Just arrived mine!
LOL, I love balsa planes, and I love gyrocopter

Unfortunately, my model came without any instructions, so I hope it isn't too trick to build properly the rotor head and linkage.

I like it really much, it's so... so... RAW

The pieces in my lab

All done but the power system: assembling this thing is as much fun as a beating in a dark alley by an ugly woman.

Just got mine too. Finally.

Here is a pic of the head as received.

Looks upside down? (compared to Pics from #74)

Weighed all the bits

This is what mine came to:

Fuselage 162g
Head / Mast 81g
Landing Gear +m wheels 56g
Horizontal/ rudder/ struts 48g
Trim: Engine / Fairing 30g
Blades 53g
Engine mount/misc wood bits /Control parts/Hardware pack 46g

Total 476g

This is with items removed from plastic bags.

Quoted Flying weight in specs at Hobbyking is 600g, wildly optimistic.

Flipped the head screws over.

Originally Posted by deadduck

Quoted Flying weight in specs at Hobbyking is 600g, wildly optimistic.

Flipped the head screws over.

Never seen a manufacturer weight declaration less than wildly optimistic... or merely rubbish

Originally Posted by deadduck

Weighed all the bits

This is what mine came to:

Fuselage 162g
Head / Mast 81g
Landing Gear +m wheels 56g
Horizontal/ rudder/ struts 48g
Trim: Engine / Fairing 30g
Blades 53g
Engine mount/misc wood bits /Control parts/Hardware pack 46g

Total 476g

This is with items removed from plastic bags.

Quoted Flying weight in specs at Hobbyking is 600g, wildly optimistic.

Flipped the head screws over.

Hi, Duck,

The instructions you provided, by link, were adequate, but tough for a layman at times.

If anyone has any questions, fell free to ask me, the least sophisticated builder!

Everything is complete with the exception of a motor, and once I've added that, I'll post a gross weight!

I used HXT 900's throughout.

I'm pretty scared of the maiden, and have read that elevator changes should be avoided whenever possible in favor of thrust.

Anyone have an opinion on "rudder-elevator" mixing as that's my setup for now?

Expo?

"Best" motor wattage?

Thanks

Hello,

I personally would not mix the rudder and elevator. Throttle is your primary UP/Down, while elevator is going to control speed. While some back elevator may be required in turns, it varies with the angle of bank,winds,airspeed ect. To set a mix that covers everything would be limiting I think. Some guys mix, and love it, I don't care for it. I prefer to keep the control inputs limited to what I intended. Rudder will turn you just fine to begin with, apply oppsite roll to keep he turns more level until you are comfortable with the flight envelope. Gyros can get exciting in steep turns.

Have no fear of the maiden. Take your time, don't over control, keep it close. Most of my gyros will recover and land hands off by simply reducing the throttle and leaving everything else alone.

Good luck with the maiden!

-Mike

I'll take your advice-aren't you near BR?

How do I tell if the head is "neutral" in all axes before the first flight?

Many thanks

I was just sharing my opinion, and wht has worked fo me, but there are many ways to skin a cat. I live west of BR by a couple hours. I' currently stuck in Florida supporting the swamp phase for the Army Rangers.

You arent looking for everything to be nuetral, you should have a bit of aft, and left tilt. Also make sure that full forward stick doesn't go more than a degree or two beyond level. The first flight is always a bit exciting becauseyou will have your hands full flying and trimming. When Possible I always do small hops and adjustments. Since you are hand launching you don't have that option. I would get help for the launch, and make sure the launch helper understands how to release the model. With practice, when you get over the feeling that it won't fly when you let it go, you'll toss it into the air without regard.

Good luck man, don't forget to get video!

Thanks for the tips-I'll be in BR for Christmas-father in law.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Angel,

here's some advice for hand launching a Minimum pusher, but it's valid for other gyros too:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...0&postcount=12

Jochen

Originally Posted by angelfood

Hi, Duck,

The instructions you provided, by link, were adequate, but tough for a layman at times.

If anyone has any questions, fell free to ask me, the least sophisticated builder!

Everything is complete with the exception of a motor, and once I've added that, I'll post a gross weight!

I used HXT 900's throughout.

I'm pretty scared of the maiden, and have read that elevator changes should be avoided whenever possible in favor of thrust.

Anyone have an opinion on "rudder-elevator" mixing as that's my setup for now?

Expo?

"Best" motor wattage?

Thanks

I won't use elevtor, because for my previous scratchbuildt gyro (see pic) simply add thrust was the most effective way to climb, when rotor-up was great for decelerate and land; I'm not a gyrocopter expert, but I guess elevator is useful to change pich, and pitch is great for an airplane, but I'm unsure it's as good for gyrocopter.

Originally Posted by angelfood

I'm finding that when installing the horizontal stabilizer (1) there is a small block inside the fuse, at the leading edge, which results in a slight gap at the fuse and leading edge, when, (2) the "slot" is used to locate the trailing edge.

Is this right?

Why is that block inside the fuse?

angelfood, you probably know this already, but it might help someone just starting their build.

The horizontal stab has a notch at the leading edge, which is covered over.

It indexes to the little block.

Very tight fitting, I almost feel that it does not need glue. Will just put a little on edges once it's centered.

I decided to use metal geared servos as advised.

I found that the through bolt head and nut fouled on the servo case with the TP MG90s servos that I want to use. Causing them to skew over.

I relocated the hole a little further away.

Servo now sits flat on servo holder.

I noticed that the holes burnt for the servo mounting screws were 2mm diameter so the normal servo mounting screws won't work. Used some of the supplied 2mm bolts.

Using a TP 9g (=HXT900) servo for the rudder / tailwheel.

Originally Posted by deadduck

angelfood, you probably know this already, but it might help someone just starting their build.

The horizontal stab has a notch at the leading edge, which is covered over.

It indexes to the little block.

Very tight fitting, I almost feel that it does not need glue. Will just put a little on edges once it's centered.

Duck, the following is from the instructions you provided by link, and though I would have done as you did, I followed these (I doubt it matters):

Horizontal Stabilizer:
There is a pre-existing notch in the trailing edge under the covering. Locate it, expose it and align it with the notch in the rear of the fuselage. I test fitted it and traced along the fuselage onto the stab with an x-acto and then removed the covering in that area for gluing.