Designs

[new horizon]

What exactly is a helical design? Is there a certain shape of the rotors it has to be, or is it just a higher angle near the shaft that decreases as one moves along the rotor? (So pitch would be consistent throughout the rotor)

[chalker7]

What exactly is a helical design? Is there a certain shape of the rotors it has to be, or is it just a higher angle near the shaft that decreases as one moves along the rotor? (So pitch would be consistent throughout the rotor)

As you suggest, helical just refers to the changing angle to keep the pitch constant across the rotor and is not related to the shape of the blade. The common design that almost everyone uses with two crossed spars is a helical design.

[twototwenty]

Does anyone know where I could purchase (online) a relatively cheap kit to use as a starting point?

[mrsteven]

Does anyone know where I could purchase (online) a relatively cheap kit to use as a starting point?

Look on the soinc site. There are links to a few. If those are too pricy for you (some are quite expensive for a starting point) google parlor helicopters. You'll find online stores that sell them. That's the basic design people use. In terms of parlor helicopters, how well you do depends on your skills constructing them

[new horizon]

Thanks chalker! I was having difficulty understanding that.

twofortwenty, http://www.freedomflightmodels.com/paypal.htm is the kit that most teams used last year, it's 50 dollars per kit. Though it's not optimized for this year so you would have to do some adjustments like changing the size of the rotor.

[jazzy090]

I called the nice people up at freedom flights and they were kind enough to respec the design for this year.
You can order a legal design right now!

[twototwenty]

I believe illusionist said earlier here that each helicopter cost him(?) about three dollars...I'm assuming he was making them from scratch, so what is it about the kits that makes them so expensive?

[wlsguy]

The actual components in a helicopter probably cost in the $3 range.

You end up paying for the assembly fixtures and the laser cut ribs. These add cost to the kit.
You also get a small amount of rubber in the kit.

Basically the kit has some mark-up but I think its why most people only buy one (and then start building from scratch)

[Littleboy]

He probably also buys his parts in bulk (because he goes through so much) so that the cost per helicopter would be cheaper.
A kit is good for inexperienced people to learn some key things and get practice building one before they go out on their own. Building from scratch is good when you know the basics. This also allows you to make it how you want so that it can be better.

[twototwenty]

It's been a little while since anyone's talked about this...has anyone had any sucess with the chinook style helicopter?