REVIEW:
- Throttle Jockey Pro Headspeed Governor from ModelAvionics. Super Servo Support and more! Read my review of this new governor. This review (Jan. 2004) covers the Throttle Jockey Pro with one of my Optical Sensors on a Raptor 50V2 with an OS50. READ THE REVIEW HERE
- NEW-Throttle Jockey FAI Headspeed Governor from ModelAvionics. Super Servo Support and more! Review coming in September!
- ModelAvionics X-treme Tach The newest release from the great folks at ModelAvionics, the X-treme Tach offers accurate headspeed verification to within 1%. This tach is small enough to fit in your shirt pocket and has a built-in switch that automatically shuts the unit down after 30 seconds of idle time. No master On/Off switch is necessary. Like all other ModelAvionics products, the X-treme Tach is very affordable. It cost about 25-30% less than the Miniature Sky Tach and works every bit as good. READ THE REVIEW HERE
- ModelAvionics Auto-Glow New On-Board Auto-Glow system that works with the Throttle Jockey Pro governor. This new product provides automatic glow plug heat below 1/4 stick for easy starting and added idle reliability. No more flame outs during autorotations or when carrying the heli out to the flight line. Not only that but this little gadget even heats the plug when the engine is under heavy loading and begins to bog. READ THE REVIEW HERE
HELICOPTERS:
We're still awaiting the release of the new Predator Gasser, the Fury Gasser, Fury Ion and probably a few others I don't even know about. I'm still holding out for a gasser to replace my big block glow.
Hopefully 2004 will be a very healthy year for the hobby. It looking good so far!
- Century has accomplished what it set out to do. The Predator Max is the high end of the Predator line, all geared up for the big block motors it ships with all the bells and whistles one would expect in a high end kit and INCLUDES 720mm Carbon main blades and carbon 105mm tail blades and a gelcoated, recut fiberglass canopy. Century has finally stepped up to the plate with its latest offering from their heli design team. The all new Predator series has caused a stir in the RC Heli community. People are comparing it to the Fury line from Miniature Aircraft and the Freya/Eagle line from Hirobo. It's claim is high performance at an affordable price. Judging from early field reports it appears Century may have pulled it off. For the latest information at Century's Website HERE.
- Miniature Aircraft has basically stolen the 3D market from the rest of the competitors with the release of the Fury Expert, Extreme and now the Tempest. Miniature is long known as a manufacturer of quality, world class performance machines. Granted they aren't cheap but they certainly have been the yard stick all others are measured by. The newest release is the Tempest 3D. This is a 90 class machine with a full 3D head and some really cool features under the hood. Carbon, G-10 and metal only where needed makes this machine light, nimble and very manuverable. The FAI version is similar but includes all carbon frames, special tail gear box control and a new FAI style Tempest head that has been designed and tested by the pros. Please visit Miniature Aircraft at their website HERE.
- Hirobo/MRC has had the Eagle series out for some time now. They were very expensive machines but flew beautifully. Hirobo answered the markets desire for a great flying "cheaper" Eagle and the released the Freya 60. A great flying machine with no bad habits and a super stable rotor head system. Building on a great machine Hirobo has recently released the X-Spec Freya Eagle. This machine takes all the features of the Freya and improves performance dratamically while at the same time reducing overall weight significantly.
The Sceadu line was introduced after Thunder Tiger kicked the RC Heli entry markets ass with the introduction of the Raptor 30, obviously Hirobo didn't like this one bit and developed the Sceadu line which was to be the Raptor killer. While it is a very nice heli, it cost more than the Rappy and frankly had it'several problems of its own. Like TT, they came out with a 50 and it was OK but still had many of the issues the original Sceadu. Thunder Tiger learned from its field trials the Raptor 30V1 and Raptor 50V1 had plenty of room for improvement. Following on the sucess of the Raptor 60V2 which addressed most of the problems with the original 60 TT relased a fine pair of V2 helis, the R30V2 and R50V2. Naturally, Hirobo followed suite and has released a V2 of their own, the Sceadu 50 EVO They call this one the mini Freya. It is a sweet little ship but to be honest I don't think it will surpass the sucess of the Raptor 50V2. It cost a lot more than the Raptor 50V2 and from what I hear it doesn't fly much better than a Raptor 50V2. I know some will argue that point but this is strictly my personal opinion. I'm not sponsored by anyone except perhaps FujiFilm whom I work for and unfortunately, they don't make RC helis. You can visit Hirobo/MRC at their website HERE.
