Flying Information 
Raptor E620/SEBy Fred Annecke
The long awaited electric powered Thunder Tiger Raptor has landed! End of May Thunder Tiger Europe officially presented the Raptor E620/SE during their annual helicopter fun fly, held near Munich/Germany. Ron Sebastian and Markus Fiehn,who participated at the Helicopter 3D Taiwan Cup in April 2006,flew some impressive demos with the new (prototype) model which they have engineered/ designed for the Thunder Tiger Company during spring 2006.
The Raptor E620/SE is mainly based on existing parts coming from the successful Raptor30/50 V.2 series, carrying over main rotor, tail rotor including boom, belt tail drive and canopy. It turns 600-620mm main blades with a 6-10S LiPo battery of 3.5-5Ah capacity. The brushless motor is rear mounted behind the mast on top of the main frame,which gives lots of free space for the batteries downstairs. A Plettenberg Orbit outrunner motor is recommended because of its high torque characteristic. Because the new injection molded 111 tooth spur gear allows ratios from 7:1 up to 13:1, lots of other motor types can be adapted. A 90º eCCPM arrangement moves the swashplate. The reason behind preferring the 90º system over the mostly used 120º or 140º arrangement is minor mechanical interaction between the swashplate driving servos. All three servos are pushpull and will be of standard size, giving brute collective/cyclic swashplate power for extreme 3D maneuvers. The most interesting part of the Raptor E620/SE is its two part chassis. The upper element is made from injection molded plastic parts, which accept tail boom, motor, gear train, servos and radio. The lower part is made from cut carbon fibre sheets that accept and protect the LiPo battery as well as mount the landing gear.
With this design
you have options for adapting the new upcoming cell sizes
and will have plenty of space for various battery configurations.
That should satisfy beginners and experts. The
word is that the estimated launch date of the first Raptor
E620/SE batch shall be August/September. We will have
a closer look at it soon! The rear located, top mounted electric motor is a clever design because this arrangement produces lots of space for a big battery pack downstairs. 
Left side view: the critical ESC is located at the rear end together with the motor. This gives a minimum of RF noise to the front mounted receiver. 
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