SPECIFICATIONS
Model: Raptor 90 G4, nitro/flybarless
version
Manufacturer: Thunder Tiger
( thundertiger.com)
Distributor: Great Planes Model
Distributors ( greatplanes.com)
Main Rotor Diameter: 62. 4 in.
Weight: 9. 7 lb.
Power req’d: . 90 nitro heli engine
Radio req’d: 6-channel w/ CCPM
mixing
Price: $999.99
Thunder Tiger
Raptor 90 G4
Unique design features put this 90-size
machine in a class all its own
HIGHLIGHTS
; + Unique servo calibration system
; + Adjustable metal servo arms
; + Carbon fiber components
; + Unlimited flight performance
Experience is a great teacher, especially in our hobby of RC helicopters, and every year we see how experience helps manufacturers to continually
improve their products. A great example is
the Raptor line of helicopters, which has
been around for more years than I care to
remember. Now the Raptor 90 G4 is the
latest in a very long line of “experienced”
helicopters that have established a standard of quality and performance in every
size and performance level. I previously reviewed the Raptor 90 3D and, although it
was a great helicopter in its time, the new
G4 version improves almost every aspect
of its design, quality and performance.
UNIQUE FEATURES
The Raptor 90 G4 was designed by FAI
World Champion Shigetada Taya for inter-
mediate to advanced pilots, and it’s avail-
able in four separate models, using nitro
or electric power and with a flybar or fly-
barless head. A modular design is used for
easy and fast conversion for those who
want to change between flybar and flyba-
rless rotor systems or between nitro and
electric power. For this review, I assembled
the nitro, flybarless version. Each version
has top-of-the-line features that you would
expect in such a high-quality helicopter,
such as an all-metal rotor head, 15mm
hardened and hollow steel main shaft,
2mm carbon main frames, and 135/140-
degree CCPM with a wide +/-15-degree col-
lective pitch range for the most demand-
ing maneuvers. The carbon tail boom, with
carbon supports, houses the shaft-driven
tail rotor for a crisp and positive tail rotor.
The tail rotor itself is of all-metal construc-
tion and uses heavy-duty Delrin helical
gears to turn the 105mm carbon tail-rotor
blades. The all-metal cooling fan is of a
completely new design that’s now hollow
and moves more air for better engine cool-
ing, while using less power. The all-metal
flybarless rotor head is a combination of
quality, beauty and great design. All fly-
barless rotor heads require both a decrease
in the swashplate input (or control will
be much too sensitive) and a follower to
What could be better? Wearing shorts and sitting on the grass with the Raptor 90 G4,
reviewer Paul Tradelius gets ready for initial flight tests on a wintry Florida day.
MAY 2012 81
