Richard Harris

Matt, It sounds very much like you didn't have enough head speed if it rolled to the left. Always best to do a few hops to determine whether any trim needs to be applied. Yes, I do hold rearward tilt to get the blades spinning. It is neutralised well before lift off. The key is a slow start to the take off run to get the blades whistling, once they are you just simply power away. It is like learning to fly again but you will soon get the hang of it. Let us know how it goes? I had a video sent me yesterday of Emanuel from the Netherlands flying his newly built Gyroo, his features 3d printed blades, the video is put together well. The blade STL files are available for free on thingiverse.

Matt, Glad it's worked out ok, look forward to seeing it completed. Rich

This is my own designed canard 'Shifty' I finished several months ago, it's had 40 odd flights to date and goes really well. Hoping to get this one published in the mag as soon as the blue skies arrive on a weekend for a photo shoot.😏 A video of one of its first outings:

Matt, I am sorry I missed your post, busy with the family and all that... Great job on your Gyroo 😉 Regarding your blades, yes there will be a problem if you leave them as they are. Adding lead is fine, just be considerate of your lighter blades CG position. You will need to insert your lead further back to bring its CG rearwards, to get it in the right place I would firstly tape it on until it matches the other blades, then commit to digging out a hole. Let us know how it goes? Rich

Paul, Good to hear, this is what it's all about , look forward to footage. Rich

Riktor, If you have it set up as suggested it could possibly be light blades, a video would help. .Rich

Paul, That's better, a nice controlled text book take off. No wonder you were struggling if 70g was needed in the nose! Thanks for taking the time to grab footage, look forward to more once the weather improves. Rich

Paul, Better to be nose heavy than tail heavy, all looks about right to me. Rich

Paul, From what I can see it all looks good, you've not altered the down thrust at all? Reason I ask is I know of one gent who didnt quite get the bulkhead on right. If your tail heavy it would certainly push the nose up. Rich

Paul, Sorry to hear of your mishap, there are a few things that can cause this. The most likely is that it's simply out of trim in pitch and why I always suggest doing small hops before committing to a full flight. Could you take a photo of your model from the side, set ready to fly so I can view everything? Have you added the correct thickness shim to each blade and are the aerofoils close to the plans? Rich

Cheers Andy, I have got plenty of cooling going through the fuselage and the esc doesn't seem to be getting. That said I will try it outside the fuz. Rich

The dates have now been set for this year's annual UK and International RC autogyro meet at WMFC on the 23rd, 24th and 25th June 2023. Anyone who has been before will know its a very relaxed and friendly weekend with plenty of help to hand if you need a model setting up/test flying etc. All proceeds will be donated to the local air ambulance. If anyone wants to donate a prize for our raffle please pop me a PM. All information is on the attached poster, if you have any questions please just ask? Rich

Lesley, Just add a bit of tape to stop them rotating, I always have two blades pointing forwards and the third backwards. Rich

The wind was a bit lighter this morning so I braved the cold and took Shifty out for its second round of testing with the CG roughly moved 6mm further forward. Alot more predictable this time, as confidence grows I am slowly exploring its flight envelop, it will slow right down yet gets a bit Shifty when you open it up. At full power I am getting some kind of hunting from the motor, I'm guessing it's a timing issue with my cheap esc, you can hear it in this edited video of the closer bits. Rich

Thanks Piers, The wingspan is roughly 800mm so it is relatively small. considering I'm used to slow flying autogyros I didn't have any issues seeing it though I am yet to push it. Rich

I spoke to Kevin yesterday and he is very interested in both variants, I have now buried the church roof into the nose so will proceed with the delta version when I get chance. Bruce, Look forward to seeing that 😎 John, I added my lower fin to give me the required total vertical area, also a bit of protection for the prop and my hand when launching over arm. Rich

Nice looking canard John, I used this online calculator but my problem was that this is based on a plan view with straight edged flying surfaces, I also made a full sized depron glider which gave me a slightly forward CG of the calculated position so I went in between. Canard Center of Gravity Calculator (rcplanes.online) Mine lies about 50mm (ish) infront of the LE. One thing I did notice is that there was no obvious yaw waggling at speed that I get sometimes with my previous canards, I am guessing that the central top and bottom vertical fins (rather than tip fins) may have something to do with this? Rich

Here is the footage of the second flight, not great as the sky is grey and its hard to track and fly. I will get some better video once the mods are complete.

I braved the wind this morning and took Shifty out for a possible maiden. After a few test glides it was evident that it's CG needed shifting forwards. I managed to squeeze two 800 lmah 3s lipos in to the battery compartment which gave me an OKish glide. First flight was almost a loss as it was pitching violently up and down and my full throws were way too much, luckily I got it down in one piece. My pocket full of change was all I had for ballast so this was taped to the nose and throws were limited to around 5mm each way. Second flight was alot better but still pitch sensitive under full power. No real tendency to stall other than the canard starts nodding, slow speed handling is good. Rolls are axial and inverted was climbing slightly without any pitch input. Unfortunately my motor mount came loose so this will be modified along with some church roof strategically placed within the nose. Bizarrely there was no reflex needed and all trims were neutral, so the canard will be glued in the horizontal position. Here are a few photos, I did try and video the second flight, I will see what I captured and upload footage later on if its watchable. Chuffed. Rich

Paul, It's all about throttle control, to climb with an autogyro power is increased, vice versa to descend. Pitch control is generally used to control airspeed. I'm guessing that you have simply added too much power, to help with this fixed wing instinct it may be worth propping down a bit until you get the knack. It's also worthwhile starting your take off run downwind to where you are stood and try and get the lift off close to you as you can, you can then observe whats going on and react in accordance as its easier to see. At the point of lift off you will be probably be at quite a high throttle setting, it's best to back off as soon as you ROG, this will drop the nose. Try not to pull back on the rotors and force things, the gyro will get airborne on its own if trimmed correctly. I took this video Sunday and you can see how I do it, if you listen you can hear me back off the throttle on both models for a steady climb out as soon as they are in the air. It will become second nature eventually, also worth trying the same technique with your fixed wings. Hope this helps?

Your unnerving me Matt 😨, there's a nice slope by me, I will try some test glides first before committing to a prop!

Lesley, The ball links for supplied with the Razor head should be correct for an M2 thread to be screwed into them tightly creating their own thread within the plastic, for this reason the hole should be smaller than 2mm (if this makes sense?). Even with 2mm rods fitted there will be flexibility in them until model is flying where they are subjected to tension and become rigid. To some degree this flex helps save servo arms in 'an event', a lot of builders have stiffened these up once they have got to grips with flying an autogyro. Rich

Andy, Nothing special, just mase up some paper templates then taped these to the covering before cutting out. These were applied with a lower heat setting on the iron, the 4max stuff is quite sticky.

Riktor, I think my Panther canopy plug has long gone as its been 12 years, I know Steve Jones 2 has made some for others, maybe worth sending him a PM. Good to hear its flying well with the extra nose weight, look forward to a flight video 😀 Rich

Matt, I do agree with what you are saying regarding pitch authority, the fore plane is a good interference so if it doesn't work out in its fixed position I will remove and add an elevator. I am expecting to add some degree of reflex to the elevons, I will make a decision once I have experimented with a chuck glider. Rich