Yea sheeted the sides in 3/32 balsa but kept the 1/4 inch base and covered the plastic at rear in 1/32 to keep the weight down and look like a balsa build where covering will stick. Fuselage as yours weighed in at 80 gramme. tailplane and elevator in 3/32 with 3d printed mounts onto carbon tube. I can make the files available to anyone interested. great design always looking for something different to fly. The head coupling is 3d printed to suit the carbon shaft and uses heli ball joints as push rod connectors Many thanks for the plan, still waiting on electrics from china. The negative shim on the rotors seem so small. Guess you know so stick to plan.
Irish greetings
John.

combined pdf's

Spyro III also flies in Argentina. I did it several years ago, I just wanted to thank your plans. very cute model.
Greetings

Nice job, must get one back in the air again

Is there a sheet 8 or was it deleted .

I think it was a numbering issue on my part if memory serves me correctly.

Rich,
A few years after all this was posted, and I’m just now finding it and building my first auto-gyro. Have built about 15 RC planes (a dozen or so from scratch).
My first question (and hopefully my last,… not!). You have 20mm holes in DB-2 doublers. I can’t find any reference to them,… is it just a weight control thing, or am I missing something. Don’t want to regret not putting them in after gluing.
Thanks!

Chris,

They are just lightening holes.

Look forward to seeing yours when complete.

Rich

My first auto-gyro and my first balsa build. Coming along nicely but still some work to do. Hoping a few minor changes don’t bite me in the arse! Didn’t have the right thickness fiberglass, so made my own. AUW is 613 grams with an 1800mah 3S lipo. Fun build!
Thanks for a great instructional thread!

G.Day Chris...one word of warning about laying up you own glass plate is that it should be around 1 mm thick as it has to flex. I know about this as I also lay up my own glass board and over the years have made plates that were to thick and would not flex. .Good luck with the build.
Happy Landings
Chris...

Hi All,
My other autogyros (Atom, Panther, Scout and Roto-Duo) are all tractor types.
I recently decided that I needed to add a pusher autogyro to my collection, and settled on the Spyro III, before maybe building a Revolver.
My version of the Spyro III is ready for its maiden tomorrow hopefully. The reason I say 'my version' is that I've deviated from Richard's original design in a few respects - As I couldn't locate any depron sheet for the tail end, I've used 5mm foamboard for these parts. Also I've been playing with my 3D printer in respect of the mast, tail support, engine mount plate etc. I've made a longer set of blades more the size of those for the Atom, so I'm hoping these changes do not prove to be errors!!

All the best
Dave

That looks like a nice version .... Good luck and Happy Landings.
Chris...

Thanks Chris.

Well first attempt wasn't too successful. Had a hand launch from a clubmate, and was a bit of a handful to be honest! Seemed to keep rolling to the right and after several lively aerobatics finally 'arrived' back on earth in a neat pile. Not too much damage, rudder horn snapped off and slight damage to one blade. I'm wondering if maybe the blades are too long? The original plans show length of 305mm with leaded tips. Is there a reason for this I wonder?

Answers on a postcard please

Oops

Hand Launch Video (6 min 50 sec)

I'm sure that Rich would give the correct blade size. I usually add about 7-10 grams to each tip.
Hang angle is critical 15 deg is a min.14 can be dangerous and 18/19 is flyable. A good starting place for the head is between +4-5 deg/. Launching the model is important and a right handed launcher has the tendency to push the model to the right.
The model just needs to be held at a angle for the blades to spin and apply power for the model to move away at a gentle angle. No big chuck required as the model is already flying in the hand.
Good Luck and Happy Landings
Chris...