Freedom Flight Kit

[Snarknado]

I'm interested in starting to work on this event, a general question; how many people use kits for this event/is it possible to do well without them?

[retired1]

For a chopper similar to those used in the past, a kit is not an absolute necessity. For the bonus rule Sikorsky , very very few would be able to build a competitive one. For either one of them, designing a build able prop (rotor) that is competitive will involve a lot of home work or blind dumb luck.
One of the big benefits of the FF kit is all of the"how to fly it" that is part of his package.

[coachchuckaahs]

You can certainly build without a kit.

Keep in mind that this year the substantial bonus for Chinook has been incorporated into the kit. There are designs online for various inline heli's, but I have not seen any for Chinook. Dave has performed substantial testing in his kit design, and came up with a very stable Chinook design. Since this will be widely utilized as a starting point, it raises the bar, a Chinook is almost required.

If you have build heli's already last year, than you have a good starting point for the rotors. In fact, our first attempt at a Chinook style used last year's rotors even though they were somewhat smaller than this year's. The times achieved on that device, with the bonus, would beat a non-Chinook score.

If you are truly just starting out, and looking to be competitive, I would urge starting with the kit. There is so much engineering and fixturing built into the kit, it gives a substantial head start.

That said, our team is building from scratch because our regionals are in January. We are building on prior years' work, and still we have had to build multiple devices just to get successful flights. We have been building since September.

Depending on your timeframe (when is your regional, how much time are you willing to put in, and how much money) and your existing experience, it is possible to build yourself, and very rewarding. But the kit will position you at a much better starting point. It is also likely that to be a top competitor, you will need to go beyond the kit, making mods to improve performance as you observe and test things.

Coach Chuck
AAHS

[wx4caster]

We have built the FF chinook copters but as others have stated, they are very fragile. So we decided to build a holding rig to make loading the motors easier. We used pictures from Dave's instructions to build a rig similar to his. (He didn't provide any dimensions for a rig, which is understandable considering how busy he is) I have put together a two page powerpoint showing all the dimensions we have used, in case anyone is interested. It turned out really nice, and hopefully testing later today will go more smoothly.

[Nano1llus10n]

We have built the FF chinook copters but as others have stated, they are very fragile. So we decided to build a holding rig to make loading the motors easier. We used pictures from Dave's instructions to build a rig similar to his. (He didn't provide any dimensions for a rig, which is understandable considering how busy he is) I have put together a two page powerpoint showing all the dimensions we have used, in case anyone is interested. It turned out really nice, and hopefully testing later today will go more smoothly.

Yes, it would be very helpful to us if you could send a link to those blueprints here.

[Raleway]

We have built the FF chinook copters but as others have stated, they are very fragile. So we decided to build a holding rig to make loading the motors easier. We used pictures from Dave's instructions to build a rig similar to his. (He didn't provide any dimensions for a rig, which is understandable considering how busy he is) I have put together a two page powerpoint showing all the dimensions we have used, in case anyone is interested. It turned out really nice, and hopefully testing later today will go more smoothly.

Yes, it would be very helpful to us if you could send a link to those blueprints here.

Seconded

[retired1]

I have not got my chopper kit yet so I am not familiar with the loading. Are you winding on the chopper or winding on a stooge/torque meter and transferring the band?
I would like the fixture link when you can.

[wx4caster]

Retired,

We are winding off the copter rig, then transferring the motor to the copter. At least that is how we are doing it now. We will see how testing goes.

[wx4caster]

We have built the FF chinook copters but as others have stated, they are very fragile. So we decided to build a holding rig to make loading the motors easier. We used pictures from Dave's instructions to build a rig similar to his. (He didn't provide any dimensions for a rig, which is understandable considering how busy he is) I have put together a two page powerpoint showing all the dimensions we have used, in case anyone is interested. It turned out really nice, and hopefully testing later today will go more smoothly.

Yes, it would be very helpful to us if you could send a link to those blueprints here.

Seconded

Okay here ya go. Here is the link to the FF chinook holding rig that we built off of Dave's original design. I sent a copy to Dave, and he loved it, and it has his blessing. I hope this helps.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6ceox9swjhmd ... 2.pdf?dl=0

[Nano1llus10n]

Yes, it would be very helpful to us if you could send a link to those blueprints here.

Seconded

Okay here ya go. Here is the link to the FF chinook holding rig that we built off of Dave's original design. I sent a copy to Dave, and he loved it, and it has his blessing. I hope this helps.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f6ceox9swjhmd ... 2.pdf?dl=0

Thank you so much for this! This loading dock will definitely help with assembly during competition.