from Vortech homebuilt helicopter handbook

Ben Showers’ colorfully named helicopter, lhe Sky Twister, is a state-of-the-art recreation of one of the best known homebuilt designs of the past sev eral decades: the Adams-Wilson Choppy.

Mr. Showers has taken that design, improved it, enhanced its looks, and added an attractive and highly useful windshield. He is offering plans for building this high-performance, vet relative!) easy and low-cost project.

The single-seat SkyTwister has been designed for the homebuilder and can be scratch-built entirely from the plans. Its bolt-together main frame is built from 4130 steel and aluminum tubing The control system emulates that of a standard helicopter, with full collective, cyclic and foot-operated tail-rotor pedals.

Licensing is obtained in the Experimental Aircraft category. The SkyTwister was never available as a kit, although plans and materials use to be available in the 1990’s.

By Nev Walker – Ayr Nth Qld 4807 – December 2000

Enclosed is a photo of my SKYTWISTER helicopter – NW plan modified light helicopter, which I have had in the air for around the last 10 months.

This machine is one of two Skytwisters built in my engineering workshop over the last 2 1/2 years; the second machine is due to be inspected within the next 2 months.

SkyTwister Notes From Ben to Adam (Redback Aviation)…(1990’s)

The new design tube tail contains a belt system. I feel this is the most maintenance free, dependable, strong and affordable drive there is for a light helicopter. With over 200 flight hours logged and the belt still looks brand new. I’m not sold on heavier commercial gearboxes, drive shafts, carrier bearings, plus the weight of the shaft drive system.

Poly Chain cog belts can be used for the primary and secondary drive. But the cost for these systems are very expensive! (EDITOR: now days, as an option, you can get off the shelf motorcycle belt drive sprockets that might work).

The sprocket-chain drive is low cost, easy to set-up and adjust, plus the O-ring racing chain needs no lubrication. All the professional moto-cross, hill climbing and racing bikes use this type of O-ring chain and they totally abuse them all year round.

The horizontal stabilizer is adjustable with 17° and works very well. The all extruded “Fleck” rotorblade system (now being sold by Vortech with a stronger 6061 spar) tracks in super smooth without the need for trim tabs. It was surprisingly easy due to the consistent weight, balance and blade finish.

Time Life Schedules? Well, we have been working on tracking this, but at the moment – we haven’t got enough hours up – so for now, a bit of common sense and manufacturers specifications should be a rough starting guide.

Fuel consumption is currently around 4 to 5gal per hour on the two stroke engine. This depends on what type of flying you are doing – “All Hover” or “Mostly Cruising” which uses less.

All cruise and general performance specifications are similar to the Mini 500, Angel CH7, LoneStar, Ultrasport etc…though top speeds (VNE) are more moderate for safety.

400-450 main rotor RPM seems to be the sweet spot and works best with the SkyTwister. The Exec 90 weighs around 900lbs dry and uses a higher 500 RPM in their design. The blade size, symmetrical airfoil type, with the SkyTwisters weight, rotor system design are things that determined what works best in rotor blades.

I prefer my drive system but ultimately, it’s up to the builder. While it may look a little complex, I built it this way so that the ordinary backyard mechanic (like me), can build my helicopter design.

Cheers, Ben…

Homemade Helicopter

JULY 1, 2008 1 MIN READ

Yes, a person from the Guangdong Province in China has built a working helicopter with just a $3000 budget. Continue reading to see this homemade helicopter in-action.

A tinkerer since he dropped out of school in his teens, Chen Zhaorong has been working on this project for nearly 10 years, but only began flight attempts a few months ago.

NIGERIAN MAN MADE HELICOPTER

I’ve built little in my time, and I blame the reason on my not planning things through. Apparently that’s not the case for a Nigerian man, who built a HOMEMADE HELICOPTER. Being a physics undergraduate, Mubarak wanted to build some vehicle and actually found it cheaper to build a helicopter than a car. Being a keen junk salvager, he scored some parts from a crashed plane and other vehicles. The helicopter is unable to go higher than 7ft, but it sure beats the desk (which came with instructions) I’ve managed to build in the past!

It is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago. For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. It has never attained an altitude of more than seven feet.

Source: Yahoo! News

NIGERIAN BOY HELICOPTER

See The 5-Seater Helicopter Built By A Nigerian Boy With Local Materials (See Photos)

This kind of raw talent needs to be harnessed. This secondary school student reportedly built a five-seater helicopter using locally sourced materials. He designed this right at his backyard in his village in Igala land, Kogi state.

If such a young boy can build this with scarce resources and in an unfavorable condition, imagine what he will do when he has everything at his disposal.