jbeech
rrAdvertiser
Location: Sanford, FL (Orlando area)
| Mr. Gutierrez,
With a handle like Hovering Master, I'm kind of surprised you've said nothing about how sweet the Tiger is in the hover. While I'd put Tiger against all comers in that category, because of my business relationship with Audacity, some will think anything I say is suspect. So what say you Hover Master? How does Tiger stack up against say, a Raptor?
After all, you're not my paid shill . . . you reached into your own pocket to buy your Tiger (virtually before anyone else in America in fact since you're an early adopter). And I presume you bought it from Cindy at Al's Hobby Shop since you're in Chicagoland. What do you say about the overall handling and flying qualities of the Tiger 50?
What's more, would you share your comments vis-a-vis how well she tracks across the sky if say - you just let go of cyclic while in forward flight? Does she squat or dive? While it puts me in mind of that old-time phrase "tracks like a pattern plane", I have a vested interest in the matter, so what do you say?
Folks, the buck stops with me when it came to deciding what the mix of handling characteristcs an out of the box Tiger would have. I'm the guy to blame, or praise. I could have opted for a more 3D oriented machine (that's not very hard to do). Instead I decided to make those optional 3D bits available for those who want that kind of handling, but not make it the default setup. You see, I daresay most RR readers are more like me because when it comes to flying, I'm something of a duffer!
In fact, I still love it when I get home with an unbroken helicopter! Sure, I'm hoping to get better at 3D, but frankly, I still breath deep after a successful auto. For that matter, I sometimes shout out "Yes!" when I string two rolls together (and sometimes just one really nice one). And I'm definitely not an expert 3D guy yet (though I try my hand at it).
I spec-ed the Tiger to satisfy guys like me. To tell the truth, the Tiger is the kind of helicopter which makes me look good (maybe better than I am) largely because of how easy she hovers and flies (and also because I think a smooth machine beats flippy floppy any which way from Sunday)! Heck, I derive tremendous satisfaction by properly executing a coventional landing approach. Do you know the one? It's where you fly at a field composed of mainly fixed wing modelers and you must depart and approach the runway using the conventional landing pattern - or you're not welcome - rather than hogging the center of the runway. Trust me, I don't think anything beats a scale approach complete with a slow turn to nose-in, followed by a constant altitude hover taxi on by - just like a full scale heli at the FBO.
Anyway, that said, a few tweaks and some very inexpensive options later, and guys for whom 3D is a way of life can dial in their Tiger to whatever level of adrenaline they desire. And the parts are cheap! Did I mention the parts are cheap (and plentiful). In the store prices (not mail order) are really cheap! Booms for 9 bucks, hollow mainshafts for $8, I'm talking about the stuff that breaks on all helicopters!
Believe me, cheap parts are important to everybody, but they're especially important to guys practicing funnels, tick-tocks, and snakes lower to the ground than might be prudent (though nothing opens the adrenals more than low and lower, eh?). In fact, I'll tell you what's best for us, it's when a 3D maven calls to order parts on Monday and he's laughing his tail off because instead of spending 280 bucks following a botched Chaos at 6 feet, he's only spending $60. And he's still laughing because the full blown wounded chicken following the arrival had everybody at the field in awe (airplane guys are easily entertained)!
Frankly, flying the Tiger is almost better than sex. OK, I'm lying about that, but I do think the Tiger flies a lot like a good XCell 60 Custom. But that's what I think, what do you think? Put it on the line before God and Country, tell the world, I'm confident. How will guys at skill levels like mine think the Tiger flies . . . as compared to other machines. Your words, not mine.
Folks, I can tell you is this . . . getting down to 300 bucks (for an ARF no less) meant watching pennies. But because I'm a modeler (and the boss), we didn't cheap out by leaving off things like rubber grommets for mounting the fuel tank, or by using a plastic headblock (Tiger 50 has a CNC aluminum head block), plus there are some nifty touches too - like molded in clips for routing servo wires, and even rubber grommets for soft-mounting the radio switch (what caused your last radio-related crash?).
And if you don't mind Mr. Gutierrez, would you mind commenting on how nice the Tiger is to pull maintenance on? For example, did you notice you can swap tail output shafts without pulling the boom - or the tail belt - by just pulling three screws on the tail case?
Speaking of which, while the 3D guys like how easy it is to swap parts out after a crash on the Tiger, that latter point is important to scale guys too. Not just because scale guys notice how unbolting the radio platform leaves plenty of space to detail out a cockpit (since the radio platform is only for pod and boom you can leave it off), but because of how nice it is to slip an assembled tailboom - complete with belt - all ready to just install an output shaft and button up. It's nice to be versatile too.
Comments? Anybody who has flown a Tiger - who has also flown Raptor, Raven, Fury, Millennium, or Sceadu . . . feel free to chime in!
That's my 2¢
John |
After he tweeked the heli a little for Sunday I was able to try my hand with a little mild 3D. Nothing too fancy just a couple loops, rolls and inverted hovering but I was equally impressed. Tracking thoughout each manuever was dead-on and transitions were very smooth. Maybe this is due to doorman's setup skill but I think some of it has to be the quality of the machine.
