Paul Tradelius

I received the following e-mail from Jim Ryan about autorotations and the required pitch angles to make them work. Hi Paul, Hope winter is treating you well – what am I saying? Of COURSE winter is treating you well! Durned Floridians. I’ve set a task to myself to really master autos this year, and which will in […]

First flight test your helicopter with its standard tail rotor configuration, and note the gyro sensitivity setting as well as the tail rotor response on specific maneuvers. Now replace the stock tail rotor mounting bolt with a longer one so weights can be added to each side of the tail rotor blade. I have found […]

Last week, we looked at some basic principles of full-scale tail rotor design. This week, let’s investigate more into the four weights that are used in a full-scale helicopter rotor to reduce control power. But first, let’s review some engineering principals we already know. If you were to tie a small rock to the end […]

Tail rotor design in full scale helicopters is an on-going science to reduce weight, noise, and power requirements while increasing efficiency and stability. Although these same design parameters are also important to our model helicopters, their effects are a lot less noticeable and can be overcome without seriously degrading flight performance. As an example, if […]

Last week, we discussed the basics of LiPo batteries in this post. Now, let’s get into what the numbers mean and how to choose a battery that’s right for your helicopter. Voltage All Lithium Polymer cells have a nominal voltage of 3.7v per cell, and when fully charged the cell should read 4.2v. Another important […]