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Posted at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
First impressions are brilliant. This is a fantastic fun helicopter, which delivers on performance and is robust enough to survive repeated crashes into doors and walls. And so far I've not managed to break anything, which is very refreshing and pushes the enjoyment/cost ratio firmly into credit. The flight tests are here:
Posted at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
This is me hovering side-in, in the Alpine meadow photofield.
The Alpine Meadow is a study in contrasts, with the flat grassy green of a wide-open meadow framed by the towering stone majesty of the Alps. At their feet, you’ll find rural roads, glistening white chalets and of course, woodland that ranges from single trees to entire forests.
Posted at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Side-in hovering is now quite comfortable. Although I can do it on the simulator, nose-in hovering in real life still proves to be quite taxing and far from comfortable. More work and discipline is required. And possibly a bigger garden.
But today, it's a minor victory. The training gear is gone.
Posted at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The latest crash was horrible. It was a beautiful day and the winds were manageable, or so I thought. The sun was shining brightly and as I approached the helipad I mulled over putting on my sunglasses. I rejected the idea, figuring that I could keep my back to the sun and avoid any mishap. Somewhat typically, the winds had picked up by the time I was ready to spin-up, and it was marginal whether I should fly or not. I favoured optimism after my latest run of good fortune so I went for it. A huge gust immediately lifted her up to about twenty five feet right over my head, forcing me to spin around, straight into the glare of the sun. I was blinded immediately, and fearing a crash into the trees, I took evasive action. My cyclic inputs were too heavy-handed, she pitched violently backwards and swan-dived quickly and upsettingly to the ground, landing directly on the rotor head assembly with a catastrophic explosion of parts. The entire flight lasted about 5 seconds.
The rotor head assembly was utterly destroyed. The flybar was so bent it was wrapped around the main hub in a complete circle. The impact was clearly very heavy because the autorotation sleeve (at the opposite end of the main shaft) was cracked down its entire length. One of the servo arms had snapped and another servo had the ball joint forced out of the servo arm. The main gear had around three cm of chewed-up teeth. I've had to replace two main blades, the feathering spindle, spacers and O-rings, flybar control arms, the main shaft, the main gear, the flybar, the centre hub, the flybar carrier, two servo arms, the autorotation sleeve and several bearings. The motor may have a problem and may have to be replaced. Remarkably, the tail was untouched.
What did I learn? If there's any perceived danger prior to take-off, stop, and either remove the risk, or cancel the flight. In this case sunglasses might just have saved the day.
Posted at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Managed to get 4 batteries in yesterday, without incident, in what may prove to be the last really hot day of the year. The weather was perfect, with little wind and progress was made with circles and side-in hovering. Having broken two sets of main blades the day before, I didn't want to push my luck with more nose-in hovering, so I had some fun. I'm getting there and it's becoming less of an exercise in controlled panic, and more about where I want to put the heli, and how quickly. My recent simulator work is paying off.
This is me flying at Lake Douglas - the H-13 is not too frisky and is good for working on basic manouevres.
Posted at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

This is an irritatingly difficult game, but see how far you can fly the helicopter. My best is a pretty amazing 2168, which clearly reflects my awesome heli flying skills. The other high scores in the table despite being poor likely reflect excellent photoshop skills rather than any aptitude for flying. See what you can do. There's a prize for the winner.
High score table
1. 2168 Airdonkey
2. 1943 Tim Toon
3. 1738 Dave
4. 1481 Paul
5. 342 Jo (!)
Paul anecdotally reports a score of over 2000, but the lack of evidence means it cannot be counted. Sorry.
Posted at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
My spare parts arrived, late, again. The ground crew worked solidly overnight to restore her to full glory. The swash set-up is perfect. The new servo sits like a jewel in the airframe. There are no parts with any damage to them, she is quite literally pristine. A model maker's ultimate goal achieved.
Which will make it even more upsetting the next time she gets dumped, by me.
More discipline is required. Or it really hurts.
Posted at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I was hovering about 6 inches off the ground the other day and ended up catching a rotor blade, which resulted in an upsettingly spectacular crash and an explosion of parts. Given that I've crashed into trees and fallen from much greater heights previously, the list of broken components is surprisingly extensive, and expensive. I've had to replace the following: a cyclic servo (£20), a seriously bent main shaft (£2.50), the tail boom (£1.99), the horizontal stabiliser mount (£1.99), the main blades (£9.99), the flybar (£0.99), one of the boom supports (£1.99), and one of the boom support ends (£0.50). I also broke the receiver aerial, but this can be fixed with a twist of the wires and some tape.
