[TC15] Fairey Rotodyne (video!)

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

Video of finished product:

Hey everyone,

I really loved the idea for TC15 so I'm back with my second contest entry, the Heliplane (or Aerocopter since it could really go both ways). the model will feature several functions and I hope to get an M-Motor and BB in there to power some of them.

• swashplate on main rotor (collective pitch + 2-way tilting)
• variable pitch on both propellers
• Spinning propellers + main rotor
• Landing gear
• Ailerons
• Elevator
• Rudder

Here's a picture of my inspiration, the Fairey rotodyne. And following will be pictures of my progress. I have so far worked out the spinning propellers + rotors, the swasplate (at least the controls for it), the ailerons, and the variable pitch for the propellers which uses @Lipko's excellent solution.

That's all. Expect rapid progress- the goal is to finish this by Jan. 7th.

Thanks for reading!

BbBT

Edited February 3, 2019 by BrickbyBrickTechnic

[1gor]

I think you need another propellers, as far as I can see. This one would be more usefull

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=99012&idColor=85#T=C&C=85

[m00se]

Congratulations one finding the weirdest aircraft ever made; reading it's wikipedia right now to learn more about it. Good with the contest.

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

7 hours ago, I_Igor said:

I think you need another propellers, as far as I can see. This one would be more usefull

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=99012&idColor=85#T=C&C=85

Good news, I have exactly 6 of those  I will put them on once the fuselage has been sorted out.

4 hours ago, m00se said:

Congratulations one finding the weirdest aircraft ever made; reading it's wikipedia right now to learn more about it. Good with the contest.

Thank you, glad you like it! I found this one quite interesting as well; I spent some time looking at technical specs.

[1gor]

6 hours ago, BrickbyBrickTechnic said:

Good news, I have exactly 6 of those  I will put them on once the fuselage has been sorted out.

Great, now we can expect something very interesting 

(Hopefully it won't be 42052 C model )

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

So, the plane is a tad denser than before. I now have the rotor setup on the swashplate (and the variable pitch works, yippee!) and it is controlled by 1 joystick in the cockpit. There is, however, the second joystick in the cockpit to control the ailerons and elevator, meaning that pretty much all the flight surface functions will be controlled from the cabin!! The whole plane is now really dense with the mechanism, so there won't be any motorization. Here's what I have left to do; the plane is above 50% done at this point.

• Finish jet engines- make them look nice, add landing gear inside, make sure they're durable
• Prepare the wings to hold the weight of the plane
• Add the front landing gear wheel
• Make cockpit look nice (inside and out)
• Finish rear
• Finish bodywork and make it look interesting
• Make sure function work

WIP pictures to follow.

And, you may not know, but this is my second attempt at this plane. My first was a C model of 42025, and it's a little embarrassing... 

(I don't have any pictures so here's the video)

That's all for now. Have a great day / leave some C&C!

[1gor]

Main rotor looks like from 9396 set (which is most beautiful helicopter ever made by TLC  ). Shape replication is very good IMHO 

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

On 12/26/2018 at 6:49 AM, I_Igor said:

Main rotor looks like from 9396 set (which is most beautiful helicopter ever made by TLC  ). Shape replication is very good IMHO 

Thanks, glad you like it!

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

Well, seems like mostly everyone is ignoring this thread. Not interesting enough?

So I finished the rear. The joysticks in the cabin are now fully functional:

• left front-back: tilts swashplate forwards and backward
• left side-side: tilts swashplate side to side
• right front-back: elevators
• right side-side: ailerons

You'll notice that collective pitch is out of the question. I value cabin controls over it, and I didn't have room in the fuselage for a mixing mechanism.

Finally, I plan on adding more orange; I just need to see where I can given that I have, like, 30 orange pieces total.

So here are the pictures:

That's all. I'd enjoy some C&C.

BbBT

[Rudivdk]

This heli, ...ehhhr plane, ...ehhm 'thing' is coming together real fast. Did you already plan out how to go about beforehand? Or are you just this fast

It is a real interesting aircraft, with a nice set of functions/controls. Best of two worlds actually. Cool that you where able to integrate flightcontrols from the cabin! But did the rudder also not make it? And what does the 16tooth gear on the back do, landing gear?

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

6 hours ago, Rudivdk said:

This heli, ...ehhhr plane, ...ehhm 'thing' is coming together real fast. Did you already plan out how to go about beforehand? Or are you just this fast

It is a real interesting aircraft, with a nice set of functions/controls. Best of two worlds actually. Cool that you where able to integrate flightcontrols from the cabin! But did the rudder also not make it? And what does the 16tooth gear on the back do, landing gear?

Thank you! I did not plan it out beforehand, I just had a lot of time...

I completely forgot about the rudder I will add it ASAP. The 16 tooth gear is for the propellers.

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

RudivTime for the next (and likely the last) update.

