Viscoelastic the pilot

fig 1. Full Function 3 Channel Indoor Double Rotor RC Helicopter is a full 3-D flight Helicopter. This ready to fly helicopter has full function with omni-directional flight. Comes with battery, charger and transmitter. The Double Rotor Helicopter can go forward, backward,(sic) left or right with precision control.

The last few days have seen me piloting my newly acquired RC helicopter. Like all fun ideas, this one came from a website recommended by agent black.

Well, this toy looks like a helicopter, but in fact it works on very different principles. So first let me describe the differences. A real helicopter has collective and cyclic pitch control, that is the rotor blade can change its "angle of attack (AOA)" as it passes through different parts of the cycle. For example, to move forward, the AOA (and therefore lift also) is increased as the blade passes over the tail of the chopper, this causes a moment tilting the airframe so that the resultant thrust drives it forward. The rear rotor is for countering the angular momentum generated by the main rotor. So to spin the airframe around the vertical axis, it adjusts the power supplied to the rear rotor.

So my dinky little craft has 3 channels (throttle/updown, yaw/turning, and rear/frontback). Mechanically, it has two co-axial counter rotating rotors, the opposing angular momentum cancels each other out, therefore eliminating the need for a side-facing rear rotor. Forward/backward flight is achieved by switching on a rear fan which points towards the sky, thus tilting the airframe forwards and backwards. However the response is extremely sluggish, and more often than not, it moves into an unstable mode of flight where it wobbles precariously in air. Yaw control is much sharper, but I have no clue how it works.

Despite its simplicity, this machine is still incredibly addictive, currently I have pretty much mastered hovering and turning, forward flight is tricky but I will continue practising till I feel confident enough to terrorize the pigs. Perhaps invite them for a ride.

This toy has wetted my appetite, and I am already planning to purchase a proper nitro powered heli with full pitch controls, like the Nexus by Kyosho.


fig2. Kyosho Nexus

check out videos of today's test flight. A few MBs each... Hehe, in the cheesey soundtrack, the girl is singing "believe me I can fly... I'm proud to fly up high..."