Not overly impressed with Mini Titan 325S ARF kit assembly..

[Fade-Dude]

Just a heads up to any new buyers of this kit...

Look, I love the mini Titan line... was my first "proper heli" when I started flying yeaaaars back... and still one of my all time favourites. I recently treated myself to the Mini T E325S FBL RTF kit (With gt5.1)

I initially felt a little concerned about someone else having built my heli, and rightly so...

So I am sharing some tips with guys getting this kit..

- Thunder Tiger's manual states that its RTF... mine was not, not by a long shot...

- Tail Rudder endpoints were waayyy off.

- Tail gyro sense was the wrong way

- Tail piro compensation was the wrong way

- Elevator serve was not at center, a full spline position off, with decent amount of forward pitch. (The flybarless gyro will hide this when in the air, so check it, don;t take it for granted...

- Negative and positive pitch was in a relation of 60% (Positive) - 140% (negative)

- Servo's weren't centered ninety degrees

- I spent quite considerable time adjusting links, setting servo centres, configuring proper pitch range and levelling the swash.

- Recommended tail sensitivity was far off for me running a higher headspeed at coastal air density (Crash)

- Pinion Gear was loose on the shaft, saw this after crashing on my initial maiden... luckily, otherwise it would have let go in the air and caused another crash...

- When repairing from my maiden crash... the tail components were so lock tight'ed that I could not get the end stop off without using a sidecutter to physically destroy the pitch slider, to get some pliers on the shaft to grip it in place to twist the end stop off. (I think lock tight got onto the shaft.. as the grub screw came out all right, but the stop was practically glued to the shaft...

- The manual states not to fiddle with the factory preset params on the GT5.1 ... This will probably land you in trouble... There is also no clear instructions on how the friggen GT5.1 is even configured...

Go and look for the manual of the GT5.1 .. I can;t understand why Thunder Tiger would not include the actual manual... Even with it very "broad" and vague instructions, its better than the "nothing" that is in the kit manual...

I still love the heli, build quality and design to bits... but heck, this was my first RTF type kit I ever got from Thunder Tiger, and low and behold, my initial reservations were spot on,, they guy assembling and configuring "my" heli, was either hungover, in much of a hurry, or still drunk...

I know its good practice to check everything, but some guys may think that it is indeed fine out of the box, because Thunder Tiger says it is.... don't believe that, go through everything yourself, and make sure all the crucial things are as they should be, especially swash levelling, tail control, etc.

Hopefully this helps someone out in the future...

[nickyd]

Thanks for the heads-up. This is really poor service of TT and I would be writing a snotty mail if this had happened to me.

Regarding the over-loctited tail shaft, I have made this mistake too and struggled. The solution is to apply heat (with say a soldering iron) to the area and this will free up the loctite. Handy to know for next time maybe...

Hope it flys well after all your trouble....

[Fade-Dude]

Thanks for the tip nicky... I thought of using a heatgun, but did not want to melt my tail gearbox! The soldering Iron would have been the way to go!

[Vaeloron]

The experience on my e360 was much the same. I now love the heli but the build quality was so poor that I would have expected better from Hobbyking. My tail case was installed backwards and my tail end points were not set at all. None of my servos were centered and pitch was nowhere near equal on + and - . I am glad I stuck with the heli in the long run because it flies great but I really think TT should sell this as a kit instead of an ARF if they are going to have it assembled by monkeys.

[Fade-Dude]

Originally Posted by Vaeloron

The experience on my e360 was much the same. I now love the heli but the build quality was so poor that I would have expected better from Hobbyking. My tail case was installed backwards and my tail end points were not set at all. None of my servos were centered and pitch was nowhere near equal on + and - . I am glad I stuck with the heli in the long run because it flies great but I really think TT should sell this as a kit instead of an ARF if they are going to have it assembled by monkeys.

Well said sir.

[JWeber]

Out of curiosity, how do you get a different positive and negative pitch? Was it because the servo horns weren't centered or is there setup in the FBL unit that controls that?

[Vaeloron]

Originally Posted by JWeber

Out of curiosity, how do you get a different positive and negative pitch? Was it because the servo horns weren't centered or is there setup in the FBL unit that controls that?

On my e360 it was because my pitch wasn't 0 at mid stick. When I was at midstick I was actually in negative pitch.

[Fade-Dude]

Originally Posted by Vaeloron

On my e360 it was because my pitch wasn't 0 at mid stick. When I was at midstick I was actually in negative pitch.

Ditto for me. Mechanically off.

P.S. My oh my, just really lsot some respect for Thunder Tiger. I did go ahead and sent them an email....

Got a reply back today (although unexpected) ... they keep on making impressions in the wrong direction... I did tell them about my disappointedment, and that I had an initial crash on maiden (and yes, it was because I trusted their setup, but I did not thoroughly check everything myself... its my mistake, I stated that...) But I got this reply... P.S. I did not ask for any replacement, re-imbursement.

Oh well, goes to show what I should expect from them in the future.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Poor Kit Assembly... Very disappointed..
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 13:29:08 +0800
From: Info <info@thundertiger.com>
To: Louis van Tonder <***@***.co.za>


Dear Player,

I've informed your situation to our technique dept.; however, the reply is didecated that the problem is your personal issue from your following description. We need to sepcify the following status：

We have exported this model around the world for a long time, if it's our problem the dealers will give us the urgent request to take the cargo back and examine whole the setting.
Thunder Tiger has regional service contract with local dealers. If the model has the problem, our dealers will take over all the regional service. The replacement will be processed after the dealers doing the examination to check whether it's defect itself or personal inproper play method.

Therefore, I still suggest you should take your model and receipt to the shop you purchased from. Once the model does have the problem, the replacement will be reqested from the dealer.

Thank you

[sludge]

I have 3 Raptor 50 V2's and the quality is great, They are all over 8 years old. I recently got the mini Titan E325S FBL RTF. THE build is poor and nothing on the supposedly pre-set up GT5.1 was set correctly. I complained to Tower (Hobico) and to TT HQ. Tower told me to bring it in and but doubted they could help. I live in South Africa!!!!!!!!!! TT HQ basically told me to go fly a kite.

I'm thinking its time for a brand change.

[JWeber]

It stinks that the you can't buy a kit anymore. It really is a good little heli if it's set up properly. I think that TT is going after Blade with this now by selling it already built. Makes it easier for a novice to get in the air, but if it's not put together properly, the novice will get frustrated quickly. Flying with a tuned machine is hard enough for a new person to learn much less something that doesn't act as it should.

[billy bob]

My E360 had the GT5 stuck on top of the servo wires.
Once I fixed that the tail stopped bobbing up and down.