Events - Orlando Helicopter Mini-Blowout - 2012

[carey shurley]

Last weekend was TORCHS annual spring event. The event was really successful, about 100 registered pilots...........for a 1 day event!

there were a couple of interesting gas helicopter things going on,

First - Pete Campbell got to do his pirouette magic with my Whiplash Gas model. It flies really well using the TRM VX270TT and a Hatori 956 muffler for power. Courtney Pruette recorded one of the flights with her 3D camera. If you've got some glasses you can watch it here:



Second - Scott Randall from over on the east coast of Florida brought over his Helibug conversion Trex 700. It was unique in that he was using a TRM ported motor along with a Quickdraw tuned pipe. Literally a small expansion chamber. I see these here and there and Jim Robertson was running them with alcohol fuel quite successfully about 15 years ago. Scotts model was making good power and was able to hold a 2240 RPM head speed very well even with some of the 3D pro pilots beating on it pretty hard. It was quite impressive.

Courtney captured some video in 3D of this model flying as well, as soon as its posted I'll link to it here as well.

[TODDC]

Carey

It is a tuned pipe that we build.

Todd

Quickdraw

[srandall]

Originally Posted by TODDC

Carey

It is a tuned pipe that we build.

Todd, Mitch, Carey and Al Yes this is a pipe you biult for me. I am running a 4" head pipe section at 16000 rpm (2240 Hs) on a TRM 270 tt engine.

A top pro tossed the heli around 2 times a the heli blowout and said it was the most power in a gasser that he had ever flown. I want everyone to know that real power can be had with bolt on parts and that performance can be as good with a gasser, almost or better to the same level as nito with some bolt on parts and using good tuning practices.

This thing ROCKS.

Thanks to Al, Todd and Mitch anyone can have the same machine. Take anything you know about old scool gassers apply a little real world science and push the limits way beyond what you thought could be done with these helis. I am olny here to help not to say there is a better way but to make the gasser a great way to practice 3D very cheap (16 -20 minutes) flight time at a price of 1 tenth of nitro with almost the same or better perfomance. We were asked to take down the video for respect to the pro that flew the heli at Orlando and will post a video that will show what can be done with bolt on parts.

I will help everyone with a gasser to get to the next level in this hobby. PM me if you want more info. Contact AL (TRM Power) Carey (Gas Powered Thoughts),Todd and Mitch (Quickdraw Engines) or myself to help you get this to crazy level of performace. This stuff works. Scott

[carey shurley]

I've talked to a number of people who seem to be independently working on tuned pipe setups this season

no question this is an avenue that will significantly add power to the setup. Although its not a new concept a lot has changed in the last coupla years that makes this a more practical approach

Until recently, most of the gas powered helicopter motors operated in the 10-12K RPM range. The pipes favor a higher RPM so they tended to be hard to tune and inconsistent and/or obnoxious in size

The latest generation of gas powered helicopters are capable of supporting 14-16K RPM engine speeds. This is more in the wheelhouse of what can work well with a more practical setup

No question the addition of a tuned pipe can add significant horsepower to the setup. Some work remains though in making them more aesthetically pleasing.

[TODDC]

Originally Posted by carey shurley

Until recently, most of the gas powered helicopter motors operated in the 10-12K RPM range. The pipes favor a higher RPM so they tended to be hard to tune and inconsistent and/or obnoxious in size

Carey

Depends on how the pipe is designed. Top end screamer built pipe will act like you said. Pipes built for lower or smoother powerband and rpm area is much more forgiving.

Todd

Quickdraw

[cdl]

I think Carey was refering to "off the shelf" pipes. It seems most (maybe not all) of the full length tuned pipes available today come from the boat world where 14k+ is more main stream. Whether we're barrowing from boat technology, or making new technology, I'm excited about where gassers are heading.

-Chris