Originally Posted by
mgnostic
Does the foam model initiate auto rotation? It rather reminds me of those paper helicopters that we made in grade school.
One of the pictures of the foamy shows component parts including two "X" rotor heads - one is flat and used for the unfolded glide tests - the other has twist in each flying surface to impart rotation (when the vehicle is folded up) in relation to relative wind. I used a heat gun to set twist in each blade/surface on that one. The two rotor heads/wings have to be swapped at this point just to demonstrate each condition.
Considering several options: conventional control surfaces with two on the (dare I say it) leading edge (one might say - "let me know how that works fer ya"), full flying surfaces pivoting with tube in socket, something along the KISS principle of paper helicopter you mentioned - with displaced surfaces to initiate the rotation or maybe even something I haven't considered yet...