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Fire Fly 2 autogyro build


David Ashby - Moderator
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David,

Nice craftsmanship, I do like the cowlthumbs up . You will be surprised at just how easy the blades are to make, I remove wedges of wood with a belt sander then finish off by hand. I know that others who don't like the mess swear by a razor plane to get the bulk off.

Just seen this video of a gent in Australia with his just flown his Fire Fly II for the first time. He has constructed his from Depron and carbon tube to keep the weight down to 600 grammes so as to get the best from the HK blades, flies very well I think for a first attempt.

Rich

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Great shaping and curving and excellent finish David - and posh: a tail-wheel.

I did the head assembly and made up the glass-fibre plate last week so almost there now. Blade sanding for me today. Spruce leading edges already bonded and paper aerofoils glued on each end. I have made up an aerofoil template in hard plastic so I can check my sanding as I go. I will use a belt sander for speed for rough shaping - outside the workshop!

I had to do some fettling of the two parts of the head which hold the mast top. One was about 1.5mm narrower than the other so it took some careful filing to get it all to fit.

Peter

 

Edited By Grasshopper on 30/10/2012 08:00:46

Edited By Grasshopper on 30/10/2012 08:00:58

Edited By Grasshopper on 30/10/2012 08:01:24

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Dave - mine seems to come out at 33.5".

Peter - it would be interesting to see a piccy of your rotor head and the blades when you've done them. That's a good idea re the template.

I'll be adding the ESC and Rx this evening to make sure it's all shipshape then it's rotor head and then no excuse not to attack the blades!

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image.jpg

 

Looking at the tail feathers in the photos one side is white and the other side is orange, now this makes tracking and orientation much easer  trust me it works.

Model built by a good friend of mine wink 2

Bill

Edited By BILL PETTIT on 30/10/2012 17:17:42

Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 31/10/2012 08:15:00

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Two blades down and two to go. I will probably need that essential spare!

img_6853_web.jpg

I cut these two blade blanks on the belt sander yesterday afternoon. Not as difficult as I had expected and with a plastic template like this, made a lot easier as you can rapidly check the profile along the length of a blade as you go. I will make another two this morning when the sun warms things up a little!

The black outline on the blade ends is a cutout copy of the plan profile, black felt tipped and glued onto the end before I started to sand. I made a pencil line on the front hardwood edge 2mm from the bottom and sanded a flat between this line and the rear of the top hard wood edge. The actual profile can then be easily sanded in.

A second flat is made between two pencil lines: one on top of the blade 2cm forward of the rear edge and the other on the rear edge, 1mm from the bottom. Again this leaves an easy profiling task.

Peter

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Two more blades today and then the weigh in.

Three at 20g and one at 17g.frown

Odd - until I noticed the difference in colour of the leading edge on the light one. I had used some locally bought (in France) wood I was told was 'hard' called samba which it turns out is obeche which although it seems quite hard is also very light. Hence the weight difference - and if I want to use this one I will have to make two more of the same. Later perhaps?

Quite content though as I have 3 blades at 20g ready for CofG testing and hole boring so good progress. Rich says the blades should weight 24 - 30g so not sure how I have managed to be so light but I guess by the time they are covered and the f/g parts added they will be near 24g.smiley

Peter

Edited By Grasshopper on 31/10/2012 20:28:18

Edited By Grasshopper on 31/10/2012 20:28:40

Edited By Grasshopper on 31/10/2012 20:28:55

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