Richard Harris

I'm sure the powers to be are on it. just a minor glitch in the matrix.

Not sure whats going on but I keep getting a pop up box appear, strange. Anyway, I got out again today for my first fly of the year. The new motor mount is now fitted, had to move the motor up a tad as it was pitching up a bit under power. There was virtually no wind so I could confidently fly it at close quarters once trimmed. The flight was a good 8 mins long according to my unedited footage which is encouraging. There was about about 30% left in the battery, that's with me flying it in an autogyro fashion and not like a pylon racer. It's pretty much dialled in now so time for me to sit back and see if the Beta testers models reflect the same excellent flying qualities of mine. Here is today's vid, enjoy. Rich

Chris, It is something I've not experimented with much, when I have I needed quite a lot of side thrust to compensate the yaw effect generated and it looked a bit daft if I'm honest. That said, this was with lower KV motors swinging larger diameter low pitch props with a shorter tail to CG moment arm. If you do try it let me know how it works out? the beauty of you experienced beta builders are you always throw in excellent ideas. It's no problem for me to change things to the plan at this stage so I am all ears, simpler the better in my eyes. Piers, Yes, that how I have always understood it, there are several ways to overcome the propwash effect. Offsetting the motor is the easiest way of getting around this as it keeps the thrustline square on through all of the power range (this helps when the rotors are off loaded with reduced airspeed). You can also add a variable rudder trim mixed with throttle, Micromold tried to get around it by shaping the fin/ rudder into a flat bottomed aerofoil.

Well done gents, always good to know bits fit together OK and it wasn't a fluke! There will be a certain Australian Gyronut joining us also all being well. Just the motor mount to get to you, on the 5th Revision!

Vince from Malta posted a photo today over on FB , he's had 4 successful flights with his Gyroo this morning and is deservedly pleased.. His clubmate Ruben has been assisting in his autogyro journey. Weather looks a little better over there! Thought it was worthy of sharing here.

Futura, thanks for the info. Might give it a try in the New Year.

Merry Christmas folks.

That's coming together nicely Futura57, look forward to seeing it completed. How does the foam your using compare to depron?

If you look through the autogyro section there are several tractor design threads, most are supported with plans via Sarik hobbies. There is also a simple tractor model designed by the late Tom Wright, if you follow his instructions you won't need a plan, it's called the Cranfly and flies really well. There are also several plans available at www.coolwind.co.uk

Thank you. It would be wrong for me not to share the Gyroo II as it flies so well, so yes I will submit it. Next thing to do is redesign and make a new motor mount now I know the thrust offset position, then get out again and test. Just a case of tidying the drawings up and passing them on to the ready and waiting 'nuts' to confirm fits and CG position etc. I'm sure they will post their efforts as they get going.

Cheers gents, Here's the vid, sorry for waffling on and the poor light conditions.

Managed to get the Gyroo II flight ready, as the weather was calm today I went up to the patch and maidened it. It made several small trimmingbhops before committing to one circuit to get a feel of things. A little bit of lead was added to the nose as a temporary gesture, I will cut the battery appature out a bit to move the battery forwards so it can be removed. It's probably the most hassle free maiden I've ever had, couple of clicks of left trim and five of down and it was almost flying hands free. The tail dragged configuration works fine despite the higher thurst line and there seems to be plenty of power though not to the same extent as the tractor. I've only had one full flight but I'd say it's even easier than the Gyroo to fly, possibly something to do with the smaller prop. A few snaps before it took to the air and some of it flight ( these are just snap shots from the video) I will make the necessary amendments and try again on a brighter day, I'm pretty chuffed. Video will follow.

Had a break in the weather this morning so moved my modified belt sander outside to profile my blade blanks. I've stretched this sander long enough to sand my standard blades in one length and had some abrasive belts made up to suit, seems to work quite well. As I always do I start by removing wedges, then roughly sand the aerfoil. These are then finished by using 3D printed profiling blocks differing in size with sandpaper attached. The profile is modified slightly to that of the Gyroo, I'm hoping they will require no negative shim. The blade sizes are identical but these use a larger spruce LE, there's valid reasoning for this. I've gone with the cnc routed fibreglass rienforcers from coolwind for this set, makes life easier. Each blade has been weighed, one was slightly lighter so Ive added pva to match the rest (no2 blade), they all weigh 45g now. Mount holes have been drilled so it's just a quick balance up then get on with their covering. Then it's on to final assembly, motor positioning and thurst alignment setting up. If all goes well there looks like there's high pressure heading this way so I may push for a weekend maiden.

