pariah
Senior Heliman
Location: West Valley City, UT - United States of America
My Posts This: Topic Forum | Having both, I'll add my $0.02: (Although I haven't flown my Evo yet)
One of the most obvious: People know how to pronounce "Raptor". However, there is quite a bit of dissent on "Sceadu". There's "Skid-doo", "Shaedoo", "Shahdoo", and a few others. People know what a Raptor is: A bird of prey (the dinosaur connotation comes from bird of prey...). however, Sceadu? Still dissent. There's the Norse goddess (which fits, since the Hirobo's other heli, Freya, is also a Norse goddess). Then there's the Old English -- Sceadu=Shadow.
So the first major downside for the Sceadu is its name.
Next, a point of personal bias: For the most part, I don't like using self-tapping screws in the place of nuts and bolts. Several reasons for this, although the one most will agree on is that it's MUCH harder to strip nuts & bolts than it is to strip self-tappers by over-tightening.
The Raptor uses self-tapping screws to hold most of the main frame together, as well as a large number of control levers & bellcranks. The boom supports, horizontal fin/tail support all use self-tapping screws. The skids are held to the frame with self-tappers.
While the Evo isn't without a few self-tappers (some in places I didn't expect them) self-tapping screws are the exception to the rule on the Evo, where Raptors use them everywhere.
(Main frame) bearing replacement is less ... pleasurable on a Raptor than on an Evo.
The stock washout on both leaves something to be desired -- replaced both of 'em with alloy ones. The Evo seemed to be about as sloppy as the Raptor's; and the Raptor seemed like it was getting beat around by wind on a calm day until I replaced its stock washout.
The stock landing struts on the Raptor aren't as elastic as I'd like; they shatter rather than flex, unless the weather is pretty warm (above 80 °F in my experience).
The Evo's landing struts are more elastic than the Raptors; they are also a lot softer/weaker. The set screws that hold the skids in place strip out quite easily -- well before enough torque was applied to hold the skids in place.
Both machines recieved non-stock struts as a result.
The Raptor's parts didn't seem to fit as nicely as the Evo's, with some requiring some work to get them to work properly (Raptor's DTDS gear fit so tightly with the main rotor gear that sanding was required for them to fit and work properly). A minor gripe, but the Evo did have tighter tolerances in all of its parts -- everthing just plain fit perfectly on the Evo; even the ball links fit perfectly. The Raptor did not have tolerances as tight- so many parts were either a tad loose or too tight.
The stock Evo paddles are nicer than the Raptors, allowing for adding or removing of weight in the paddles, which results in different flight characteristics. The Raptor paddles are not 'configurable' like the Evo's.
Evo doesn't have notches/flat spots in the flybar (raptor does). It's less of a problem when constructing it than when repairing it. The notch gives the metal a place to go when a set screw digs into it; since the evo doesn't have this, small metal burrs are pushed up from the flybar (and into the hardware that is holding the flybar)-- making it a serious PITA to remove. A few minutes with a set of calipers and a file can fix this deficiency; but it shouldn't be necessary at all.
The Evo doesn't come with a header tank. Some will think this a plus, others a minus.
Evo also doesn't come with a carbon base plate (Rappy 50 does). Some think this pointless, but the whole idea is to distribute a shock from the landing struts evenly to all four mounting points-- which helps keep your frames intact in the event of a rough landing, rather than having lots of force hit one mount point (breaking the frame).
The Rappy 50 comes with Two sets of blades (one each of wood and carbon). Evo doesn't have any.
Again, this is a matter of preference-- some want to choose the blades they bolt on. But a beginner doesn't usually have a preference, so Thunder Tiger blades are as good as any.
I don't like the way the Raptor's fuel tank mounts to the frames -- it has four 'buttons' that are molded in that protrude from the tank; these buttons fit into depressions in the main frames. Main problem: I've crashed my Raptor enough to throw the tank a few times. In the process, these 'buttons' are scraped against the (sharp) edges in the frame's accompanying holes. End result: Punctured fuel tank due to one or more of these 'buttons' being partially sheared off. Another problem is there isn't any vibration protection for the tank (fuel foaming, although this hasn't been a problem for me). It's also much harder to get the tank in and out of the model at all (replace clunk line, etc.) Even then, I worry that I'm going to shear off one of the 'buttons' accidentally.
