Bye, bye flybar

[MarkWebber]

Don't rappys look good sans flybar? :D

[HeliDan]

This is my newbness talking, but how do you make that work? more gyros?

[OICU812]

He is messin with you. It is possible however. Mikado makes the system it is called V-Bar. This heli in pic above though however does not have that, he has done it just for the pic. Unless he can tell me otherwise and show what he has done.

[andrewt1971]

It's just a guess, but looking at the orientation of what looks like a 401 gyro under the boom i'd say it's got some sort of electronic stabilizer in there.

[OICU812]

Yeah maybe some experimental thing going on there I guess.... :roll:

[spork]

Well, it sure does look like he's got a 401 setup for the pitch axis. I'm betting he has one for the roll axis as well. Given that it's not an eCCPM head, all he needs are a couple of respectably fast cyclic servos on those gyros, and I'd think it should work flybarless just fine.

[DebianDog]

CSM has a cheaper Vstab type system coming soon!

[Tintin]

I just wonder how the heck he got into my house to steal my canopy.... :arggg:

[MarkWebber]

I just wonder how the heck he got into my house to steal my canopy....

I'm sneaky that way :twisted:


He is messin with you. It is possible however. Mikado makes the system it is called V-Bar. This heli in pic above though however does not have that, he has done it just for the pic. Unless he can tell me otherwise and show what he has done.

Doubt not. :D It's gone. I've got an AP2000i on it with the two gyros as noted by others. I'm not quite done with it yet. Crappy weather around here lately. I hope to have the stabilization going this weekend. The few flights I got in last weekend were promising.

BTW..fast servos are not necessary or, I imagine, desirable. You only want to use rate mode on the gyros and gain/delay needs to be adjusted to keep the oscillations down. If the wind would just back off today :roll: I could sneak in another test flight. I really want to get this thing dialed in soon.

I've got a few more pics in my gallery, too.

[BarracudaHockey]

That would look good an a Bell 222 or a Jet Ranger body.

[MarkWebber]

That would look good an a Bell 222 or a Jet Ranger body.

I agree. Might have to be an OH-58D, though. I really want a multi. Former military time leaves me with a soft spot for the Kiowa's.

[MarkWebber]

Had a few more flights on it now. If I was better with gyro setup, things might be even better. Anyhow, it's flying much like before conversion. But the roll rate is sick! :shock: I had green paddles on it before and it's probably 50-75% faster in cyclic rate. That's with 7 degrees cyclic travel. Way too fast for me. I barely had time to move the collective in response to the flip/roll.

If nothing else, it's been an interesting conversion. I thought I might switch back to the flybar once I had learned the process. I think I'm hooked...and no more flybar to bump moving the heli around! :D

[alexander]

Mark,

Any more to report on the 401 for flying habits, good or bad?

Stephen

[MarkWebber]

Stephen

I haven't had a chance to fly much since the weather won't cooperate. I did get one more quick flight since my last post. I'm thinking it's flying just like it was prior to the conversion. Weather permitting, I've got a pilot that knows what he's doing to put it through some real 3D. Then I'll know better if it's exhibiting any bad tendancies.

I'm seriously considering swapping my AP gasser to flybarless. Should eliminate the 'funky chicken' I encounter in the wind on spool up/down. :D It hasn't cost me a set of 810's yet but has flopped over twice. My luck can't hold out forever. :wink:

[MarkWebber]

Got in 2 more flights today. This really makes me wish I was a better pilot. This heli seem so much more responsive now. Couldn't get anyone to brave the cold with me to shoot video. I'm dying to time the roll rate. Didn't seem like more than a second to complete a roll. Definately much faster than with the flybar installed. Not really much time to move collective. I was bogging the head less today. Previously I think I was inputting too much collective while trying in vain to keep up with the roll rate. Today I just moved to about 0 stick then back to positive and the headspeed didn't drop much. Can't wait to see what it'll do in the hands of a skilled pilot.

Also tried HH on the gyros. Doesn't feel like much difference vs rate mode. Maybe a touch more stable but it was so windy it is hard to say.