I'm looking at going to a set of glass or carbon fiber blades for the Raptor sometime in the coming weeks, and trying to judge my options.

All I know of so far is Thunder Tiger blades, Fun Key, and Mavrikk. I'm sure there are tons more as well, just looking for opinions on if any are worth avoiding and what not. Any that require more work to balance/track, any that require little to no balancing, etc?

Also, any real need for carbon TR blades or is it a negligible difference at best?

Mike,

I personally would recommend keep flying what you have for several reasons.

First and foremost. On a 30 size heli, you would never know the difference. The Thunder Tiger woodies are really good blades, and shelling out $50.00 + on a set of glass or carbon blades that would feel the same as what you have already would be a waste.


I commend you on your quick study and ability to do the aerobatics you are doing. With that being said, and I am not trying to jinx you, pushing it as hard as you are, its a mathematical certainty your gonna crash pal.

It may not happen for a long time, but its inevitable.

If you don't dumbthumb it, your gonna have some mechanical failure and the ground is gonna suck it down. Save the money you would spend on blades, for parts, and then you won't have to replace expensive blades when it happens.


Now, I have found that the bigger the helicopter, the longer the blade, and if its wood, the more flex it will have. Though I have just been dabbling with some 3D moves here lately, I have always run glass blades on my 50, because they auto light years better than wood blades. And because I neglect that poor thing like I do, (if you have ever seen my runway antics) I have had a couple of forced autos and the blades have paid off for being stable in an auto.

Which BTW, you are doing so well on the flips/rolls, and inverted stuff. I would concentrate on learning to auto. Even if you are forced to auto, and it isn't 100% successful, it can take several "G's" off the impact.:) Meaning less damage.

My gasser. Its a no brainer. I noticed the difference even in forward flight between the woods I first tried and the carbon fiber. The woods just can't keep up.

Tail blades. Nope. I think only Tal would notice the difference between carbon and plastic. I run carbon tail blades on the gasser, because its my Hanger queen, the flag ship of my small fleet, and I want the blades to match the mains.


When you graduate to a larger machine, you'll understand more what I mean about the blade length, and how much the blades flexing effects different moves.



Hope this helps.:)



Scott

Good woodies fly pretty good. FG or CF blades fly just a little bit better.

Autos - The composite blades do them little better because the are lower drag due to thinner tailing edge than the woodies have.

3D Stuff - In hi-idle high RPM 3D mode, the composite blades hold up to the increased RPMs better than woodies. TT recomends that you don't excede I think 1700 RPMs with the woodies. 3D hi-idle stuff requires around 2,000 RPM or little better.

Shrink wrap blade covering on woodies can tear or bubble up in flight conditions which will increase drag and cause tracking problems. Composite blades hold same airfoil under all flight conditions.

Brand of blade? - I have used Funkey and Hurricane blades. They were balanced good enough out of the package to strap on and tracking was easy and consistant to adjust.
Most any name brand composite will probably be good quality. If I get composites for my new Titan, will prob go with Funkey. I had them on my old Raptor 30 and Liked them. I had Hurricanes on the TSK and they did good.

TR blades - The stock plastic will do nicely till you get very agressive with the 3D stuff and fast backwards flight. Then might need bigger composite TR blades for more TR authority.

Main Blades FG or CF? - Probably in the 550 or 600 mm size, not enough difference to matter.

Thanks guys, that's the info I was looking for. Scott, the only reason I even considered new blades was because I had read of people having boom strikes in the air, even with 550 woodies. Anything I can do to avoid that, I'm all about.

I do need to start working on autos also, so I'll probably work on that with the woodies. After I crash it trying those, I can replace them with carbon or glass blades and see how much easier it makes it. :lol:

Mike,

Boom strikes are usually because the blade leads/lags too much off the grip, and not because the flex down onto the boom. Proper tension on the blade bolt should keep you from ever experienceing a tail boom strike.

Or as we veteran pilots refer to it as an (clearing my throat) "in flight TBS".

Feel free to use that term when you feel the need.



Scott