Building techniques

[ironchef48]

There was an "Ah-HA" moment as I read jander14indoor's post above- Very helpful THANK YOU

[illusionist]

My first helicopter I built weighed about 5-6 grams. My second one weighs under 4 grams. The flight times for the first were about 30 sec, and the second one's flight times were over 1:15. Both were of a very similar design. I have experienced what Jeff was saying about keeping the weight down. It really helps with the flight time.

[lllazar]

Hello, i have question regarding a jig id like to build for the rotors - here's a pic of what id like my final product to look like:

http://www.freedomflightmodels.com/imag ... 0Large.jpg

Now, i understand everything about that except the dimensions of the base sheet of wood - i mean the rectangular piece on which everything sits. Obviously no one would know that (unless you were a freedom flight employee or something) but what width would we want our rotors to be, at the ends, for rotors like those?

Also, wat dimension wood should i use for the rotors? Im thinking 1/16, dunno for sure.

Thank you!

[blue cobra]

The diagonal is going to be about 40 cm. It's split into 7 sections so each section is about 5.7 cm. The center section without covering looks like it may be a bit smaller, so to make everything easier let's say each covered section is 6 cm and the center section is 4 cm. The width looks to be just a little more than one section, so it's probably about 8 cm. Each half of the uncovered center section appears to be roughly a square, so the vertical portion is probably about 2 cm high. The only way to know for sure would be to get the kit, or get someone who has it to take measurements. 1/16" square will probably work fine.

[lllazar]

Thanks Blue Cobra!!!

Also, i had this idea to put a pointed 3 cm long piece of balsa at the top of the heli, so that when testing at home, or anywhere, when it reached the ceiling it would just rotate about that point and the rotors wouldn't be disturbed in anyway.

Edit: So i made one of those jigs and it isn't perfect - as in a few of the measurements are off by a little bit. Does it really make that much of a difference? When i say a little bit i mean like fractions of millimeters...keep in mind im not overly obsessive about this event, id like to medal at state but im not looking for perfection

[chia]

noouuu... my first helicopter is .15 grams under! I was building from the turnertoys parlor copter kit and didn't have wood long enough to make 40 cm rotors (they're only 30 - much too short to be truly competitive, I know). It wobbles a lot, too, even with the stabilizer. Eh, well. I'll test this one a bit and see how bad it sucks/what I can possibly fix, and hopefully the wood I ordered comes in so I can begin to build a better one before this month's invite.

(to lllazar - mine has a probe on the rotor, too - 6 cm. I'll bet it'll become the handiest thing ever.)

Also, why does everyone keep linking to something called "Full Helicopter Kit Large" from freedom flight? the link never works for me :/

[lllazar]

They show a rig to build rotors, it's actually quite nice, i personally just made one myself after seeing it, im not paying 50 bucks for that....

[aubrey048]

Uh, what shape do you cut the wings into? Do you sort of curve them like birds wings or are they flat but angled?

Thanks, I'm clueless! (The only other building event I've done is Mission Possible, which is NOTHING like this!)

[smartkid222]

Try taking a look at the pictures in the image gallery.

[aubrey048]

Yeah, I did. But they're pretty varied so I wasn't sure.