Not a problem at all mate!

I will be calling you when I get stuck on mine.

Looking forward to your thread.

 

Nice bit of kit there @Manyc. @The Dude is very happy with his thunder tiger. It goes pretty hard from what i have seen..

 

Ok.. time to post up the build thread.. now I will apologise in advance for some of the pictures... my phone is old and crappy, also I kinda got into the sync of building and forgot to take pics.. anyway you will get the general idea...

first build the blade grips.. pretty similar to most other brands.. tho the Dampers are 2 piece and inner and outter.. I suppose it allows you to adjust the hardness of the dampers a bit better.. thats just a guess tho..



Put the rest of the head together.. NOW PLEASE NOTE THE BALL LINK SIZES! There are 3 different type of ball links... make sure you identify them.. the really large one is for the elevator link on the swash... I like the way the grips and head is designed... I hadn't seen this head geometry before, but apparently its quiet common..



Now here is where I need to apologize.. I kinda got into a groove and kept building and forgot about pics.. so there is no individual pics for the frame build and the front Torque tube section. With the torque tube gears at the front go and watch Nick Maxwell's video's on how to do it.. it is important... and he explains it much better than me.. I have linked to the video in the first post...

With the motor mounting and pinion placing, I had the pinion support mounted , placed the motor in, and secured the motor mount loosely, and then placed a bit of pressure on the pinion so it rested on the bearing.. and tightened there. It is designed this way to make sure the height of the pinion is correct, else you will strip the Herring bone gears. Once again there is Nick Maxwell video I linked to in the first post explaining it...

IMPORTANT ! When you put in the main shaft and main gears.. leave the top bearing block loose... you will need to push down on that bearing block while pulling up on the collar to remove any slack.. if you end up with movement in the mainshaft, you WILL strip your gears.. keep that in mind...

Here is where I had issues with the manual.. when it comes to having all those spaces and screws listed it gets confusing, and its very easy to miss a support spacer, which I did...

TIP: When you go to do the pining of the torque tube gears, run the set screw through first, to make sure you can see it through the hole, then back it out.. I had issues with it getting all the way down. Also test that the pin will slide through the hole.. I had to hand drill out the hole a little to make it fit.. else you will have it in and have to pull it back out to do it...




Next because it makes life easier.. I mounted the servo's, gyro and did the wiring.. just makes life easier without having to swing that boom round... Here you will come across the servo collars.. these things are the bomb... just leave them loose so the outter collar is not tight at all, so the inner collar can spin freely.. this is the beauty.. when it comes to center the servo's, get the FBL to center them.. run the drivers through the holes in the bell cranks and frame.. tighten the outter collar screws.. done, no need for swash leveling, sub trim, anything.. bang your all good. This is also because all the links from the servo to swash are fixed.




Please note, the mount the sensor is on, is not part of the kit.. it was made up by a friend.. but you can buy another gyro mount you have at the front, and put is on here.. will do the same thing...



Now I built the tail section. I found I needed to shim out the tail gears.. just make sure there is no play in the gears.. and like with the torque tube gears, and in Nick Maxwell vids... make sure where the two gears connect it forms a straight line.




Now glue the bearings on the torque tube, slide it into the boom, and mount it up.. I find it easier to up silicon spray down the inside of the boon, and grease up the bearing housing to make it nice and slippery.. with the boom supports, mount the ends so they are opposite, makes it when you mount them it lines up and there is no extra pressure...





Now I mounts the rest of the electronics up.. now here is where I changed my mine, and switched to a Talon 120, to remove the need for a bec, and so I could modify the BEC tray slightly, to allow it to sit flat, and further into the tray so the whole ESC is supported. I removed the top spot on the tray for the esc, and cut the plastic to be all flat. I then put the screw from inside the frame to out, and used a M3 lock nut to hold it in place.. (once again, a friends idea not mine.. I'm not that smart)



Because there was no BEC, I mounted my RX under the ESC tray, and ran the antenna's down the opposite sides of the frame,...





At this point you're pretty much done.. neaten any wiring.. and do your setup.

TIP: if your running the Talon 120, you need to remove the bec wire to connect to the castle link, I just got a servo exention lead, removed the red wire, and if I need to program it, I just use that lead in the middle, that way I dont have to constantly remove that wire...





When you finally do take this up.. it is quiet.. if its loud and noisy.. something is wrong, go back and check your power train...

 

Nice one dude now you just have to make friends with it lol

 

Did you put front and rear parts of landing gear in oposite directions on purpose?

I assume they should prone in the same direction.

It is not crucial for flying. Just cosmetic touch...

Canopy is beautiful. Nice color scheme.

I heard that Raptors are very reliable and survival smack pretty well.

Is newest verizon V3? Your is V2. Anyway you are lucky to build this pretty 700. Enjoy Maiden flight. Good luck.

 

I like to spread out the landing gear, for some reason I just think it makes sense to do it that way.. I know it doesn't make a difference.. but in my head it does..

I didn't want the v3 with the boom cover.. adds to crash expense, and not sure of the benefits other than visibility...

 

I like to put all my landing gear backwards, it's closer to the center of balance and looks tougher
Simon