century raven

[waterbug57]

hi out there if any one is interested the raven's prise is now 299.00 down from 379.00. good prise for eccpm chopter.

[RAV50]

Wow, that is a steal. Specially when it comes with so many features that are considered upgrades on other 50s.

Like some very good composite 600mm mainblades, a CNC machined mainrotor hub that also clamps the mainshaft on its base like most 90 size helis, a 4mm flybar system, a heavy duty flybar control yoke instead of seperate flybar control arms, a great CNC machined metal swashplate, a great stainless steel torque tube drive system (I found it to be as good as the ones on some 90 size machines) , a top notch tail rotor system with a steel hub and two radial bearings and a thrust bearing in each blade grip (again I found it to be as good as the ones on some 90 size machines), a heavy duty wide span landing gear, a very positive eCCPM control system and a number of other very desirable features.

I discovered the Raven50 a couple of years ago and found it to be more of a downsized 90 then a larger 30 like most others. It is my favorite 50 by far.

I do wish the engine would be easier to drop out, but fortunately it has such a bullet proof clutch and start system that the only time I have ever had to drop the engine was to change the bearings in the 50Hyper....fortunately that has not been very often.

[theLane]

I own a Hawk Pro, flew it all season w/OS37 in it. I have never had an OS50 before, but have heard of this OS50 bearing issue. Wasn't this an old issue with the motors and resolved a while back or are they still having an issue with bearings?

Would the TT be more reliable?

~Lane

[RAV50]

It doesn't matter what engine you use, sooner or later they will need the bearings replaced.

So what I am saying is that if one can get 200 or 300 flights without needing a bearing replaced, the only time you will have to remove the engine is every 200 or 300 flights. That is a lot of flying.

I have had other helis that needed the clutch replaced and/or the clutch bell bearings replaced and/or the start shaft bearings replaced every 60 or 70 flights. Fortunately, their design was one that made the engine easier to replace (drop out the bottom). Unfortunately this meant their frames where not as rigid as those on the Raven, and though their engines may have taken 10 minutes less time to remove and remount, the total time spent on the bench was a lot more over 300 flights then with the Raven.

So overall, you will spend a lot less time on the bench with the Raven then with many other designs and enjoy the benefits of a stronger and more rigid mainframe.