Author Topic: Autogyro kits available (Read 2635 times)

Scott Bauman · « **on:** January 18, 2021, 08:43:30 AM »

Is there any auto gyro kits available commercially? I have seen some plans but not kits.

pat king · « **Reply #1 on:** January 18, 2021, 09:39:05 AM »

I sell two C/L Autogyro laser cut kits.

Pat

Mike Griffin · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2021, 03:24:26 PM »

Hi Scott,

Back a few years ago when I was still producing kits, I put out a kit of Dick Mathis's design of Otto the Giro. Those are no longer being manufactured. Your best bet is to go with the kits that Pat is producing. His kits are very high quality.

Mike

wwwarbird · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2021, 09:05:10 PM »

"Otto the Gyro" is a neat design and a nice size. If Pat did a kit I'd buy one.

Mike Griffin · « **Reply #4 on:** January 20, 2021, 10:39:33 AM »

Since this subject has come up, I thought I would share the story of how the Dick Mathis Design of the Otto kit came to be. I think Dick spelled it OTTO THE GIRO but I have also seen it as OTTO THE GYRO.

Allan Perret, who was a member of our club here in New Orleans and who is now deceased, came to my house one day with a set of Dick Mathis's plans for Otto and wanted me to kit it. I took one look at it and started to laugh and told Allan if I sold two kits of it I would be lucky. But Allan was persistent so I started doing some preliminary work and sent a set of the plans to Eric Rule to see about him putting it in CAD. Eric told me I was crazy and if I sold one kit it would be a miracle. I told him I agreed but Allan thought it would be a great seller.

We had a couple of major hurdles to overcome to put this into a kit form. (1) How to construct the rotor blades and (2) how to design a rotor hub for the blades. This is where Allan came in. Allan was one of the best mechanics and engineers I have ever known so I went to him for help. Allan could design a jig for anything so we put our heads together and started tackling the rotor problem. We decided on using 3/8" balsa planks for the blades. Allan designed a jig that would cut the proper angles on the leading and trailing edges of the rotor blades. I ordered a LOT of 3/8 x 3 x 24 inch balsa planks from Eric and Allan brought the jig he designed to my house and we carried my band saw to the back yard and started running the balsa through it using this jig. You ran the balsa twice through the jig. The first run cut the angle on the leading edge, then you would flip it around and run it through the second time to cut the angle on the trailing edge. The jig he designed to do this really was pure genius.

Then we had to solve the problem of designing a hub for the rotor blades to fit into. Allan found some Polystyrene material at Home Depot and designed another jig to cut the slots in Polystyrene hubs at the proper angle and they worked perfectly. So when you received your kit, all you had to do was sand the rotor blades just slightly, insert the ends of the blades on each side of the hub (gluing them in with epoxy)
and then secure the rotor blade assembly over the 1/8" music wire spoke that the rotors would turn on.

This eliminated the guess work and tedious labor of cutting the proper angle of the leading and trailing edges of the blades themselves and then tilting each blade at the proper angle of attack within the hub itself.

They flew great and the most surprising part was that it was the biggest selling kit I ever produced.

Thank you Dick Mathis and Allan Perrett. This was the part of the hobby I enjoyed the most.

Mike

Mike Hazel · « **Reply #5 on:** January 20, 2021, 12:17:12 PM »

Go to flyinglines.org and check out the plane of the week. I did this one scratch-built.

Mike Griffin · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2021, 06:29:27 AM »

Quote from: Mike Hazel on January 20, 2021, 12:17:12 PM

Go to flyinglines.org and check out the plane of the week. I did this one scratch-built.

That looks great Mike. How did it fly?

Mike

pat king · « **Reply #7 on:** January 21, 2021, 11:09:13 AM »

I have attached a picture of the Baby Ringmaster Gyro and the Ringmaster Gyro. The Baby Ringmaster Gyro will loop with no problem.

Pat

Mike Hazel · « **Reply #8 on:** January 21, 2021, 11:20:54 AM »

Quote from: Mike Griffin on January 21, 2021, 06:29:27 AM

That looks great Mike. How did it fly?

Mike

Just finished it, still waiting to put it up.

john e. holliday · « **Reply #9 on:** January 21, 2021, 12:44:08 PM »

I have one of Mikes kits and need to get around to assembling it. Had one I built years ago that I flew the heck out of it. Jim Lee has one he usually cleans house in balloon burst with.

John Rist · « **Reply #10 on:** January 21, 2021, 01:02:43 PM »

Has anyone converted one of Pat's Ringmaster Autogyro kits to electric? What size motor does the standard size ship take?

Scott Bauman · « **Reply #11 on:** January 23, 2021, 07:36:53 PM »

Thanks for all of the information. I have not been doing any model building lately due to family issues. I have all of my kits, engines and parts. My hobby room is full of airplanes ready to get flying again and it is always good to find more kits to build.
-Scott

pat king · « **Reply #12 on:** January 23, 2021, 09:01:48 PM »

Quote from: John Rist on January 21, 2021, 01:02:43 PM

Has anyone converted one of Pat's Ringmaster Autogyro kits to electric? What size motor does the standard size ship take?

