anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

SWEET MOVIE!!!!

But I digress. Anyway, the movie has these awesome looking helis in it called Scorpion Gunships. Each "wing pod" can be swiveled independently and houses 2 contra-rotating 3 blade props.

So I'm thinking: Is this design feasible for RC??

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1HhvaMgmoc[/youtube]


http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/files/2...on-gunship.jpg

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

That's something I'd love to see. I really liked the movie, and fell in love with pretty much all the creature and vehicle designs in it. I'd love to see a model scorpion or the more Huey-like multipurpose version that Michelle Rodriguez flies... whatever that's called. Also a model Dragon, the four rotor monster, would be awesome.

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

hey funny about that i was thinking the exact same thing and was trying to do my own!
i came up with a lego modal and got an idea but im only a beginer so bare with me
my designe had a single motor linked to the 'wing pods' with a series of gears and it seamed to work
and i was thinking of making them move with servos
if i knew how to posta pic i would show u how i made the gear assembly

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

VERY very cool.

someone needs to come up with a commercial R/C variant. The kid and I want one!

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

i was also looking at this craft and thinking of making an rc one. I have done some diy helicopter making and can fly helicopters but never multi rotor or mixing,
does anyone have a good suggestion for some way to channel mix the controls.
i am looking for a suggestion of which transmitters can channel mix all four controls so far i have only found 2 and 3 mixers.

i have looked at
throttle= both speed controllers 1+2
rudder/yaw=inverted pitch curves of servo 3 and 4
foward+back cyclic= both servos 3+4 same direction
side cyclic= varying speed controllers 1+2

if anyone can tell me what transmitter would be suitable i will be able to get on and have a go. thanks

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I've thought about this too. I fell in love with the scorpion as soon as I saw it. The best way I believe this beast could be built is by using an arduino with [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10591&Product_Name=CR23M _Counter_Rotating_BL_System1550kv_]two of these[/link]. The code would be kinda difficult to write though, yaw would be the trickiest.

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

Sounds like it be a great model but there's just one problem getting a license from James Cameron and the movie studio to sell them, any one have a few million laying around to pay to clear the project

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I think that you would need to add a tail rotor on for rudder. The only other way to do it would be to use the counter torqe force like a coax does. The problem with that would be that the blades are to the left and right of the body. There would be a leverage affect and it would take a lot more force to implement rudder. The further the rotors are from the center, the more tourque it would take to turn it.

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I love the design as well.<div>
</div><div>I'm not a R/C heli pro but I believe that flying this thing manually would be next to impossible. You'll likely need gyros + microcontroller (hexacopter style) to keep it stable and properly mix inputs.</div><div>
</div><div>To turn the thing around you could tilt rotors in opposite directions</div>

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I agree, this needs to be done. How about a tricopter?
Here is a sight were they are serious about Tricopters.
Maybe make the model from Styrofoam over a CF frame.
Put a rear prop between the vertical stabilizers.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1142429

Mike

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

i can see it starting to happen ;)

http://vimeo.com/13037867

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1eEySzcexY[/youtube]

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I just saw this on e-bay. Sort of what your talking about.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Harrier-AV-8-Jum...item3caddd5d9b

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

if there was only a plastic model huge kit of the 4 rotor dragon mech, Ihave a 4 rotor heli Ihave almost built.

http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/t...quad%20Photos/

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I think you could set it up just like a chinook. Just a sideways chinook. Or a "Simple Quad" with a couple of v-tail mixers.

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

http://www.rotormast.com/rm/index.ph...amp;Itemid=130

Buy the helicopter from the link and scratch build a scale fuselage yourself.<br type="_moz" />

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

Here is the first candidate.

<a href="http://www.bananahobby.com/1962.html">http://www.bananahobby.com/1962.html



And the second


<a href="http://www.bananahobby.com/1834.html">http://www.bananahobby.com/1834.html
</a>


Either of these would be super ease to convert. I was planning on doing one myself this summer.<br type="_moz" /></a><br type="_moz" />

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

Ok so has any one seen this done with a nitro set up? electric is easy to get the roll because you just change the speed of one motor. how would a guy get it done with just stright mechanics?

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

Ok guys I know this threads been dead a couple months but didnt think its too far too revive. I descided to make a movie heli as close as possible to the transport version of the heli. There are lots of toys and models out there but im not going for the attack version because the fuselage is much smaller to work with. I agree with previous posts that the tail needs a tail rotor , but not for left and right yaw , its for the forward to rear pitch. I ordered parts ill list soon , I plan to start with plastic and once everything has the bugs and fitment worked out I will make a mold and create a 1mm thick carbon canopy and fuselage, plastic can be used to fill windows.

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

A 6 channel spektrum radio or equivelant is best, I myself may go with spektrum dx8 to have the extra channels. Thats throttle up/down , roll right/left , pitch forward/rear, yaw left/right (by tilting nacelles opposite) gyro for pitch/yaw channel. That fills 6 channels and with dx8 you have the extra two channels to mix with. - 6 channel minimum though

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

I checked out the rotomast guys , everything about the design is intended to tightly fit in a osprey model, it wouldnt be possible to use those parts to make a scorpion type heli. I descided that the naccelles and motor setup will need to be assembled from scratch. I ordered some three blad props for the sake of scale look , axi motors can have a prop mounted on both ends but the pitch would need to be minimal , like 4 pitch at the most , t.f would be best in reality. The top prop would be normal and bottom a pusher, how ever the other nacelle would be counter rotation towards fuselage and agian a pusher and regular prop matching pair is needed. I found a matching set of electric props for scale look purposes from hobbylobby.com. They originally are counter rotating three blade 9 1/2 inch props for apache princess warbirds , exact pitch unknown , aprox 2.5 rumored. I have apc and gws just recieved for a mix of options.http://www.hobby-lobby.com/b_25_apac...ueryId=1386600[img][/img]

RE: anyone seen the movie AVATAR yet?
 

Ok I picked out motors and they should be here sometime this week. Crossing my fingers hoping for monday. :p motors are axi gold 2816/10, rated at 45 amps continuos. When I inserted data for motor and a prop selection of 9x5e apc it brought a estimate of 61 oz static thrust per motor, since the fully laoded model weight goal is 4 pounds thats more than ample thrust. I ordered a tail rotor kit from completeheli.com, who took forever to ship (after 2 weeks they are shipping tommorow) tail boom , shaft drive gears and variabke pitch rotor runs me $130 all genuine parts from align rc trex 450 , all metal with shaft drive. I needed a seperate motor just for the tail so I ordered 1400 kv brushless 10amp motor 18.99 from hobbylobby and three motor controllers. Swift 50 amp x 2 for main proprotors and 20 amp for the brushless 1400kv dedicated to the tail. The tail is just for balance and pitch correction so it will be zero pitch spinnings freely until the tail pitch servo trim is adjusted or gyro makes correction. The 20 amp swift esc was 16.99 , 50 amp esc were 26.99 each. I have not looked at gyros at all. Main nacelle pitch servos I recieved are hitec 645mg high torque 107 oz in servos $ 25 each, tail servo is jr standerd size digital high speed .09ms 34.99