Discussion A Fairey Rotodyne Story!

[britinoz]

Well Rich ,You have quite a project on you hands.I have been playing with plans my self for about a year.My idear was for a fixed rotor and ailerons Simply I thought with all that wing the ailerons should be OK . If I remember the Jim Morely one did not get past a hover. Now I am showing my age when I tell you that I saw the ''Rotodyne'' actually fly at the'' Festival of Briton'' site on the bank's of the River Thames in London about 1952.
Chris..........

[MarioIArguello]

Originally Posted by SafeLandings

Mario,
I admire the flight simulators and look forward to the Rotordyne but...do these autogyro simulators really fly like a model?
When I fly my autogyros I am playing all four sticks most of the time when turning depending on which direction the wind is blowing etc..sometimes opposite roll to what you may think.
Do you have to add all these parameters as you are building a 3 dimensional virtual autogyro?

When you build the rotordyne digitally how will you know how such an autogyro will react? taking into consideration CG the stub wing etc or just you just take an educated guess?

I do find them fascinating but I would much rather prefer to be out in the fersh air crashing!!


I have been looking around my shed and in the corner covered in balsa dust is my old DAG-R1..to save me building something new perhaps I could add an aileroned wing to this for some testing. I know it has a single engine and looks nothing like a Rotordyne. If I were to make a removable wing so that I can find out the differences between with or without a stub wing it may give me some ideas..what do you think chaps?



Regards Rich

Rich,
In RF SIM you have the ability to take RC helicopter models and make them autorotate. This very same feature can be implemeted in a model autogyro, which is exactly what I had to do to some of the models in my videos to make them fly like autogyros and not like planes or helicopters.

One can also program the SIM transmitter, servo direction, speed, gyro sensitivity, gain, governor, motor specs, blade shape and dynamics, add thrusters, control surfaces etc., you name it , it is in the SIM, even conditional functions that follow other functions, so it can get quite complex and the simulation quite real, just depends how one designs a model in 3D virtual program and how one programs the aerodyanmic parameters, electronics in the sim.

There is even a way to edit a model's files if you are a bit of a program tinkerer, without going through the sim but using an text editor if you know how that works. I will not go into it becasue it can get a bit complex to explain.

The SIMS of today are so advanced that you almost need some training to fully understand some of the editing features, especially when it comes to setting the transmitter functions, they can be quite complex as some of the more advanced TX programing can be for a new pilot.

But yes, a hard copy of a model is the ultimate way to test in the real world, but a SIM does give you a lot of feedback and allows one to try things you wouldn't normally on a real RC scale model, without the risk of crashing it and having to rebuild it from scratch or repair it.

You almost have to play with all the editing features of RF SIM, to grasp the power this sim allows the user. Some people use it as a game and very few, I think are getting the most of it.

Not trying to convince anyone to go buy a sim just for the sake of testing one model, but if you have RF, play with it.. I mean really play with all the editing features.

[SafeLandings]

Mario,
One good thing with a sim would be that it would aid with orientation I would think


Rich

[crossgrain]

Hi Rich, and thank you very much for the help, and for the DAG plan.

I think I may have been amazed and read all about it after seeing the Rotordyne demonstrated at Farnborough but now I know absolutely nothing about it. I am only guessing that it was intended for short take off and landing and for manoeuvrability at low speed, when it relied upon the rotor. I assume that the wing only started to contribute much lift during a transitional phase, involving adjustment of both elements to balance everything on the way to cruising speed.

Originally Posted by SafeLandings

...I think a simple test bed should be built first off to prove that it can fly?...

Going with that, perhaps you will start with an 'plain'! twin engined autogyro Rotodyne configuration, but leaving out the panels of wing and with the motors being carried on a fibreglass tube slung across the fuselage instead.

I guess your usual process will then take over - once you have the twin engine autogyro flying , you will grow embryo wings in stages from small foam or balsa plates to fill the gaps. You will keep at it and succeed in co-ordinating progressive adjustments of the plates around the rod carrying the motors with adjustments to the angle of the rotor, to discover what will work as speed increases.

Of course you would need to make sure you takes pictures, video everything, and explain the results at every stage as well, exactly as one would now expect

I just bought some 'telescopic fishing poles' on e-bay which would probably provide material for the engine pole if you would like me to measure the various sections!

Chris

[crossgrain]

Originally Posted by britinoz

Well Rich ,You have quite a project on you hands.I have been playing with plans my self for about a year.My idear was for a fixed rotor and ailerons Simply I thought with all that wing the ailerons should be OK . If I remember the Jim Morely one did not get past a hover. Now I am showing my age when I tell you that I saw the ''Rotodyne'' actually fly at the'' Festival of Briton'' site on the bank's of the River Thames in London about 1952.
Chris..........

Hi Chris
That is amazing that they could get it into the Festival site with the Skylon in the way, and there could not have been much room

Chris

[SafeLandings]

Chris,
Nice idea..just not sure which way to go at the moment. I have the wood to construct a simple fuselage from balsa and have started to roughly cut the ABS moulds. You can see when compaired to the RPG the size this will be.
Luckily for me I will hopefully have another BP motor to match the one that I used on the RPG prototype, probably way too powerful but better to have too much than not enough!
I just need to complete a couple of projects, then I will make a start on the rotodyne

Regards Rich

[crossgrain]

Rich, great to have the mouldings and looks a good size for rotors already in the flesh

Nice to know that you are not just hangin around...and but would you like me to send a telescopic fishing pole. Might at least provide a lightweight component for steadying the massive engines

Regards
Chris

[imsofaman]

Hey Rich....i will get the motor in the post today mate.

[imsofaman]

If it does not work out as a gyro.....you could make a TRAIN diesel engine out of it!!!!

[crossgrain]

Originally Posted by imsofaman

If it does not work out as a gyro.....you could make a TRAIN diesel engine out of it!!!!

Respects and LOL!!

Regards
Chris

[SafeLandings]

Cheers Dave

Zoe says it looks like a boat

Chris,
The wings need to be very strong and as light as possible, not only are the motor nacelles mounted to them but those long UC legs are too. Perhaps the telescopic fishing rod may come in handy?
However the prototype rotodyne had a fixed UC which would be perfect for a model...lots of things to think about

Regards Rich

[imsofaman]

Richie.....Got the motor and ESC all packed up nice and secure. I am holding on to the Thunder Tigre 52 as i have a new project for it in the near future. I just want to get her running correctly.

OK...jut wanted to give you "heads up".

Dave

[Gyrocopter]

Thats a nice looking U-Boat you've started on Rich,

Chas

[imsofaman]

Chas......open your eyes man! It's a bread box!

[Gyrocopter]

Originally Posted by imsofaman

Chas......open your eyes man! It's a bread box!

Dave,

looks to me like a project thats been started by a guy who's away with the faries

Chas