Ok, Ok....as great as the Raptor is, it does have some things that you have to change and some things that you may want to change.
Most pictures will enlarge if you click on them

I will start with the things that I don’t think you will find at other sites:

One of the problems that I was having as well as other fellow Raptor Pilots in my club is that the tail rotor belt keeps loosening up. This will happen if you fly in wild temperature fluctuations....ie winter flying(I am not one of those die hard nuts).  Oddly enough the belt will loosen if it is set tight in warm temps and then moved to cold temps, I believe the aluminum tail boom is contracting in the cold since it is highly unlikely that the belt expands when cold. So if you are a nut and fly in the winter, take your heli outside, let it acclimate to the cold, loosen the four tail boom support screws, pull the belt tight and retighten. Fly till your fingers freeze then before you bring your bird inside, loosen the tail boom clamps so when the boom expands in the warmth it wont damage your heli. Back to the original problem. In normal flying conditions the tail boom may shift causing the belt to loosen.  Some folks have said to wrap electrical tape around the boom to help the clamp get a better bite, did it, done it, been there...didn’t work well. The source of the problem is that the tail boom clamps hit each other before they clamp the boom. The solution is to grind away material from both side frames so that when you tighten the clamp bolts that the clamps bottom out on the boom not each other. I also scuffed the boom with a utility knife to give the plastic something to bite into.

Another change I made was to add KSJ paddles.  Not much of a problem right?...Not if you like bright yellow and hot pink....the only colors available for the 30 size heli’s.  Cure, Rit Dye.  I purchased the bright yellow paddles figuring that the dye would cover that color better. If you have never tried to dye nylon, I will quickly tell you how. First it is very easy, you can find Rit Fabric Dye at most Wal-mart, K-mart type stores, use an old sauce pan or equivalent, heat dye on stove top and add paddles.  Stir frequently, the dye will start to boil...reduce heat to keep it just below boiling...bouncing from boiling to not boiling is ok. After about 10 min. they should be nice and black, rinse off with luke warm water. Note...be very careful handling the die...it is permanent!!!

 Change number three....the swash plate. The stock swash plate has way to much play and flex which yields to much slop in the controls. Quick solution....Quick UK swash plate.  This is the nicest replacement for the raptor that I have seen. It has four set screws that allow you to remove any slop between the upper and lower rings, and is constructed so that full range of motion for 3D is still obtainable. I am currently running -10 to +10 degrees with no problems.

On a continuing quest to reduce slop, I have noticed that the plastic mixing base...the gizmo that the mixing arms are bolted to, rocks on the main rotor shaft, this may be due to wear or a bad fit, either way it is the cause of some unwanted slop. Solution...Aluminum mixing base. Curtis Youngblood suggests that this piece be changed every 50 or so flights due to wear....seems pretty fast to change but if you fly as tight has he does I guess you need to stay on top of wear and tear(needless to say I am no Curtis Youngblood).

I chose to replace the tail rotor blades with Century Helicopter tail rotor blades(about the only thing that survived in my Hawk crash). The reason is that the stock blades flex very easily.  It is my opinion(and others as well) that if the blade flexes it is not turning your heli. The Century blades are stiffer, but carbon fiber would be even more stiff(so is the price...thats why I used what I had, plus you can put the Century blades in the dirt and they wont splinter).

The next mod is more of a setup/neatness thingy. I put a charging jack above the fuel tank for easy canopy on charging.  With some scrap plastic(I keep anything that looks interesting for just such a purpose)I fashioned two clips to hold the wires from the GV-1 Governor Sensor and charge jack on the inside of the frame, safely passing by the clutch bell to the receiver. I am kinda a nut about wires and keeping everything neat and tidy. You can also see in the pictures how I have doubled up the fuel line where it make contact with the side frames.

Cooling fan shroud extension...you can make them out of most anything. Some folks make them out of balsa wood, others sheet aluminum. I found that an old fuel tank fit perfectly between the frame sides, so I trimmed it down to fit and bolted it in. It is fuel proof(obviously) and easy to work with.

The second surviving piece of my Century Hawk is the coupler that joins the two halfs of the rudder push rod. I like Century’s better because it is much smaller in diameter than the stock aluminum coupler.  I think it is better looking as well as stronger and due to its smaller size less likely to rub up against the boom.

I have not had any problems with the next mod....but I thought I ought to change it before something happens.  I heard that some Raptor pilots talking about throwing tail rotor blades. The problem is that the grub screw that holds the tail rotor hub on to the shaft doubles as the spindle that the blade grip is attached to. Reports are that the grub screw backs out and the blade goes with it. Cure, the tail rotor hub from the JR Ergo Part number JRP960222, you should never throw a tail blade with this hub. Note that you will need to put a spacer between the ball link and the blade grip(about 1/16”) this is due to the fact that the hub is slightly larger than the stock one. This is the part that nobody is mentioning... You need to replace the screws that hold the ball to the tail rotor blade grip, why you ask, well we just put a spacer of 1/16” between the ball and the grip, backing out the screw the same amount, leaving very little of the stock screw in the blade holder.  You need to replace the stock screw with a longer one.

If you want to reduce slop(and we all do), then you should go through the entire helicopter and do the following to each bearing that rides on a bushing with a screw through it(tail assembly and rotor head have a lot). Remove the screw and bushing from each component, clean with a degreaser and either with epoxy or CA Glue( I used CA) Glue the bushing on to the screw, let dry and reassemble. You will notice that the little bushing rocks considerably on the screw, resulting in the bearing rocking, resulting in the whole part rocking.  This fix on all bearings really tightens up the slop.  Note I am talking about the very small bushing that the bearing rides on....do not....I repeat do not glue full size oil lite bushings on to screws.

Turn landing gear around so the “legs” of the gear sweep back instead of forward.  Reinstall skids so they face forward.  This gets more of the landing gear under the CG of the heli and help keep the tail rotor out of the dirt. Also glue in end caps or they will fall out...notice I no longer have mine.

Shorten screws at both ends of the tail boom support rods...they are to long and will on one side puncture the fuel tank and on the other end rub against the tail boom causing RF interference.

Fuel tank may chafe against side frames, you will see white powder if it is happening. Add tape to frames to stop this.

The next section is dedicated to my set up if you are interested...

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