- Thunder Tiger/ACE has not been asleep at the wheel since introoducing the worlds most popular RC heli, the RAPTOR. What made the Raptor 30 an instant hit was the price point of the heli plus the fact it came in a sport kit, a pro kit with full ball bearings, a pro kit with engine (TT36) and lastly an ARF rebuilt with or without engine. This alone wasn't the only reason the kit was a huge success. Plentiful parts at nearly any hobby shop and widely available online at very affordable prices insured this kit would be a winner. Performance was better than any 30 class machine on the market at the time and could take you from beginner to full out 3D aerobatics with a little practice and setup. A natural upgrade path to a 50 was available at a very affordable cost allowed the entry level machine to grow with the skill of the owner. Soon after the 30 was introduced Thunder Tiger released the Raptor 60, banking on the success of the 30 they hoped they could steal the 60 market dominated by X-Cell, Hirobo and others. Unfortunately, the original Raptor 60 had it's share of issues and received a lot of bad press which didn't help things. TT took all of this feedback into consideration and promptly introduced a Raptor 60V2 which resolved practically all the issues related to the original V1. Since then Thunder Tiger has released and all new Raptor 30V2 and 50V2 and now have a Raptor 90 upgrade and will soon release a full blown Raptor 90 kit out of the box. You can vvisit Thunder Tiger/ACE Hobby at their website HERE.
ELECTRONICS:
GYROS:
- CSM SL560 Micro Gyro, Latest gyro from CSM, the folks who invented "Heading Hold" for RC Helis has recently released a new all in one SL560M that is going to a hot contender against the 601. Early word this new one is even better than the old 560 without the bulk, programming and setup headaches. From my past experience with CSM gyros I am very sceptical of the claims CSM is making about this gyro. Some die hard CSM guys swear it's better than a 601/9251. I simply won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes and then I'll probably still doubt it. Hopefully it works better than the 540 and original 560 did, few and far between were the sucessful setups. This kind of equipment should NOT be difficult to setup up and historically that has always been the case with CSM gyros.
- JR G500T Heading Hold Gyro. JR, has finally woken up and built a gyro that can at least compete with the Futaba 401 much less the 601. Similar to the Futaba GY401, it's an all in one unit. The G500T is very small like the 401 and is switchable from high and low frame rates for digital and non-digital servos and has a two-stage remote gain like the 401 and also includes a reverse switch and travel limiter.
- FUTABA has been and will likely to be the gold standard for which all other gyros are compared and aspire to. Since they introduced the AVCS (Angular Velocity Control System) SMM (Silicone Micro Machined) Futaba has pretty much owned the crown of the best gyro in the business. There is a low end GY240 that is a great entry level gyro however it does not have remote gain but is very affordable. Next is the GY401 gyro which when coupled with the Futaba S9253 Digital Servo (they sell the 401 with the 9253 in a combo as well as selling the gyro separately) if one of the best all around sport gyros ever made. The GY502 is the mid class competition gyro, typically sold alone in the US. It has a separate sensor and amp. Similar to the 601 in almost every aspect except this gyro has the same frame rate as the 401 (270hz) which is 4x a std. gyro. I've found the 502 to hold much better than the 401 in pirouetting manuevers and like the 401 it can drive practically servo excpet the 9251 which is exclusively designed for the top end Futaba GY601 gyro. The 601 is THE gyro for hardcore 3D and FAI competition pilots. It's holding power has to be experienced to be believed. Also it like the 502 has a separate control amp with a LED display indicating all the adjustable parameters. The 601 is King of the Hill and will likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
GOVERNORS:
- Model Avionics Inc. has taken the governor market by storm with the introduction of the Throttle Jockey Governor. Since it's humble introduction, Paul has released two more varients of the TJ. The Throttle Jockey Manual & Throttle Jockey Pro (see above for link to TJ Pro Review). This little solid state unit is a "no frills" unit that is ultra compact, fairly easy to setup and has incredible holding power. Paul Beard has really created a fine little product here that can finally give Futaba a run for it's money and customer base. I was fortunate enough to be the original beta tester of this governor last year. The unit I had was one of the original ten prototypes. Straight out of the package it is a complete set including the governro, magnets, hall sensor and sensor mounting brackets just as you would expect. Unlike the Futaba GV1 there is no graphical display on this unit.
It only has/needs two LEDs, a green one to let you know the governor is in Active mode and a red one to let you know when the governor is sensing a pulse from the sensor. It's not too difficult to setup, very basic in operation, it controls headspeed. That's all it does and that is all a governor is supposed to do and this one does it as well or slightly better than the Futaba GV-1 whcih costs more than double this unit. Paul has since released a second version of the Throttle Jockey which is the "manual" version. This is geared towards low end radios that don't have enough spare channels for governor control, there is a pot on the governor which determines headspeed. You'll still want to tach the head to confirm any headspeed just like the original TJ but if you don't worry about what your headspeed is and only care that the unit governs headspeed then fly it with a setting that sounds/feels right to you. HELIPROZ is the exclusive distributor for the Throttle Jockey, they sell the Throttle Jockey as does Model Avionics. I sell an aftermarket Optical Sensor kit for both the Throttle Jockey and the Futaba GV-1 governor if you don't want to fool around with magnets and fan balancing, you can learn more about my Optical Sensor Kits HERE. You can learn more about the Throttle Jockey from Model Avionics at their website HERE. Please tell Paul that Raymond sent you!
