x50 Thoughts

[Jackass1277]

im currently an all align guy and now i have an opportunity to own an x50 and i just want to get the pros and cons on it. so who better to ask then the people who fly them day in and out. what do you guy think about it? anything i need to look out for?

[Taxus812]

I have about 30 flight now. I love mine. I have the head setup for 11 Deg Collective Pitch and 8 Deg Cyclic. It flips rolls and pops very nice. Its light and stable. I really dont have any complaints flying as of yet.

Maintenance
The bigest thing I can see is If you go into local hobby Shops the walls are covered with align stuff. X50 is in a drawer or special order.

[Jackass1277]

where im at if its not efilte they dont have it. so thats not a concern to me

[KouDy]

Cons on Thunder Tiger? :D

No really. There is one, that you would probably want to replace plastic bearing blocks with metal ones (upper (http://www.helikraft.com/Thunder+Tiger/All+Items/Thunder+Tiger/PV1406/Metal+Upper+Bearing+Block+X50+%28PV1406%29.html) and lower (http://www.helikraft.com/Thunder+Tiger/All+Items/Thunder+Tiger/PV1407/Metal+Lower+Bearing+Block+X50+%28PV1407%29.html)). But other than that there are no complaints at all about this machine so far i think. I am still beginner but mine flies smooth and nice.

[Bob O]

I really like my X50B. I did all the metal upgrades during my initial build. The metal tail unit is very nice. This heli is super smooth and light. It flies at least as well as the Velocity 50 and T-Rex 600N I had before it. The tail on this one is the best of the three, IMO.

:)

[carlos]

the X50 will make your T600N feal like a slug.

[DethWshBkr]

I would recommend the aluminum bearing blocks.
I just had a failure which caused me to do a rebuild, so I replaced the stock bearing blocks with aluminum, just because. The stock upper bearing block for me, caused some vertical play in the main shaft. I could not get it to stay completely tight, and had to shim the main shaft retention collar.
The aluminum one fits absolutely perfect and with no shimming, allowed NO play in the main shaft.

I love mine, but I'm only a 3 month into this newbie. That said, I find it to be a VERY stable and comfortable flier, which has me doing flips and inverted stuff MUCH easier than my Blade 4503d.

[johnbs8]

i beat the hell outa my X50 and it keeps taking it. it has well over 6 cases of fuel on it. I love it!! bought another.

[WessCo]

I have the belt kit with everything stock, except for replacing the head recently with the TT FBL head. Still have plastic nearing blocks. Won't change them unless they mess up somehow......

[Bob O]

I just changed to the stock plastic tail but won't get to try it out until the weekend.

[rcflier1]

mine is fbl and has a ys56. i ff, it really gets up a head of steam!

[cbcelectech]

Some of my observations..

Cons:
-Frames are a bit on the thin side.
-Bottom "carbon fiber" plate is likely fiberglass inner with carbon fiber outer, and very thin.
-No frame reinforcement for the boom supports or landing gear
-Landing gear seems very fragile
-Phillips screws? Really? I thought we were past that with at this price point.
-Tail control linkage could be much better.
-My kit was missing the washer between the main gear and autorotation gear. Put the whole project on hold for a week. Shame, shame Thunder Tiger


Pros:
-Tail gear box is very smooth
-Very lightweight and smooth FBL head
-Titanium turnbuckles? IDK if that's really a pro or a con, time will tell
-Very narrow frames, very similar to the Outrage 50.
-Nice to see the tail boom is pinned on both ends, two screws on the front end and a retaining "pin" on the back side.

[johnbs8]

No frame reinforcement for the boom supports or landing gear

plz explain. my boom supports are mounted to rear frame support. skidz are mounted to the tabs that break before the frames. the frames are thin but ive put mine in twice now pretty good and frames are still rock solid. that bottom plate is on the thin side. i broke mine on the last crash but again frames survived. $27 vs $50 per frame side, ill live with the thinner bottom plate.

[cbcelectech]

I haven't got mine in the air yet due to missing parts, just making some general observations. I'm glad to hear that the relatively thin frames hold up well in a crash. I'm not surprised the bottom plate broke though.

[cbcelectech]

BTW, the frames are NOT $50 per side. I see them at $100 per side!!!!! That's almost twice that of the T700N frame that is 2mm vice 1.3mm. If you see them somewhere for $50, please post the link.

Must be made on the moon or something.

[johnbs8]

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAFNN&P=7

http://www.helikraft.com/Thunder+Tiger/Raptor+50+Titan+X50B/RCTAIWAN/RCT0398/CARBON+FRAME%3BX50%3BPV1329-OEM%28RCT0398%29.html

http://www.helikraft.com/Thunder+Tiger/Raptor+50+Titan+X50B/RCTAIWAN/RCT0398A/CARBON+FRAME%3BX50%3BPV1329-OEM%28RCT0398A%29-2Pcs.html

http://www.experiencerc.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7795

[cbcelectech]

That's interesting. I wonder why there is such a huge difference in price from one vendor to the next. I wonder if the $100 frames are different in some way? They seem to have the part #.......

Thanks for the links, I know now where to do my shopping next time.

[Elgyn]

depends on if they're a Great Plane dealer or resaler. Dealers have a set price from GP and are usually cheaper while retailers can charge what the want


...i used to work in a hobby store

[rcflier1]

160 for the 2 frames? i only paid 299 for the whole kit!

[cbcelectech]

just but a new kit and have spare everything!!

[DethWshBkr]

160 for the 2 frames? i only paid 299 for the whole kit!


DITTO!!
When mine went in the first time, I totaled up the parts list at $245+blades, and I was going to just buy another whole kit!
Unfortunately there were none on at the time, but then a day later, the current batch was on there. :bs

[Taxus812]

Originally Posted by rcflier1 http://www.helifreak.com/easyaction/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?p=3876367#post3876367)
160 for the 2 frames? i only paid 299 for the whole kit!

160 for the 2 frames? i only paid 299 for the whole kit!


I must be seeing something wrong. The links provided had two sides for $95 to $120 (that is about the same as other brands) where are we getting $160. ?

[johnbs8]

when TT first released the X50B there was a typo in the price listing for the frames. most online stores have changed the price. im assuming there is still one or two out there that hasnt. If you guys are looking for good pricing on X50 parts or raptor parts go to helikraft.com. They are tiawan based company and charge $20 for shipping but thier prices make up for that and the shipping takes no longer than 5 days tops. ive ordered from them on 3 different occasions when ive needed more than just a part or two. if you need one or two parts it doesnt make sense to pay $20 shipping.

[KouDy]

Tell me about it John... My last helikraft order is 28 parts :dontknow ... But well for me it was quite worth it even back in Europe. You can choose cheap slow shipping (that takes long i know) if you are not in hurry.

[Pirate]

Just finished my first flight after building the X50 FBL. Lovely kit, seems to me to be of higher quality to all of the Align helis I have owned. It takes some time to lay the electronics out neatly, and although I was a little apprehensive about the Redline 53 it runs perfectly and has not been difficult to tune at all.