Model helicopters, and big ones.
Yes, flying models is for geeks, but it's good fun, and a real challenge,
just as long as you don't make a hobby of it. This page explains a bit about
model helicopters (and real ones).
Some people say that flying model helicopters is difficult. Well it is. If
you don't take extreme care you will be digging your expensive model out of the
lawn with a spade. However if you are sensible there's no reason why you can't
build, trim and learn to fly a model yourself. The great thing about these is,
you can fly them in your back garden and you don't have to cart them 20 miles
away in your car to stand in a field with lots of blokes with beards to fly
them.
Advice:
Get a popular model because there's lots of spares available for when you
crash.
Read a book on how the things fly, this is a great help because you know what
you are building.
When you are setting it up, for god's sake tie the thing down.
There's lots of stuff on the net to help you set up and trim.
Don't cut costs on the gyro. get a good 'heading hold' model.
Get some big skids tied on the bottom.
| I got this model for Christmas a few years ago. Luckily my
wife had done her research and got the most popular model on the market, the
Raptor 30. It took about 3 days to assemble. You then need to balance and
track the blades, set up the Gyro, tail pitch and collective pitch settings
and setup the engine. I would recommend reading a book first on how
helicopters work, as it all makes sense when you come to assemble the
model. None of this is rocket-science though and as long as you are not a
moron you should be able to manage it without too much fuss. |
 |
| A close up of the rotor head. This is called a Bell-Hiller
mixer head. The disc at the base is the swash plate. This is for
transferring pitch controls to the rotating head. Above that is the washout
assembly and Hiller control arms up to the flybar. The flybar acts as a kind
of servo and this is coupled to the pitch control links on the blades. In
flight the blade tips are moving at approx 200 mph and there is around 100Kg
of centrifugal force trying to pull them out from their holders. At
the top is the 'Jesus nut' (a term used in real machines and models). Its
name speaks for itself! |
 |
| Tail rotor drive and pitch control mechanism. As with a full
size helicopter, the tail rotor is responsible for counteracting the torque
of the main rotor and by varying its pitch it is possible to control the yaw
of the machine. On the model, the tail pitch is run via a gyro which does
the hard work of controlling the heading, without which the model would be
near-impossible to fly. |
 |
| The radio. Collective pitch is on the left lever, normally
on your left hand in the full size machine. Cyclic is on your right lever,
normally your right hand, and tail pitch is left/right on the left lever,
normally on your feet in a full size machine. Sounds difficult doesn't it?
Well it is. However the great thing about model helicopters over model
planes is you can practice 2 inches off the ground and with some extra large
skids cable-tied on. Once you take off in a plane you're committed! After a
few hours you will be able to hover reasonably well before progressing to
circuits. |
 |
| Training in the early days. Great care is required and extra
large landing skids have been bodged on for greater stability. Any
over-confidence here and you will be digging it out of the lawn with a spade
and spending a lot of time un-bending it! There's also a safety aspect too
because there's enough energy in the rotor system to do you a great deal of
damage should you come into contact with it. |
 |
| A later, high-speed shot showing the model hovering. I still
use extended skids, but not as large. These can be more forgiving by
preventing a possible rollover when landing on rough grass. |
 |
| As a comparison, here I am during the solo part of my
training for a private helicopter licence. (PPL-H) I have about 44 hours in
now but even after this amount of time I am very much a learner still.
I will shortly be progressing to the navigation part of the course and will
hopefully get my licence sometime this year thanks to the excellent
instruction from Norman at the Manchester Helicopter Centre. |
 |
| A quick photo from my student's seat before the various
pre-takeoff checks. These include checking engine instruments, warning
lights, alternator output and the rotor freewheel mechanism (used in
engine-off landings). |
 |
| |
|
