Sean Kinkade
Nov 16, 2004, 10:10 PM
(I remain against the forum merger but I've rested my case.)
The best flying RC autogyro I ever saw in person was actually a fairly crude scratch built or modified machine at an airshow in Belgium. It was gas ( glow) powered with a stock looking fuselage looking something like an old Goldberg Eaglet trainer plane, or maybe it was a Gentle Lady fuselage with an engine mounted. If I recall, the engine looked like a .25 size and it was mounted conventionally in the tractor configuration. It had a normal plane tail section. Nothing fancy.
It had a tall pylon mounted where the wings normally went but it was totally wingless. On the pylon was an axle where it had two free-wheeling contra-rotating sets of blades one atop the other on the same axis. The blades simply had left and right hand pitch to make them contra-rotate.
There was a gap of a few inches between them.
I don't even recall it having a pitch plate at all to control the rotorhead.
If I remember correctly the rotorhead was actually fixed! I remember marveling at the simplicity of it although this was in 1990 so I may be forgetting some things.
But it flew great and was really a sight to see overhead because of the eggbeater look to the contra-rotating blades. The rules in Chievres Belgium were unbelievably lax as multitudes of RC planes paraded through the sky towards dusk and directly over spectators. They even let the club president fly an enormous scratchbuilt plane with a 15 foot wingspan LOW over a large group of spectators. Something you would never see in the USA.
But the autogyro was actually funny in a way and we all laughed every time it flew over because it flew so well yet looked like it wouldn't have.
Sean
The best flying RC autogyro I ever saw in person was actually a fairly crude scratch built or modified machine at an airshow in Belgium. It was gas ( glow) powered with a stock looking fuselage looking something like an old Goldberg Eaglet trainer plane, or maybe it was a Gentle Lady fuselage with an engine mounted. If I recall, the engine looked like a .25 size and it was mounted conventionally in the tractor configuration. It had a normal plane tail section. Nothing fancy.
It had a tall pylon mounted where the wings normally went but it was totally wingless. On the pylon was an axle where it had two free-wheeling contra-rotating sets of blades one atop the other on the same axis. The blades simply had left and right hand pitch to make them contra-rotate.
There was a gap of a few inches between them.
I don't even recall it having a pitch plate at all to control the rotorhead.
If I remember correctly the rotorhead was actually fixed! I remember marveling at the simplicity of it although this was in 1990 so I may be forgetting some things.
But it flew great and was really a sight to see overhead because of the eggbeater look to the contra-rotating blades. The rules in Chievres Belgium were unbelievably lax as multitudes of RC planes paraded through the sky towards dusk and directly over spectators. They even let the club president fly an enormous scratchbuilt plane with a 15 foot wingspan LOW over a large group of spectators. Something you would never see in the USA.
But the autogyro was actually funny in a way and we all laughed every time it flew over because it flew so well yet looked like it wouldn't have.
Sean