- Futaba GV-1. The GV-1 is the standard in headspeed governors. While it's not really ever had any competition other than a feeble attempt from HeliMax, Futaba created a great governor system that is very easy to use and works great. The only issues I have with this governor and I have three of them is the fact that the stock sensors are a little fragile. That led me to use an alternative sensor which is optical. Just like for the Throttle Jockey I sell sensor kits that work on either governor and parts are included to build a sensor for either unit. The GV-1 has an excellent interface, it has an LED graphical interface that is quite easy to use. Setup is fairly easy but it's made a little more complicated by the convoluted instruction set common to most Futaba equipment. It really works welll but I've found the Throttle Jockey to hold slightly more accurate headspeed. personally I prefer the GV-1 over the TJ because of the user interface and the slight varience in headspeed isn't a big issue with me. You won't believe what a difference adding a governor to your heli makes. It's so much smoother and predictable however you must take time to setup it up properly and inspect it from time to time as it is a delicate electronics instrument. The weakest point is the fragile sensor which is easily and affordably replaced should you decide to do so. You can learn more about the GV1 at Futaba's website HERE.
TRANSMITTERS:
Futaba 9ZHP WC2
Futaba 9CHP
JR 10X
JR 9X (Not available in US)
JR 8103DT
Airtronics RD9000
Airtronics RD8000
Airtronics RD6000
Hitec Eclipse 7 Spectra
RECEIVERS:
Futaba 9 Channel R309DPS Synthesized
Futaba 9 Channel R149DP
Futaba 8 Channel R148DF/P
SERVOS:
Airtronics Analog:
Futaba Analog:
Hitec Analog:
JR Analog:
Airtronics Digital:
Futaba Digital:
Hitec Digital:
JR Digital:
BATTERIES:
Nicad (4.8v)
Nicad (6.0v)
NiMH (4.8v)
NiMH (6.0v)
Lith/Poly/Ion (7.4v)
CHARGERS/CYCLERS:
Accu-Cycle Pro & Plus
Ace Smart Charger
Sirius Charger Pro
Triton Smart Charger
FMS SuperNova 250
VOLTAGE REGULATORS:
Cermark 5.1v Regulator
ABSOLUTELY JUNK, CAUSED A CRASH ON MY FURY EXTREME. I BOUGHT TWO AND BOTH WERE BAD. THEY WOULDN'T REGULATE AFTER GETTING HIT BY A 1.5A LOAD.
I had a friend take these regulators to his electronics shop and test them, they both failed miserably, they would shut down after about 1.5 amps draw and you all know that when flying big RC choppers with digital servos it's very easy to put well over a 1.5amp load on the electrical system.
It is obvious to me that this brand of regulator has NO place in the RC heli community as the units do NOT work as advertised. The manufacturer told me they are rated @ 2.5amps. My paperwork that came with the regulators state 5amps at up to 12v. Yea right...
Cermark 6.0v Regulator
AFTER READING THE ABOVE REVIEW WOULD YOU WANT ONE OF THESE?
DuraLite 5.1v Regulator
I bought two of these are the Cermark fiasco.... The first one went in my Raptor 50V2. Works great with my BatteriesAmerica Lithium Poly 2,200mah-7.4v flat pack. However I must admit out of the two 5.1v regulators I ordered, one was not working properly, seems it was outputting around 5.8v or better. I've sent it back to the factory, I am pretty sure they're going to replace it at no charge and they tell me they think it may have been mislabeled as a 5.1v unit when it was actually a 5.8v unit. That should serve as a warning to everyone, please check the voltage output of any regulator BEFORE connecting your expensive receiver, gyro, governor and servos because you could damage them if something isn't quite right.Update, 3/10/04. I have the other Duralite regulator now, they replaced it but said nothing was wrong, hmmm I still wonder why one read lower output voltage than the other. Anyway, I plugged it into my Lithium pack and on to my heli, voltage on my 601 gyro read 5.2v. Under no load I was getting 5.8v which bothers me a little. However it is holding a constant 5.2v on my heli with everything plugged in. There should be a little more boost in power as I'm moving from the 4,8 NiMH packs which just couldn't supply the voltage needed during heavy current demands of an all digital ship.
Previous News:
- The Throttle Jockey headspeed governor. Model Avionics has entered the RC Heli electronics market with a great working miniature governor for practially all gas/glow powered helicopters. I beta tested this governor last year and you can read my review HERE. Paul Beard, the owner of Model Avionics has recently released an Optical Tachometer which compares well against the much more expensive Miniature Aircraft SkyTach.
