Richard Gall Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Hi. I'm over in the colonies. New to this forum....Hope I'm in the right place. I'm planing to enlarge a Gyrace autocyro by 200% and wondering what are the pitfalls and things to watch. What is your thinking??? Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 have a word or two with forumite 'richard harris' he is pushing the boundaries with the autogyo's..... check out some of his postings... ken anderson ne...1... gyro dept...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Richard, Welcome to the forum. I have seen a photo of a 200% Gyrace I just need to hunt for it. It was built by a gent in the USA and turned up at one of their fly-ins in about 2005 to 2007, reports were that it did fly extremely well. I have an 'electronic friend who lives in Montana USA, he swears by the Gyrace and has a nice collection of single rotor versions. I will try and find some photos and videos of his models later on this evening. He was a huge help to me when I first started playing with these things, kind of my mentor. In 2008 I built a 200% Kestrel for my father as a Crimbo present, this is a design by Cyril Carr. It was a free plan in a magazine a few years back (RCME I think and correct me if I am wrong?). It flies very well and is like a big 3 channel trainer. Power had to be increased to a Super Tiger 2500 , be sure to beef up the wing around the root and the rotor monuting posts. Keep it as light as you possibly can and it will fly very well. A few photos and a couple of videos taken in 2008 when I had a bit more hair If you have any questions just fire away, I can take photos for you to of the Kestrel as my Dad strill has it. This was the maiden flight, it at a Super Tigre 2000 engine fitted and just didn't have the power required as you will see. And here is myself having a go on the sticks with the more powerful ST 2500 fitted. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gall Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Mr. Anderson... Thanks for the "Harris link".... Sounds like it will keep me off the streets for a few hours. Mr. Harris ... Thanks for all the time & detail it took to reply. Great encouragement. Your Kestrel is a great build. The Kestrel looks very much like a Gyrace to me. I am planning on a OS 91 4 stroke for power. Not up to a Tiger 2500. I'm trying to go with the pieces that I have on hand. Hope it is big enough. Questions = It looks like you used brass tube & music wire for the rotor hubs (as per Gyrace plans) but what are the material & dimensions of the rotor blades you used? Have the rotor hubs stood up to the test of time, or should I go with ball bearings? You may have opened a can of worms...I am SURE more questions will come... Don't feel bad if the time comes to shut me off... Happens all the time (Hehe) Thanks again, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 you are wellcome mr gall...try kenny-its what i'm used to--and i've been called worse... .. ken anderson ne..1 worse dept...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Richard, I have found some photos of the enlarged Gyrace but not much information I am afraid. It was in fact from 2004 in Muncie USA. If I did an enlargement again like the Kestrel I would do it differently , without doubt use lifting blades rather than the ' Boddington' style blades. The Kestrel uses 8 mm dia silver steel as the axles, these were bent at 90 degrees and sandwiched in mounting plates that were glued into the wing. Flanged bearings top and bottom were used in the hubs secured with a couple of collets. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Looks like the wing is providing the majority of lift in the early stages of the flight which would make the rudder response a bit twitchy, impressive looking machine though especially with the sound of that internal combustion going on up front. Pete is nearly ready to maiden his 6ft rotor span Minimum ,he has flown a slightly larger version of the the standard with great success ,hope to get some photos soon. Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gall Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Crunched my standard size Gyrace yesterday...... Its a bright color (Yellow & white) but I let it get too low & too far away...... kind of blended into the dark green of trees and tall grass,, Face it...I just lost orientation. (Dumb Thumbs) Its repairable. Will get on it this P.M. Trying to get the pilot skills up to speed before throwing the big one in the breeze. Trying to stay ahead of the brain farts is sometimes a losing battle Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Richard, Sorry to here of the 'bump', orientation is just something you have to get used to. My way of dealing with it is to fly close in and at a lower level below the tree line if I can. I have found a couple of videos of my friend Joe Waldo's single conversion 'Gyrace'. The first is a standard size version which flies very well indeed, and the second is an enlarged version. Though it looks to fly well on the video Joel never did feel it was safe as he was correcting all of the time. I have a 3/4 finished Gyrace(amongst many other models), it was originally intended to be built 'as per' but I may just try the single conversion. It needs moving from its resting place to do a bit more one of the days. Cyril's Kestrel would also make a nice single rotor conversion, I wonder if he ever did try it like that? Anyway here are the videos mentioned above. Hope its of interest? Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gall Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share Posted May 27, 2012 Rich ...Thanks for the videos. Al Foot's Twirl & the Gyrace have been my most successful gyros to date. The reason for my current project. But after all the Pix. of single head gyros I think a single is in my future............ Thanks Richard Edited By Richard Gall on 27/05/2012 04:31:04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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