Radio Control: Helicopters
WELCOME BACK! This month we're going to take a look at a different sort of rotorcraft known as an autogyro. An autogyro, by definition, is an aircraft supported in flight by an unpowered main rotor. This basically means that, unlike a helicopter which has the main rotor mechanically linked to the power plant, an autogyro has a freewheeling main rotor that is propelled through the air by some type of motor or engine attached to the 'gyro's fuselage. Because the autogyro's rotor is attached to the fuselage in such a manner that its disk is at a positive angle of attack, the relative wind enters the bottom side of the rotor disk, and the main rotors are spun-up from this upward flow of air. You can think of an autogyro as a helicopter whose main rotor is always in autorotation.
Radio Control: Helicopters
WELCOME BACK! This month's column will be a review of Schluter's Champion. Before I get started, I would like to thank the kind folks at Miniature Aircraft Supply for supplying us with both the Champion with a Schluter muffler and the Schluter ABC Webra Helicopter engine to power it with for our product test. I apologize for taking so long to get to it. I've been so darn busy that it's just been super-hard to find the time. Anyway, I'm very happy with the Champion, and I'm sure you will be, too. If you have not seen a Champion fly, please read this review. If you have seen one fly, you've probably already added one to your hangar, but read it anyway and let me know if you agree with me.
Radio Control: Helicopters
ROTARY WINGS. In the February issue I discussed the Wallis autogyro kit from England's Micro Mold. I have since received more mail on autogyros than on any other subject I have reported on! The major questions from these readers concerned the flying qualities of the autogyro. One of the more interesting letters came from Skip Ruff (Taft, CA). He designed the very successful twin-rotor autogyro which was published in a 1974 issue of Model Builder magazine. He probably has as much experience with autogyros as anyone in the country, so let's hear what he has to say. "I enjoyed your column in the February 1987 issue of MA dealing with gyros. (Autogyros, that is!)
Radio Control: Helicopters
"HELLO, Larry Jolly? This is David Quick. I'm a property master at Warner's, and I understand you fly model Helicopters." That's how my last week's work started. Ten days would elapse from the first phone call to the final shot. These days included selection of the Helicopters, working out the changes desired by the studio's art director, one day's flying for the director and producer to work out the storyboard, one day's flying with the star's stunt double as a rehearsal, building and testing four machines, and three days of actual filming. Once it was determined that I would be doing the job, I was privy to more information, such as the fact that this would be a comedy sequence where an obnoxious neighbor chases the lead actor with a model Helicopter-with the chase ultimately ending in the Helicopter striking the front door of a house just as it is slammed shut.
Radio Control: Helicopters
JUST before the Toledo Show, John Gorham was kind enough to send me information on his latest projects, so I thought I'd pass some of that along now. Probably the most significant of these is the announcement of the availability of the Limited Edition Stork from GMP. Those of you who have been reading Radio Control Helicopters Magazine have already become acquainted with Hirobo's latest creation. The basic Stork uses tried and proven Hirobo mechanics which are manufactured from space-age composite materials. I have one of Hirobo's Storks under construction and will report on it and its American cousin in a future issue.