Evo uses four indentations in the tank- then a set of rubber 'buttons' are mounted to the frame. These buttons fit into the tank's indentations. It provides both secure mounting and vibration protection for the tank. It also shouldn't destroy the tank in a rough landing; in fact, the tank can be removed (with some doing) without unscrewing the frame, and without damaging the tank.
So I dislike the way the Raptor's tank mounts to the frame; the Evo's is much better.
I like the tail rotor control wire guides on the Evo MUCH better than the Raptor's. The Evo's are more flexible, use a screw to secure it to the tail boom, and are all around better. The raptor's are simple slip-on devices that are quite brittle- they have to be glued to the boom to secure them. The guides also aren't as easy to align on the Raptor, while simultaneously requiring better alignment than the Evo's -- so the Raptor gets a lose-lose there.
The Raptor's 'fan shroud' is more complete than the Evo's; it covers most of the Engine's head; although without a shroud extension, most of the then-heated air gets circulated inside the canopy.
The Evo's fan shroud doesn't cover the engine's head at all; on the other hand, the Evo's canopy doesn't contain the air used to cool the engine inside of it.
Making a 'complete' fan shroud is easier on the Evo, but not impossible on either.
In a similar vein, the Raptor's canopy mount requires either a remote glow extension, or pulling the canopy off to start the engine. (and putting it back on after it's started)
Evo lets you put a glow driver on without removing the canopy, and without a glow extension.
The Evo doesn't have a one-way bearing on the start shaft; not really a minus so much as a gotcha for those of us who bought a start shaft without a one-way bearing in it.
The Raptor's canopy mount isn't as secure as the Evo's, and the canopy itself isn't as nice or easy to cut out and finish. (I've 'prepared' four Raptor canopies; the Evo wins hands down here.)
I like the way the engine is bolted to the Evo much better than the Raptor's, although actually describing the difference isn't something I want to do; however actually mounting the engine is a real chore on the Evo -- supposedly you're supposed to be able to remove the needle, turn the carb and slide it in, then sort everything back out. I had to remove the entire carb, move the engine partway into the helicopter, put the carb back on, then slide the engine in the rest of the way.
While the Raptor's mounting isn't as nice as the Evo's, it certainly let me avoid this little headache.
On a Raptor, removing the engine really means removing the engine, the flywheel/fan/clutch
On the Sceadu, it means removing the engine, the flywheel/fan/clutch, the clutch bell, start shaft, and start shaft hex adapter.
Lesse... The Raptor required me to get (and use) a set of snap-ring pliers, the Evo didn't (whether it's a plus or minus is left to the reader).
And, although some may disagree, I didn't really find the Evo's instructions much more enlightening than the Raptor's. They were better; just not that much better.
(Added after the original post): Muffler -- The Raptor comes with its own muffler, so it fits with the canopy without any modifications. It does the job fine, but I can't really comment on if there's anything better since I haven't flown anything but that muffler yet.
The Evo doesn't come with a muffler -- again, giving a similar story to the rotor blades. You have to get your own, meaning you aren't stuck with a muffler you don't want (if you are experienced and actually have a preference). The Raptor muffler is adequate, and makes things easier for a beginner, as there is one less thing to select.
And, just a note from personal experience -- don't even waste your money on the Maverikk looks-like TT muffler. The muffler's intake port hass probably only 1/2 the cross-sectional area of the OS 50's exhasut port. (Still bolts on fine, just less room for the exhasut gas to go anywhere.) Since the TT muffler costed about the same as a Muscle Pipe II, I went with the MPII -- And found that I then needed to do a bit of canopy surgery (minor stuff though).
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Helicopters & Women: The last thing I want is one whose head has a few loose screws. |
). If you ask me the noise is terrible! (On the other hand I still consider a fellow Evo flier my friend although he has not exchanged his original - really noisy - plastic gears... 