I made lots of general improvements and mocked up the cabin with its clear glass design. I also added rudders, thanks to @Rudivdk for pointing out that I missed them. They are simply actuatable by hand. I think that's it for words, I'll let the pictures do the talking. What I have left to do:

• Finish jet engines
• Add landing gear
• Rebuild wings
• Overall refinements + adding more orange

That's all. Happy new year!

[Rudivdk]

Looks very nice and clean! I especially like the shaping of the cabin, nice curves in there. Good touch adding the rudders, glad that I could be of help

Happy new year to you as well!

Edited December 31, 2018 by Rudivdk

[1gor]

I agree completely with @Rudivdk, and I'm waiting to see end result.

Happy New year 

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

On 12/31/2018 at 12:00 PM, Rudivdk said:

Looks very nice and clean! I especially like the shaping of the cabin, nice curves in there. Good touch adding the rudders, glad that I could be of help

Happy new year to you as well!

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

On 12/31/2018 at 12:42 PM, I_Igor said:

I agree completely with @Rudivdk, and I'm waiting to see end result.

Happy New year 

Thanks! The end result shouldn't be long now- I'm 2-3 days out from finishing (I think).

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

Hey everyone,

THE PLANE IS DONE! I think I'm satisfied with what I have. My white parts pool is running dangerously low so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to add. The plane stands on its own 3 feet, however, the wings bend under the load of the fuselage. So I'm going to do 2 things about that:

• Add a faux 4th wheel in the back
• Make a stand with a motor in it

So you're probably wondering why the motor. It's because the propeller mechanism sits right at the bottom of the plane and the gears are exposed. So if I was to make a stand, motorization would have to be mandatory. So that's my plan.

Aside from future stuff to do, there have been many new additions to the plane: finished the cockpit, reinforced the wings and redesigned them, and finished the jet engines. I also elongated the rudders so they better resembled the source material. See pictures below!

That's all for now. Expect the project to be done in 2-3 days!

[Seasider]

Looking good, love the detail of the boom at the front of the cockpit

 

[steph77]

looks good.

Any general view of the whole model?

[1gor]

This looks realistic 

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

On 1/3/2019 at 5:48 AM, Seasider said:

Looking good, love the detail of the boom at the front of the cockpit

 

Thank you!

On 1/3/2019 at 5:51 AM, steph77 said:

looks good.

Any general view of the whole model?

Thanks Steph, here's a picture (with some minor changes from yesterday):

 

(Embedded from instagram because I didn't have time to put on Flickr)

23 hours ago, I_Igor said:

This looks realistic 

Thank you!

[pagicence]

I like yours better than the one from b&w photo.

[steph77]

it looks ok compared to the real life model.

But the proportion of this thing, even correct cf in real life, are ...terrible?!?

Maybe you could go a bit away from the reproduction and try to equilibrate the design? this aircraft is crying for!

[nerdsforprez]

I dunno.  If it is in proportion to the real thing, even if it is ugly, I think voters should keep this under consideration when voting.  A great replication of an ugly model, IMO, needs to therefore be a great model for objectivity sake.  Cuz.... yup, gonna say it... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  i.e. it is subjective.  There are plenty of designs out there (particularly of cars) that I think are gawd-awful ugly but others like 'em.  

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

6 hours ago, pagicence said:

I like yours better than the one from b&w photo.

Thanks! I'm glad you like the MOC!

1 hour ago, steph77 said:

it looks ok compared to the real life model.

But the proportion of this thing, even correct cf in real life, are ...terrible?!?

Maybe you could go a bit away from the reproduction and try to equilibrate the design? this aircraft is crying for!

Thanks, Steph. I'm no plane guy, so question: how are the proportions bad on the real plane? Are the wings too short? Fuselage?

1 hour ago, nerdsforprez said:

I dunno.  If it is in proportion to the real thing, even if it is ugly, I think voters should keep this under consideration when voting.  A great replication of an ugly model, IMO, needs to therefore be a great model for objectivity sake.  Cuz.... yup, gonna say it... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  i.e. it is subjective.  There are plenty of designs out there (particularly of cars) that I think are gawd-awful ugly but others like 'em.  

3

I'm a little confused by this comment... sorry 

[nerdsforprez]

11 minutes ago, BrickbyBrickTechnic said:

 

I'm a little confused by this comment... sorry 

Which part exactly?  In essence, I am sticking up for the model saying I think its great! Steph's comment seems to acknowledge accurate proportions relative to the real thing, but the real thing is ugly and disproportionate so overall the build is ugly and disproportionate.  I am arguing that if the build mirrors the real thing, but the real thing is off the the overall build is a success and voters should consider this.   If I attempt to replicate something ugly and I do so perfectly then my replication should be ugly as well, but beautiful and accurate in its replication.  Upshot: you replicated the ugliness very well in this model!  that might sound odd and a mouthful but it is meant to be a compliment!