created this helicopter using an oversize turboprop for the main rotor and some rotators for main directional control.
it's a real bear to fly, but it can be done. recommend 40-50% power until you get the hang of things. camera-1 and camera-2 work well for seeing what's going on, the chase camera is difficult because you don't see things soon enough to react to them. constant inputs are a must, there is no straight and level in this thing.
I've gotten it up to about 160 mph before I lost control but I'm pretty sure it can go faster with some patience and skill. landing is... challenging... you need to arrest your descent with power and then quickly cut power so you don't bounce and take off again.
improvements welcome! let me know what you think.
Specifications
Spotlights
- Foxophonist 7.5 years ago
General Characteristics
- Successors 3 airplane(s) +21 bonus
- Created On Mac
- Wingspan 10.4ft (3.2m)
- Length 55.2ft (16.8m)
- Height 14.0ft (4.3m)
- Empty Weight 7,376lbs (3,345kg)
- Loaded Weight 14,556lbs (6,602kg)
Performance
- Power/Weight Ratio 0.926
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.346
- Wing Loading 233.9lbs/ft2 (1,142.1kg/m2)
- Wing Area 62.2ft2 (5.8m2)
- Drag Points 3769
Parts
- Number of Parts 56
- Control Surfaces 0
- Performance Cost 330
@karock it's hard to fly @karock
new version up now: https://www.simpleplanes.com/a/pm4ek7/Helicopter-with-rotor-tilt-v2
for some reason it didn't pick it up as a successor. oh well.
@AgDynamics think your suggestion to go back to the small prop might indeed be the way to go. seems like I might be able to simplify some other things in the xml and get better balance too. will probably put up a new version this afternoon. thanks!
yeah I limited the rotators to 2º or so. I was using the overpowered small prop engine but things started working better when I switched to the turboprop. might try switching back though to see if it was that or something else I did that improved the balance.
Looks great, can't wait to fly it!
Realistically controlled helicopters are definitely a challenge. I find that it helps if you use XML modding to limit the range of your rotators to just a few degrees. 15° is a huge amount of movement for a heli rotor and makes things very twitchy. Also if you're controlling yaw with a variable-pitch tail prop, the pitch range scale only needs to be like 2-3%
And I would recommend overpowering a small prop engine instead of a turboprop, because the turboprop takes much longer to spool up/down in response to throttle position.
yeah, I messed with it for hours but couldn't get the forces to balance out. it's not a weight issue, seems like there's some kind of torque being applied somewhere but I wasn't able to figure out from what or how to counter it easily.
Looks amazing, it likes to pull to the right though, other than that it's perfect
looks great!
cool