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The Whipitteer


Richard Harris
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I have been building and flying R/C planes for many years, mostly with success. I have never built or flown an autogyro. I have Whippit plans and a Revolver II short kit with rotor head fittings. Would it be advisable to wait for the Whippitear? I am in no hurry. I do not believe that there is anyone local who can assist me in trimming or figuring how to fly an autogyro.

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Chris,

I need to amend the drawings then I will send them over thumbs up, it became apparent that not all 3s 2200mah batteries are exactly the same dimensions, this made some of them a tight squeeze into the battery bay, just a simple case of widening it.

Out of interest, when out at the field I tried 2200mah, 1550mah and a 1300mah packs with no noticeable trim changes which is reassuring.

Ned,

There may well be someone near you, where are you situated?

If you have never built an autogyro or flown an autogyro before I would go with the Whippit, Cruiser or Atom. You will have to blow the Whippit plan up as it was published at a reduced size oddly.

The head and fittings will work fine on all of these designs. of course you can wait for the Whippiteer which I believe flies a bit smoother than its original counterpart, time will tell.

 

Rich

 

 

Edited By Richard Harris on 21/01/2020 10:07:52

Edited By Richard Harris on 21/01/2020 10:11:40

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Rich,

Thank you for the reply. If you see no particular difference between the Whippet and the Whippeteer, I'd tend to go with the Whippet, as the construction looks easier and more forgiving of abrupt descents to terra firma. By how much is the plan undersize? I guess that I could figure that out by looking at the stated length of the blades.

I live in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts.

Ned

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Chris,

When I first showed 'the boys' the design over on FB they suggested pushing the servos up a bit. As I was planning to build the 'full body' version this was my easiest option and, to be fair the Corona servos are no dearer than suitably sized metal geared units of roughly the same power. They are easily mounted on hardwood packers off the fuselage doublers.

That said, it would be no hardship to fit standard type servos, maybe on a couple of beams through the fuselage or inset them into the doublers with some form of clamp to secure?

Out of interest THESE are what I have used and I do recommend this supplier as I have used them several times in the past, not sure how they would fair sending to OZ though. Clearly there are better and more expensive types it just depends on folks budgets.

The motor used is THIS one spinning a 11 x 5.5 prop which gives me more than enough power, probably enough to pull a loop if I can pluck up the courage!

Rich

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Hi Rich, Only just come across this build thread and have always had an interest in autogiros and mosquitos, but that's another story.

What would you recommend for the first time giro jockey (previous balsa and Depron bashing skills present) Whippet or Whipitter? I fly indoor, have A & B certs + IC and just finished a Can Doo for a bit of fun.

I note your servo and motor recommendations for the Whipitter is there the same for the Whippet? Plus are plans available? No problem if they are electronic as I can print/resize if necessary.

Looks a lot of fun...can I join in?

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Chris,

Both models are powered by similar power plants, the Whippit was designed around a 1500mah 3s pack but many have flown with 2200mah batteries. Servos are also roughly the same kind of torque with metal gears.

Somewhere I have PDF's of the Whippit to which you are more than welcome to.

This one is slightly larger and feels to me to be more stable at this early stage (I am biased as its new), if I get chance over the weekend I will get a photo of them together as a comparison.

Either way they are huge amounts of fun!

Rich

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yesterday morning was the most favorable weather of the weekend so I took the Whippiteer out for its second outing. It started off calm but the wind soon picked up and became quite strong, it seems to handle it ok.

To compare I flew the model with and without the horizontal tail, as expected it needed down trim applied to compensate for its removal but was less effected by the wind.

Here is a video I grabbed of a couple of the flights:

It was noted after inspecting everything at home afterwards that the GWS linkage stoppers are just not up to the job and the push rods had moved within them. Probably the cause of the me running out of forward trim, luckily I had bent an angle in the push rods below the keeper.. I have ordered some JP stoppers which look to be up to the job with hexagan grubs crews rather than phillips head bolts.
I think I will stay indoors today.
Rich
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Gents,

Get your auto's in a flying state and come and join us at one of our get togethers during the year, we are a relaxed bunch who are always willing to test fly, trim and give advise to help others.

Your also more than welcome at my local flying site in Kidderminster, always best to work around a calm day if possible for trimming.

Rich

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Thinking about Chris's comment regarding the use of standard type servos I mocked up a simple idea today. All that's required is to mark the outline of the servo on the 3mm doubler and cut out down to the 6mm balsa core, then add blocks which are flush with the side of the servo clamping down with a ply (or whatever) strap.It seems plenty strong enough.

20200212_180947.jpg

20200212_181132.jpg

And the good news is I have spoken to Kevin to which he is more than happy to publish this as a free plan in RCM&E, so I will build a second model to get the build shots needed.

In the mean time there are now a few 'nuts' proof building to which I'm sure they will posts snaps as they progress, one of these will be IC version which I'm looking forward to smile

Rich

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Thanks for the invite Rich, been meaning to arrive at one of the meets for a while. Will put it on my to do list for 2020. Haven't tried my Atom since the last re-build and my Whippet is coming back together but looks a bit moth eaten. Needs new blades but may just patch up the old ones. Have invested in a second hand Auto-G2 but not flown (tried) it yet. Feel that I have been flying the Atom & Whippet too slow as when I turn they seem to drop in an uncontrollable spiral dive (spin). Have bought a couple of more powerful motors. I will succeed one of these days!

Edited By Bob Bertram on 12/02/2020 20:57:42

Edited By Bob Bertram on 12/02/2020 20:58:34

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Rich. I have the urge to have another try at flying an autogyro, I have a Rotorshape that I have not had a lot of success with and reading your Whippiteer thread I would like to build one when the design is published.

In the meantime I would like to build a Whippit, they look great fun to fly. Where can I buy a copy of the plan from? I have some EPP laying about in my workshop so I would like to put it to good use!

Thank you and keep up the good work. Phil.

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Hi Phil,

The rotorshape which is based on the suitcase Minnie by Jim Baxter does fly well once set up but can be hard to see.

Regarding the EPP Whipitt, if you can, find a copy of August 2014 Rc Model Flyer.

Failing that I will have a look through my memory sticks and see if I have the original PDF.

flyer_aug14_ofc.jpg

Let me know if you are unable to get a copy?

Rich

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