Gyro Placement

[Adam915]

I am new to RC Flying - never flown before...

Last week I finally decided to finally carry out a childhood wish and went out and bought a TREX450SE.

I am currently in the building process and had a question concerning the Gyro placement. (Futaba GY401)

Can the gyro be mounted in the nose of the helicopter or does it need to be placed near center mass?

Any pros/cons regarding placement in the Heli?

Thanks in advance...
ADAM915

[MicroMan]

Congratulations on youre nyew heli, great choice by the way. Most people mount the 401 underneath the boom block since it protects the gyro from getting hit by the blades. Its also easier to adjust the settings on the gyro if its mounted underneath the the boom block.

I have some pics in my gallery of how I mounted my 401 on my former T-Rex. You may want to check out Ricks Gyro mount for the T-Rex 450 series of helis, it'll make your life a little eaiser than trying to fabricate your own gyro mount. The gryo mount that is in my gallery is one of Ricks mounts.

[vera]

Can the gyro be mounted in the nose of the helicopter or does it need to be placed near center mass?

Without regard to any other consideration, just working, it will work anywhere. What it's measuring is the rate of rotation of its own case. If it were not this way then you couldn't fly backwards because when you do that the rear-mounted gyro is then "in the front".

The main consideration, as far as just working goes, is for the vertical axis of the gyro to be parallel to the vertical axis of the heli. If the gyro is leaning forward, for example, the it will respond not only to yaw but also roll, to some extent, depending on how far it's leaning. So when you roll right, for example, it would act as some right rudder had also been applied. Likewise, if the gyro is leaning left/right then it will also respond to pitch attitude changes (nose up/down movement).