Flight tests were not successful. Tried the 2-bladed rotor and just couldn't get it up to speed. There was no wind, to speak of, and wound up with a long ROG which led me off the dirt road into the tumbleweeds! Broke the fuselage in two, just ahead of the tower. Time for major re-design. I'm going to make a new fuselage. I'm eliminating the cruciform section, and going for just a profile. Fuselage will be double ply blue-cor, with tail feathers remaining single ply. Weight gain should be negligible due to the elimination of the cruciform section.

Okay, flight tests with the double ply profile fuselage were a partial success. Had a hard time getting it off the ground and had to use full elevator to keep it barely flying! Mr. Cactus brought the test to an early end. After picking up the parts, I noticed I had put the 2-rotor head on, instead of the 3-rotor (less tilt) and had installed a 1000 mah battery, instead of the 460 mah! Think I'll try to eke out one more test with this airframe before building a new one.

Latecomer to all this good stuff; just finished building a Twirl and am still grinning over how nicely it flies. Next is definitely going to be one of these single rotor jobs...really looking forward to it. Probably the one issue I've run into is that the brass tubing I have for the rotor hubs is a sloppy fit with the 2mm CF spindles. I'll find a better fit eventually. Thinking about using some bearings in the plates but that may be overkill. Found a motor that looks good; 2712-12, low Kv, will take a large prop, keep things quiet out over the street. I mainly wanted to say "Thanks, Gary!", so that's what I'll leave it at. Thanks! (PS...if you're ever up in the ABQ area, bring some planes and let's fly out at the Balloon Fiesta Park...there's actual GRASS out there!)

...and I got my AG-3 built and maidened this morning. Turned out that several changes were needed...reduced the down-thrust, increased the rotor spindle rake, finally went over to a 3s 800 and something worked because it got airborne and flew fine. The elevation here (5K ft) makes 50 W ok for taxiing, maybe not so good for taking off and climbing. The extra 20W from the 3s sure helped! Still, that little motor sure came down hot! Anyway, thanks again Gary.

The indoor RC season is coming in Ohio so I decided to try one of these since it is light weight and I have all the required material. Here is how mine looks so far. I went with a GWS gearbox for the rotor so it spins nicely on some bearings. I need to get some black paint for the engines, I tried a sharpie marker but does not look too nice. Anyhow more photos as I progress.

Don

Started on my landing gear.

All finished and ready or the maiden flight, AUW with a 2S 450 mah lipo is 6.5 ounces.

Awesome!

Now, let's see some flight video.

Gary

I might be able to maiden this evening, winds have been crazy lately. I do have a CG question. For me to get mine to hang with the rotor shaft vertical requires a CG much more forward than 5mm in front of the shaft. I am concerned my CG is way too far forward.

The proper CG will result in the shaft hanging vertical. The nose will be way down; the same angle as the rotor back-tilt. Not like a typical airplane CG with the fuselage level.

The maiden flight was a success! Gave it some throttle and it took right off and climbed out. Once I got a feel for it I flew for about 4 minutes and landed. It seemed a little nose heavy for landing so on the next flight I move the lipo back a little and it was much better in the air. It needs very little aileron to turn and turns mostly with rudder it seems for me. I need to reduce my aileron throw some, the second flight was about 5 minutes. The wind was only a few mph so made landing easy with the further back CG. All the other autogyros I have were much heavier and the rotor speeds were so much higher, I was amazed to see how low the rotor rpm was needed to fly. I am very pleased!

Congratulations, Don, on your first flights !! The lightweight 40" rotor spins up very easily on my model, too. I hope you have lots of fun with your new gyro. I will be building another like it, using elevons instead of rotor tilt. Happy Landings !!! Charlie Anderson

Way to go, Don! So happy for your successful flights, and I know there will be many more. Yippee!

Gary

Two more flights this evening. One 5 minutes the second 6 minutes. I also went from a GWS 8 x 4.3 prop to a GWS 9 x 4.7 and I think it is a perfect match. Why is it the simplest gyro I have ever built is the best flying one

Don

Just added my pilot Snoopy!

Don

Way cool!