Those minature remote control helicopters....
Discussion
My misus bought me a set for Christmas with two Pico-Z helicopters and an infared targetting system between the two of them. Must say they're incredibly good fun!
They require enough skill to control to make it worth doing, but without being frustrating. They also seem to be pretty much indistructable.
Does anyone know how they work? The rotor blades are propellors rather than aerofoil sections, so I suppose they're not technically helicopters? I presume they mostly operate on thrust with some sort of basic gyro controlling the tail rotor to combat the torque reaction from the rotors?
They require enough skill to control to make it worth doing, but without being frustrating. They also seem to be pretty much indistructable.
Does anyone know how they work? The rotor blades are propellors rather than aerofoil sections, so I suppose they're not technically helicopters? I presume they mostly operate on thrust with some sort of basic gyro controlling the tail rotor to combat the torque reaction from the rotors?
I've got one of these, good bit of clean fun. The tail is very loose now and it has a penchant for going right I've tried fixing it up and sorting the trim out but feel it's about to be written off. Before this I'm going to fly it out my flat window 4 stories high, might wait for the skaters to gather below to increase the chance of a soft landing.
Got one for my son a few months back - masses of fun; his mum also got him one for christmas.
The tail rotor is playing up on the one I got though. Too many crashes, have never been able to get the trim adjusted correctly (on either of them). The tail rotor only spins when i squeeze the tail end of the body.
The tail rotor is playing up on the one I got though. Too many crashes, have never been able to get the trim adjusted correctly (on either of them). The tail rotor only spins when i squeeze the tail end of the body.
I got a Super X Copter for Xmas too - fantastic little machine. Took a video of Mrs V_L flying it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QISoTiLwA_Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QISoTiLwA_Y
Viper_Larry said:
I got a Super X Copter for Xmas too - fantastic little machine. Took a video of Mrs V_L flying it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QISoTiLwA_Y
Aw, the film runs out just as it gets to Mrs V-L. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QISoTiLwA_Y
I got one of these as a present. Absolutely brilliant but I think my cats have taken one too many swipes at it as it now only turns left and I can't trim it up any more...
The pair of combat ones sound awesome!!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverlit-Radio-Control-Pi...
The pair of combat ones sound awesome!!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverlit-Radio-Control-Pi...
IforB said:
Just one small pedantic point. Propellors are aerofoils. How else would they work?
Ok, whatever the terminology is... they have a propellor profile rather than the almost flat wing section you get on a normal rotor blade. 
This is the set I've got: http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/sky-challenger/inde...
Chris71 said:
IforB said:
Just one small pedantic point. Propellors are aerofoils. How else would they work?
Ok, whatever the terminology is... they have a propellor profile rather than the almost flat wing section you get on a normal rotor blade. This is the set I've got: http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/sky-challenger/inde...
These little helicopters are like the very first helicopters. A modern helicopter has very complicated rotors to make them useful and find compromises between hovering ability, forward speed, load capacity, vibration etc.
The main difference between these helicopters and real ones is the scale. If you are interested in it you should google Reynolds number.
It's not really a pedantic point. A propellor is a wing that just happens to create lift by going round. Air travels over it and creates lift, in exactly the same way that an aircraft wing going through the air does.
Helicopter rotor blades are the same thing as a prop, they just look different as they are much longer and they spin at a lower RPM because of their length (got to be careful of tip speed. If it goes supersonic, you get all sorts of problems)In this case, the helicopter is very small and so are the blades, hence the fact they look like a prop. A vey simplistic answer and there are lots of other factors to take into account, but they are really relevant here.
They work on exactly the same principle, just at a different scale.
Helicopter rotor blades are the same thing as a prop, they just look different as they are much longer and they spin at a lower RPM because of their length (got to be careful of tip speed. If it goes supersonic, you get all sorts of problems)In this case, the helicopter is very small and so are the blades, hence the fact they look like a prop. A vey simplistic answer and there are lots of other factors to take into account, but they are really relevant here.
They work on exactly the same principle, just at a different scale.
Edited by IforB on Wednesday 2nd January 12:34
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