THUNDER TIGER E325 Mini Titan ARF Assembly Instructions Manual

RCU Review: Thunder Tiger Mini Titan E325

More On This Product

Show user ratings
Check for Retailers

Contributed by:

Andrew Griffith

| Published: November 2007 | Views: 141566 |

Email this Article

|

PDF

Review by: Andrew Griffith

Specifications

Assembly

Flight Report

Summary

Manufacturer & Distributor

Info

Thunder Tiger has had the nitro powered helicopter market well
covered for some time now. They have offerings in the 30, 50,
and 90 size categories but until recently Thunder Tiger has been
absent from the electric helicopter market.

Thunder Tiger fans rest easy, they have introduced three
helicopters to cover nearly every practical size range from the

Thunder Tiger

E325 Mini Titan ARF

Sold in the US by:

AMainHobby.com

349 Huss Drive

Chico, CA 95928

Phone:[phone]

Website:

www.amainhobbies.com

Thunder Tiger Mini Titan

CLICK HERE to Watch

Quality

Performance

Ease of Assembly

Aerobatic ability

Looks

Price

Manual

50 size E620, the smaller and more affordable 30 size E550,
and the 450 size E325 Mini Titan.

This review will cover the E325 Mini Titan ARF available with a
speed controller and motor from AMainHobbies for a very
affordable price. All that's required is some basic assembly,
radio installation, and final setup. These steps can easily be
completed in just a few hours if you have everything you need
on hand when you start.

When you are done you will have a good looking park flyer sized
helicopter that fly's very well and is a great value for the money.

Kit Name: Thunder Tiger E325 Mini Titan
Price: $199.99
Main Rotor Span: 728mm (28.6")
Flying Weight as tested: 1lb 10oz
Blades: 325mm Thunder Tiger Wood Blades (included)
Motor Used: Ace 3500kva (included)
Gyro used: Futaba GY-401 w/ 9650 digital tail servo
Radio equipment: Futaba 9CSuper, 148DP receiver, Hitec HS56HB

Servos, Flight Power Lithium Polymer 2170 and 2500 3S batteries.

3 Swashplate Servos
Gyro and Tailrotor Servo

11.1V 3S LiPo Battery (2100 to 2500mah)
Small Phillips screwdriver
Doubled sided tape or sticky back velcro
Small ball link tool
Thin CA glue

Very stable!

Most of work complete

Great flight performance

Instruction Manual

Blades were warped

Hardware bags not labeled

Fresh from the brown truck Contents Instruction manal

The Thunder Tiger Mini Titan arrived from AMainHobbies well packaged and free of any shipping
trauma. First I unpacked the instruction manual and sat down to read it cover to cover. The
instructions included with the ARF are the same manual included with the full kit. I was disappointed
to see that the steps required to assemble (build really isn't an appropriate description) the ARF were
not broken out from the main assembly manual.

I realize that this is a reality of mass production but I think the ARF would benefit from an addendum
outlining the required assembly steps. This would save going page by page through the instruction
manual trying to figure out what needs to be done vice what is already done from the factory.

On the other hand, the detailed instruction manual will be invaluable when the inevitable repairs are
needed and I'm glad to see it included.

The main frame comes with the attached rotor head and is fully assembled. The tail boom is
separated during shipping but the tail drive system including the belt is fully assembled. I found the
tail drive system a bit intriguing. The drive system is attached to the boom; you can tension and
lubricate the belt then install the complete assembly into the helicopter. When bolted to the rear of
the main frame the gear lash between the main and tail drive gear is automatically set. I think this
will make adjustments and changing the tail boom a simple affair.

The Mini Titan includes a small list of helpful extras. The kit comes with two small bottles of thread
locker, a foam blade holder, a small assortment of Allen wrenches, and even four neon green skid
stops. The skids and struts come as a single piece. The skids themselves are hollow channels that can
be easily repaired by gluing a small diameter dowel or piece of carbon fiber in the channel.

Decals sheet and parts bags Value added items Pre-soldered motor and esc

I found that the motor and speed controller wires come pre-soldered. In my case the speed controller
wires on the battery side will have to be de-soldered and setup with Deans connectors for my
installation, otherwise a battery connector is provided. I would prefer to see a Deans or Astro
connector for the battery since that is what most people are running these days but if you're just
starting your electric collection, the provided connector will work fine. I also noticed later that the
ESC line to the receiver already had a ferrite ring installed which I thought was a nice touch.

I am very familiar with the various offerings from Thunder Tiger and an examination of the main rotor
had a few differences jump out at me immediately. The first thing I noticed is that the Mini Titan uses
an under slung fly bar. Another difference that I found was the delta arms are on the leading edge of
the blade grips. This means that the swash plate will move down for positive pitch and up for
negative pitch unlike some other designs. Both of the larger electrics offered by Thunder Tiger use
the same rotor head design as the popular 30 and 50 nitro powered Raptor series helicopters.

Yet another difference showed up during setup when I put a pitch gauge on the main blades. Gone
was the 1:1 flybar mixing ratio of the fuel powered Raptor series. If you teeter the flybar while taking
a pitch reading the pitch reading changes on the Mini Titan, on the Raptor 30/50 it will stay the same.
One of the ways to tune the performance of a rotor head is to use different flybar mixing ratios. Why
is this important' Because if a helicopter has something other than a 1:1 mixing ratio then you need
to level the flybar to get accurate pitch readings. I use a small string level from Home Depot and
hang it on the flybar. Some pitch gauges include a flybar lock but most of the ones small enough to
use on the Mini Titan don't have this feature so you will either have to either eye ball it or use a small
bubble level like I did.

Of similar design to the larger models are the adjustable mixing levers. The review flight was done
with the balls installed on the outer holes of the mixing arms but the helicopter fly's well either way
though cyclic response is clearly limited on the inner holes. If this is your first helicopter leave them
where they are, it's more stable and less sensitive. If stick thrashing aerobatics are what you crave
go ahead and move them to the outer holes now.

Ready to get started First step complete Pre-assembled tail case

After reading through the manual and flipping through the pages, I thought that it isn't until page 24
you actually have to do anything. This step consists only of taking the pre-built tail boom assembly
and tensioning the bolts and thread locking the screws. The manual also says to put a drop of thin
CA on the top of the boom.

This is where I encountered my first problem with the manual. On page 5 it says the parts are
packaged in bags according to assembly steps. 'Open only the bag that is needed for the current
assembly step.' First, the bags aren't labeled. Page 26 calls for bag J. But only the screws are in that
bag, the nuts are in a separate and also unlabeled bag. At the end of this step there are 4 washers,
two screws, 3 balls and 2 ball link ends floating loose.

Make sure you get the orientation of the motor mount and motor correct. Even when everything was
assembled according to the manual, I found that the head of the motor mount to frame bolt was
interfering with the wires from the motor. I took everything apart and could find no other combination
of holes in the mount and the motor that lined up correctly so I was stuck with it the way it was.
Electric helicopters don't suffer from the vibration associated with their larger, nitro powered brothers
so chaffing the wire may not be an issue but I'll be keeping a close eye on it. ( This made me nervous

so I ended up slipping a piece of heavy duty heat shrink tubing as an additional layer of protection)

On the other side of the coin, this motor mount makes motor removal for tinkering with different
pinions a snap. Other than the possible wire interference issue I really like this design. The motor
mount bolts are easily accessible and the nyloc nuts sit snuggly in the frame so you don't need
anything but one Allen wrench to remove the motor and mount.

The instructions indicate that a 3s pack (three cells in series) uses the 13 tooth pinion. A 15 tooth