Helicopters B

[Jim_R]

Resources for Helicopters B.

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[museicorn]

Where can I find more indormation on this event? I know what the basic helicopter looks like but Im unnaware of the scoring prosses. Is it whoever's can stay up the longest?

[chia]

That's the gist of it, yes - I remember the event's name was at one point Helicopter Duration. All of the resources listed on the post above yours would be a great place to start, especially the wiki if you have very little experience in flight events.

[foreverphysics]

So I decided to be a complete and total idiot and sign up for this event. Is it just me, or is this event a whole lot like Wright Stuff from several years ago? If so, I might have some idea of where to start...

This and SoM are really going to give me some things to do this year...

[jander14indoor]

Is it like Wright Stuff?

Uh, yeah. I stole the bulk of the rules from there when we initially wrote the event, why mess with what worked? Same for Baloon or Elastic Launch Glider.

Course you can say that about towers, bridges and boom as a set too.

Same basic rules, specs on the device, fly for max time, power from rubber.

You can forget most of the trim/stability stuff you needed for Wright Stuff. Trim/Stability is still important, mechanics are very different though. Probably much simpler.

EVERYTHING you needed to know about building light for Wright Stuff applies to Helicopter.

The criticality of matching rubber to prop in Wright Stuff for max duration is even MORE important in matching rubber to rotors.

What's new is things like:
- What is the best shape for rotor blades?
- Should you use on, two, three or more blades?
- Should it be simple, easy to build triangle like shape, or something fancier like eliptical?
- What pitch?
- Blade area?
- Etc.

Dig into those resources, lots of meat there!

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Actually, this whole event (as well as being an interesting variant on Wright Stuff) is part of my diabolical plan to eliminate commercial plastic propellors from Wright Stuff whenever it comes back. If you can make a successful rotor, you can make a very good Wright Stuff prop.

[twototwenty]

So I decided to be a complete and total idiot and sign up for this event. Is it just me, or is this event a whole lot like Wright Stuff from several years ago? If so, I might have some idea of where to start...

This and SoM are really going to give me some things to do this year...

I placed 2nd at my somewhat competetive regional competition last year after spending just one day on this putting together the kit available on the soinc website, with zero prior experience. This really isn't too hard of an event to do decently in, but making the jump from decency to being good requires a great amount of skill. Just my two cents.

[retired1]

I will probably get yelled at for this, but for a beginner or first timer, I will recommend the chopper from Freedom Flight as the best one out there. A couple of the other ones that were out there the last couple of years are not worth the money! The kit is good and the instructions functional. After you build a few, you can make changes.
We use a couple of modifications of his kit and the C teams have had times of right at 3.00 minutes at state. 2.5 min normally will win most states.

[Balsa Man]

That's really good advice - I'd strongly agree.
Definately play around with the size and amount of rubber- can make a big difference.

[Hosj]

Really hoping for this event. May not as I am a better studier, and this looks like a potentialll popular event.

[retired1]

This is one of those events that you will either love or hate. It can be rewarding and frustrating.
Not said in many places, but you will need a winder. I prefer the 10 to 1 as it makes counting rubber turns easier.