Those blades must have some energy in them - the tail boom was absolutely fucked - it was bent nearly 90 degrees and had pulled the tail servo about an inch along the boom! Ouch.
I wonder if I'll ever get to 3D flight....
Posted at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Roll on some calm weather.
Posted at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Always be ready to correct the drift by using opposite roll.
If you get into trouble at any stage, reduce the throttle, land, change your trousers and try again.
Twister CP manual.
Posted at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Voted the greatest commentary ever, during the 5th Test, England v West Indies at The Oval on 9 August 1991. Jonathan Agnew describes Ian Botham's freak dismissal where he fell over his own stumps, with the immortal "just couldn't quite get his leg over".
The late, great Brian Johnston desperately tries to maintain control of his hysteria while attempting to sum up the day's play, while Agnew sinks further and further into helpless laughter.
It always raises a smile.
Posted at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The maiden outdoor flight didn't go to plan. Since then there's been a protracted period of radio silence, the first few weeks being a dark period in which I doubted my ability to re-build and fly the helicopter and actually enjoy my hobby. The initial inspection after the tree incident revealed only "minor cosmetic damage", however closer scrutiny revealed more significant injuries which necessitated completely rebuilding the tail rotor assembly and replacing the main rotor shaft, which was bent. Getting the parts took long enough and I compounded the misery by initially failing to identify everything that was broken, resulting in more orders for spares and more delay. Airdonkey sat on my table, looking forlorn and broken for about 4 weeks. Even when the ground crew were in a position to complete the repairs and get her airborne again, I didn't exactly rush to it. I had also realised that having spent many hours hunched over a table with the build, the 2 minutes of nervous anticipation and the ensuing crushing disappointment upon crashing into a tree didn't represent a good trade-off in the enjoyment stakes. Put simply, I hadn't enjoyed the flying bit yet because it was too difficult and crashes were inevitable. I wasn't exactly enthusing the prospect of an endless cycle of building for hours and crashing in seconds. I also concluded that my fight simulation work hadn't been disciplined enough. Loops and rolls were all well and good on the computer, but the basics were not sufficiently in place when the stakes were high with my real world helicopter. I've learned the following:
I need a new approach.
Posted at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
My RC heli guy came round tonight to check the build and the transmitter programming. The Cypher was deemed ready within a few minutes, and it was time for her maiden flight. It was too windy and dark for anything outside, so we spooled up in the kitchen. What a racket!
It's short and sweet but the first tentative flight can be seen here. The gyro has been set and the heli trimmed. I'm ready.
A massive thanks to Kriss Goody, who can be seen working his magic here.
Posted at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
This is the first bird, where it all started.
Note the two pairs of rotor blades, coaxially mounted. One set rotates clockwise, the other countercockwise, thereby overcoming the torque produced by one set of blades. No torque means that no tail rotor is required. The result is exceptional stability in the hover, with no yaw and "easy" controls.
Beyond that, it's difficult to make it do much. Forward flight is sedate and there's no question of any inverted stuff. The slightest breeze tends to halt all forward progress and can cause an alarming gain in altitude with down wind drift.
It's a beginner's heli, ready to fly straight out of the box. Good fun it is too.
Posted at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
It may be slightly beyond me at this stage....
Posted at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
The Cypher 3D is nearly built and the maiden flight is looming large. Assuming everything goes to plan, I now have to consider what comes next. Do I move to a larger airframe or stick with mid-range? Do I move from an electric to a petrol engine? This opens the batteries versus nitro debate. For loops, rolls, inverted flight and other intricate stunts, I'm going to need a much more powerful model, with a better build quality. I'll need more channels with more programming functionality. A programmable ESC. A heading hold gyro. Better servos. Carbon fibre blades. A better pilot.
So much to consider...
Posted at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
If I'm using a non-heading hold gyro what gain values do I go for..?
Do I need revo mixing? What is revo mixing?
Posted at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
This is not my helicopter, nor me flying it . Looks sweet though!
We can compare and contrast when I get mine in the air.
