun. However, I changed the following items to make it better:
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| Contents inside the box | Nice looking canopy, even in white! |
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| Close-up of the swashplate. Low profile
but flimsy. Also note the screws on the linkage balls. |
Close-up of the rotor head.
Note the high flybar and the pin in the middle of the spindle. |
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| Close-up of the drive train | Close-up of the tail gear box. |
