Radio Controlled Helicopters

Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page

My Radio Controlled Helicopters

I was in the R/C Heli hobby for 4 years from 1988 to 1992. This was during the time when the hobby was beginning its tremendous growth. People like Curtis Youngblood was just starting to make a name in the hobby, and established veterans like Mike Mas (first to fly R/C helis inverted), Robert Gorham (of GMP), and the Schoonard brothers (of Miniature Aircraft) were still competing in FAI/F3C events.

Kalt Baron 20

This is the helicopter I learned how to fly with. I bought it in Japan in 1984, and started flying it seriously from 1988 on. This was how helis used to be made, with wooden main and tail rotor blades, and lots of metal parts. The tail boom was carbon fiber, with a piano wire driving the tail rotor gearbox. To save cost, there weren't too many ball bearings on the heli. The rotor head had Hiller controls only, no Bell mixing, for simplicity.

O.S. 28FSR-H engine
Futaba FP-T5NLP Airplane radio
Futaba FP-S130 servos
Collective/throttle mechanically mixed
Throttle/tail pitch also mechanically mixed
SR receiver battery
Gyroless

Home Made Collective/Throttle/Tail Mechanical Mixer

I set up the Baron 20 to fly with only 4 servos with mechanical mixing, so that I could use a regular airplane radio with it. This was pretty much how the pioneers in the R/C heli hobby configured their machines. Nowadays, heli mixing functions are standard on most transmitters, so that more time can be spent on flying rather than on building.

Back | Next