Posted at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Helicopters require a completely different method of control than airplanes and are much harder to master. Flying a helicopter requires constant concentration by the pilot and a near-continuous flow of control corrections.
A conventional helicopter has a main rotor above the fuselage which consists of two or more rotor blades extending out from a central rotor head assembly. The rotor blades are moved by the pilot to control the movement of the helicopter. This is achieved using a "swash plate", which is mounted on the main rotor shaft below the rotor head.
Each rotor blade has a cross-section similar to that of an airplane wing and generates lift as the blade is rotated through the air. The amount of lift produced is determined by the pitch angle (and speed) of each rotor blade as it moves through the air. The pitch angle of the blades is controlled by the pilot in two ways, using collective pitch ("collective") and cyclic pitch.
Collective pitch control either raises or lowers the swash plate without tilting it. As the swash plate rises or falls, the pitch of all rotor blades is changed at the same time and to the same degree. Because all blades are changing pitch together, or 'collectively', the change in lift remains constant throughout every full rotation of the blades. Therefore, there is no tendency for the helicopter to move in any direction other than straight up or down.
Cyclic pitch control can be used to move the helicopter in all directions other than up and down. This is achieved by tilting the angle of the swash plate. As the swash plate is tilted the pitch angle of a rotor blade is increased at a given point in the rotation, and decreased when the blade has spun through 180 degrees. As the pitch angle changes, the lift generated by each blade changes as it sweeps through it's rotation. As a result the helicopter tips towards whichever side is experiencing the lesser amount of lift. Moving the cyclic stick forward makes the helicopter fly forwards while bringing the stick back slows the helicopter and even makes it fly backwards. Moving the stick to the left or right makes the helicopter roll in these directions.
So now we have up and down, using the collective control, and pitch (forward/backward) and roll (left/right) using the cyclic control. Using these controls we can do everything apart from turn the nose of the heli around, i.e. control the yaw angle.
This is achieved using the tail rotor - a vertically mounted blade positioned at the very rear of the helicopter's tail boom. This rotor counteracts the tendency of the fuselage to rotate in the opposite direction to that of the rotors (so-called "torque reaction"). If this torque isn't controlled, the helicopter would just spin hopelessly. As the tail rotor spins it generates thrust, analogous to an airplane propeller, the sideways thrust negating the torque reaction. The pitch angle of the tail rotor blades can be changed by the pilot to control the amount of thrust produced, thereby allowing the nose of the heli to be turned in the air.
"You don't fly a helicopter, you just stop it from crashing...."
Posted at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Fucking piece of shit Phillips screwdrivers. Stripped by the screw? Surely it should be the other way round......
Posted at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
This is my new bird, the EF Cypher 3D.
This is how she should look when built. According to the manufacturer "The Cypher 3D is ultra-quick to complete as it comes 95% factory assembled and almost ready to fly."
Almost ready to fly? You'd think that might mean you simply have to put in the battery and attach the rotor blades. Not so. The heli basically lacks all of the electronics and there's a lot. The airframe is built - which was nice of them - leaving me to set up and install 4 servos, a gyro, the receiver, the ESC, rewire the battery and set the pitch of the rotors. That's the heli sorted. Then I've got to set up and calibrate my 6 channel transmitter, program my pitch curves and trim the heli. Then I've got to learn to fly the fucker.
I don't know which part of this is scaring me the most.
This is the current state of play.
The heli is an unassembled tangled mess of wires surrounded by tiny electronic components, glues, batteries, connectors, chargers, instruction manuals and intricate new tools. My wife wants the dining room table back and the pressure is on.
First flight is scheduled for Sunday 8th March 2009.
T minus 16 days....
Posted at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Since I was a kid, I always fancied flying radio controlled helicopters. I loved Blue Thunder and Airwolf.
Thirty years later and I still fancy it. They're supposed to be really hard to fly and I like a challenge. I have a large lawn and don't really know what to do with it. I figured it would be perfect as an airfield.
A few weeks ago I bought my first helicopter. It is really hard to fly! It also looks nothing like that:
I've recently bought another one and it's not even built yet. There's a theme emerging here. My aim is to assemble the heli, get it airborne and learn to fly it properly. I now realise that this is not as simple as it sounds and I know I've got some problems to solve as I come up the learning curve. I know nothing about radio, electronics or flying. In this blog I'm going to document the build, the first flight, the first crash, and everything that comes after...
Posted at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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