Yes, I and others have a few tractor designs. All depends on what you are after really, something simple and moderately sized or a little larger and more complex?

Cheers Max If it were up to my daughters the battery would have matched perfectly with the colour scheme they proposed! Luckily Dad won that battle.........this time!

You've shamed me into covering Paul which has probably taken longer than to build it! Ive left the mast bare for now as it may need it's length altering dependent on how the CG turns out. I've also made another motor mount which is lower, this may need to be altered further. I will install the rudder servo and its connections next then on to the blades. I shape these outside on a belt sander so it may be a few days before the weather plays ball.

I do miss these mass builds Ken, fun times.

That would be the very clever Tom Wright, unfortunately he passed away about 7 years ago. All his threads are still on here, just try searching.

There's no reason why you can't draw up your own, the Gyroo belongs to Morton Media so I would contact them and ask. Why not design your own rather than copy others work? it would be more satisfying

Cheers Outrunner, they should help with orientation too if it gets that far. I need to view it outside as they may need shaving down a touch.

The mast is complete though its length may need to be altered, the 6.5mm spruce has been faced each side at the top to match the hole in the head mount. I have also sanded down the spats and soldered some brass mounts to the vertical legs on the UC wire, a bit rough but nothing a bit of paint won't hide! Their position is held via a couple of 3mm lite ply pieces. I've made an error whilst assembling the motor mount so I will remake this over the next few days. I've still got the servos to mount but couldn't resist slotting it together. Once the servos are installed its time to find out where my CG location and then adjust mast, boom lengths to suit, time to think about I covering then. Not bad for 6 evenings work.

I've made up the tail feathers and their mount, there is no change to these. Ive also dry fitted the fuselage together without any issues, the battery floor slides into its slot then clicks into position on the location tabs, there's one each side. Next job to tick off the ever decreasing list is the mast, head and servo mounting.

As with the Gyroo the main fuselage is laminated up, a 6.5mm balsa core sheeted each side with 3mm lite ply. The outers are made from two pieces each side so as to create a slot for the horizontal battery mount, I used scraps of wood to size the slot. This is repeated on the other side with the exception of the rear 6.5mm balsa inner. This is positioned so the spruce mast is a good fit, again sized with the mast itself. All is drying as I type, once it's cured I will give it a sand and dry fit the U/C assembly and battery floor. While waiting I will crack on with the tail end.

The UC assembly has be made up this morning along with the motor mount. Keeping inline with Gyroo this one will also a tail dragged, something I've never tried before on a pusher so it's position is guess work and subject to be scrapped if it doesn't work out. In the same way as Gyroo the piano wire leg is sandwiched between 3 formers. This unit will slot into the fuselage on final assembly through the battery appature. The lugs are for the battery mount to lock into. The motor mount is made from 5 off 3.2mm lite ply formers with 6.5 mm balsa spacers, I used the spruce mast to size the gap. This will give me the ability to slide it up and down to align the thrustline with the vertical CG. The mast will be vertical on this one as its easier to keep the thrustline horizontal. The complete mount, motor will be offset to the right (looking from behind) but its final position is unknown at the moment. It's a good tight fit on the mast so should only require a tack of glue to secure. I will make a start on the fuselage tomorrow.

All parts have now been cut out, just need to give them the once over with the sanding block and I will dry fit things together. Out of interest, there are 5 more parts to cut out than the Gyroo, these are mostly the motor mount bracket items. The UC is slightly narrower than the original with two vertical legs to attach wheel spats to. I have started making these from oddments of balsa box bits. I have also purchased a Coolwind Razer head, 1mm Gyroo tri plates and the blade rienforcer FG sheet. All came the next day! Motor and ESC arrived this morning (another FB bargain). Head servos will again be the Corona DS-239MG as they have performed faultlessly on the prototype Gyroo. I will crack on with the U/C assembly first as this slots into the main fuselage body.