Once again, it's been ages since I last sent out a newsletter and once again, things have been pretty busy round here.

Hopefully however I'll go some way to making it up in this issue with two comprehensive build reviews on one of the most prestigious helicopters on the market, the JR Sylphide, and what I predict will be one of the hottest helicopters of the year, the Raptor 90 SE. Hopefully you'll find them a bit interesting!

Since last newsletter I've been to Singapore where I had the pleasure of having dinner with fellow Indonesian Open F3C competitors, Philip Chong and also Walter Lee of Rotor.com.sg fame. Walter took me through one of his shops which was literally crammed full of helicopter bits and pieces as well as boxes being shipped out and stock coming in. If you're in Singapore, drop Walter a line and go and check out his operation. Singapore is a very nice place, quite hot and humid, but very nice and very efficient.

Travelling
As well as the Singapore trip, I recently attended a funfly up in Queensland which was excellent fun. The guys up there are great and very laid back. The Vigor was lucky to make it back from that trip alive after I got carried away doing a blade scuff, touched the blades, stripped the bevel gear and had to recover from a compulsory piro flip. Luckily I got it down ok and a fellow flier kindly lent me a new bevel gear so I could continue flying. Looking forward to visiting there again early next month for the New South Wales F3C champs.

My next trip is to Amsterdam on September 8th, then onto London on September 12th before heading back to Melbourne on the 17th. If anyone is keen to meet up during that time, drop me an email.

At this stage, it also looks like I will be going to Hong Kong to compete in the Hong Kong F3C Nationals on August 21st and 22nd. We'll see if we can get organised by then...

3D Masters
As everyone probably knows by now, the world leading 3D event has completed for another year in Britain. Curtis looks to be on fire once again by taking out 3D Masters, the US F3C Nationals and the Xtreme Flight Championships. I for one, am keenly awaiting the release of the new Vigor that he and many of the other JR Team pilots have been flying. Maybe this is the machine to stem the tide of the Fury's?

Upcoming Reviews
I've been very busy building lately. Firstly a Sylphide powered by a YS91, the assembly of which is covered in this newsletter, then on Friday a Raptor 90 SE turned up and I finished that on Sunday and we managed to conduct it's first hover on the back lawn. I'm very impressed with this machine and the review of that is also included in this newsletter.

Also, some nice upgrade parts from renowned British JR pilot, Mark Christy's new business have turned up for me to review. These are parts that we've mostly seen on pictures of the new Vigor.

Some V-Blades are also on the way to review which I'm looking forward to. Both of these product lines will be reviewed in the next newsletter.

Upcoming reviews are:
· YS 91
· Raptor 90 SE
· Rotarsoft Products
o Vigor CS upgraded head.
o Vigor CS engine mount for 8:1 gear ratio.
o Vigor CS pinion and mainshaft bearing block for 8:1 gear ratio.
o Vigor CS bevel gear hub and support.
o Vigor CS carbon tube tail pushrod kit.
o DataXchange software.
· V-Blades mainblades, tailblades and paddles.

Pilot Locator
The Pilot Locator has continued to grow in popularity since the last newsletter with it still rating second most popular section of littlerotors.com. Make sure your details are up-to-date! The pilot locator can be found at www.littlerotors.com/findapilot/

Market
The Buy/Sell Market has been growing also. It should be noted that this section will accept postings from all over the world, not just New Zealand. List your items free of charge! See the market at www.littlerotors.com/market/

Articles this issue are:

Building the Raptor 90 SE
Thunder Tiger's latest offering has just hit the market and I was fortunate enough to build one. Having had no practical experience with a Raptor, I've been pleasantly surprised! The SE has got me wondering, why pay big bucks for the high dollar machines? Click here

Building the JR Sylphide 90
I've been flying the Sylphide for a while now, however lately the opportunity came up for me to build another one, this is the build article on JR's premier F3C machine. Click here

Feel free to contact me at simon@littlerotors.com at any time.

Si