I can do the Ringmaster Gyro as an electric airplane. I would design for the same power system as the Ringmaster Trainer III electric. That is an RSM25SYS using an RSM KDA A30-12M motor.

Pat

John Rist · « **Reply #13 on:** January 24, 2021, 10:28:43 AM »

Quote from: pat king on January 23, 2021, 09:01:48 PM

I can do the Ringmaster Gyro as an electric airplane. I would design for the same power system as the Ringmaster Trainer III electric. That is an RSM25SYS using an RSM KDA A30-12M motor.

Pat

Pat PM sent

John Rist · « **Reply #14 on:** January 24, 2021, 10:54:40 AM »

Quote from: pat king on January 21, 2021, 11:09:13 AM

I have attached a picture of the Baby Ringmaster Gyro and the Ringmaster Gyro. The Baby Ringmaster Gyro will loop with no problem.

Pat

How about the Ringmaster Gyro. Will it also loop?

pat king · « **Reply #15 on:** January 24, 2021, 11:12:06 AM »

I don't have a flight report on the Ringmaster Gyro. It has the same rotor blade pitch and the same mast angle as the Baby, so I would guess it would. The first time the Baby was looped it was by accident. The pilot was going from level flight to high angle flight, it got carried away and he finished with a loop. He knew not to try to pull out inverted. In the video of the Baby he actually does a 2 loop maneuver.

Pat

Dave Rigotti · « **Reply #16 on:** January 25, 2021, 02:17:48 PM »

Pat,
Got links to these 2 gyros?

Quote from: pat king on January 21, 2021, 11:09:13 AM

I have attached a picture of the Baby Ringmaster Gyro and the Ringmaster Gyro. The Baby Ringmaster Gyro will loop with no problem.

Pat

john e. holliday · « **Reply #17 on:** January 25, 2021, 03:23:04 PM »

I'm back from the Flying Lines site looking at Mike's Gyro. Got to looking at all the great planes on that site. Have only done the 2020 favorites so far. A guy could spend days looking through the Flying Lines site.

pat king · « **Reply #18 on:** January 25, 2021, 07:54:35 PM »

Quote from: Dave Rigotti on January 25, 2021, 02:17:48 PM

Pat,
Got links to these 2 gyros?

I know I can't link to the video on my hard drive, and it's way too big to post. I'll have to see if I can find it on the web and then figure out how to link to it.

Pat

Dave Rigotti · « **Reply #19 on:** January 25, 2021, 08:17:03 PM »

I was asking for a link for these to your website. I don't see either of these there.

Quote from: pat king on January 25, 2021, 07:54:35 PM

I know I can't link to the video on my hard drive, and it's way too big to post. I'll have to see if I can find it on the web and then figure out how to link to it.

Pat

pat king · « **Reply #20 on:** January 25, 2021, 08:30:44 PM »

Quote from: Dave Rigotti on January 25, 2021, 08:17:03 PM

I was asking for a link for these to your website. I don't see either of these there.

Over half of my airplanes are not on the website. I can not access the template to post stuff.
Pat

pat king · « **Reply #21 on:** January 25, 2021, 08:31:55 PM »

If you go to You Tube and search for "BabyRingo2" you will find the video for the Baby.

Pat

john e. holliday · « **Reply #22 on:** January 26, 2021, 10:43:36 AM »

That Gyro is fast.

pat king · « **Reply #23 on:** January 26, 2021, 01:47:48 PM »

The Ringmaster Gyro Electric kit is available for $109.25 plus shipping.

Pat

david smith · « **Reply #24 on:** January 26, 2021, 04:20:06 PM »

Here is a video to my otto the gyro. I think with a little more power you could do nicer loops. I has a worn out enya 29 for power.

david

pat king · « **Reply #25 on:** January 27, 2021, 03:52:24 PM »

David,
It looks like your Enya 29 needs a new piston and sleeve. From the video it looks like it wouldn't pull a fat girl off of a toilet!!!

Pat

Dave Rigotti · « **Reply #26 on:** January 31, 2021, 06:43:01 AM »

I noticed none of the plans of any "xxx the giro" show a balance point. Can anyone confirm where it should be?

John Rist · « **Reply #27 on:** January 31, 2021, 08:32:24 AM »

Quote from: Dave Rigotti on January 31, 2021, 06:43:01 AM

I noticed none of the plans of any "xxx the giro" show a balance point. Can anyone confirm where it should be?

I just had a talk with Pat King. It is not well established where the optimum CG should be. Not a lot of Gyros around because they are just a weird fun thing. According to pat it needs to forward of the rotor. I have one of Pat's E-Ringmaster Gyro kits on the way. I have started a thread in the Getting all AMP'ed up section. I plan to take lots of pictures as I build the kit. I will experiment with CG to find the sweet spot. My gold will be good stable flight and also be able to loop. May never get there but should be fun trying. If some one out there has some hard data on CG please share!