Re: Helicopters C
Posted: October 21st, 2017, 7:35 pm
My local hobby shop carries CST carbon, and another brand. You can find them online at CSTSales.com.
The motor sticks on my kids' first Chinook are about 10" hook-to-hook. These are vertical, and are joined with horizontal balsa sticks at the hook end and at the mid-point. Then x-bracing of Kevlar thread (if you cannot find thread, use some kevlar fishing line (braided fishing line, 5-10 pound), though glue may not stick as well). This rectangle formed by the motor sticks and the horizontal members is covered to make one vane, prevents looping. Then some additional vanes sticking out in the center of this covered section to prevent end-to-end instabilities.
I don't know yet if the 10" will be enough, I have no experience with these larger rotors. We fly next week, so we'll see if we are even close on our rubber selection.
Generally, we found last year we kept throwing more and more rubber at it, and times got longer and longer. We ended up with 16" motor stick last year. You can get bulk rubber at FAI, and hope either 3/32" or 1/8" will work well. Or you can strip your own, but a stripper is expensive. Dave at Freedom Flight will strip any width you want.
I think the Chinook will be quite a different learning curve, but I understand Dave has had excellent results so far with the prototypes for the kits. So it is do-able, and the bonus is huge. So we decided to go for it!
Good luck, and keep asking questions
Chuck
AAHS
The motor sticks on my kids' first Chinook are about 10" hook-to-hook. These are vertical, and are joined with horizontal balsa sticks at the hook end and at the mid-point. Then x-bracing of Kevlar thread (if you cannot find thread, use some kevlar fishing line (braided fishing line, 5-10 pound), though glue may not stick as well). This rectangle formed by the motor sticks and the horizontal members is covered to make one vane, prevents looping. Then some additional vanes sticking out in the center of this covered section to prevent end-to-end instabilities.
I don't know yet if the 10" will be enough, I have no experience with these larger rotors. We fly next week, so we'll see if we are even close on our rubber selection.
Generally, we found last year we kept throwing more and more rubber at it, and times got longer and longer. We ended up with 16" motor stick last year. You can get bulk rubber at FAI, and hope either 3/32" or 1/8" will work well. Or you can strip your own, but a stripper is expensive. Dave at Freedom Flight will strip any width you want.
I think the Chinook will be quite a different learning curve, but I understand Dave has had excellent results so far with the prototypes for the kits. So it is do-able, and the bonus is huge. So we decided to go for it!
Good luck, and keep asking questions
Chuck
AAHS