stumbled on some old footage of my rc heli - horrible quality tape, but still was fun to see again for me... most of the aluminum colored stuff was home made, spent countless hours doodling servo layouts, then had to learn autocad and g code programming, set up the mill to cut the stuff...spent all of the late fall/winter '89-90 piddling with only this project, first air Easter Sunday '90, was so proud it flew fine from day one...
flew it often till 2000, got back into planes for a while when my kids were little, then a stress crack in a sideframe grounded it in 2005- thought 'in a few weeks' i'd get the new frames made, besides, had a newer/lighter/faster machine, so it languished...its still sitting.
anyways- here it is:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAlZXA9Mx-k]60 size mostly scratch built heli- from 1990 - YouTube[/ame]
terrible video, very old tape... the camcorder dates were off too, some say 4-11 or 4-14... it was 4-15-90, Easter Sunday- I remember it started snowing as I was loading up after the first test flight... only in Ohio.
anyways, this was first flight of my mostly scratch built heli in 1990...spent most of the winter of '89-90 learning autocad/G-code programming, scribbling up my ideas for different mechanics, and machining up parts...
the unique stuff: 4 point 45 degree swashplate, reversing arms to get cyclic linkage to work without rocking a servo (Deiter Schluter's triple rocking design was very cool, but the flexing servo wires worried me), beltdrive off the main pinion(belt clears around the mainshaft- no rear pinion) all 5 servos rigid mounted up front, all the pivots use flanged ball bearings (no brass bushings like GMP), bellcrank-less tailrotor pitch control, shower curtain rod tailboom (2 for $6!)... definitely the only one like it ever. couldnt run the original HTD belt I built the thing for, had to go to a XL series timing belt, and too long/too short options meant she's tail heavy... big battery + lead in the canopy to balance, 12.5 pounds fully fueled= careful pulling out of a loop :) I was really proud of my controls layout, but 1990 also was when CCPM direct control started becoming 'easy' with the new radios, so all the 'fun' of redundant linkages/bind free design was a moot point... folks learning to fly helis today have no idea what fun it was decades ago to set one up...
GMP/Hirobo parts: GMP pro head/swashplate, hirobo gears/clutch/fan/shroud, GMP tailblade holders.
OS .61 w/7H carb, hirobo square muffler, futaba G153 gyro, 7FGH radio (later a super7- Telebee gyro, MA minipipe, and made up some G10 epoxy/glass fins to lbalance the tailheavy thing). wore out a few engines over the years, flew it weekly from '90-2000, off and on up till '05. With the Glass fins, got the lead out, moved the main tank forward, got weight to 11.5 pounds, flew much better, but still heavy.
Eventually got a PHI Hurricane off Kam Wyatt, at 9 pounds, it felt like a real hotrod compared to this one- 20+ years of metal fatigue and a crack developed in the frame (didnt make any spares), so its been parked since 2005...the frame was tig welded by a buddy, looks ok- but worries of fatigue elsewhere= not worth risking it... so just flew the lighter PHI instead...with batteries/carb the old one should be flyable, but I will wait till I get time to cut the redesigned stacked G10 frame- programs were written, plastics in the garage by the mill, but kids/home/cars= still no time to play right now...
