Hi Hal - Sealing/covering the blades - They are simply covered in lightweight model aircraft tissue and then given a spray coat of paint (auto laquer). Seems old fashioned but then I I am old fashioned, having first built a model plane 58 years ago, and still mainly using those materials & methods! About 2 years ago I decided to built an autogyro as these machines have always interested me & it was time I did something about it!
The rotor rotation on the ground is when the blades are a bit drooped, hence at positive incidience, coning only occurs after I pick the plane up and hold it nose high, then the rotors spin the proper way, and as you say, the more they cone the more negative incidence to assist `spinup`. Can`t tell how much they cone in flight.
Collaboration - On my own here, no one else into gyros, only me! Good to have this internet contact, all the more important for us loners. I broke the rules I suppose by designing my own plane, but studied Jim`s and Rick`s sites a lot first. First gyro I ever saw in flight was my own with me flying it - a bit of a controlled crash that time! I only found this rcuniverse site after I had flown.
I also have a .35 powered gyro, using same style of ply and code 5 hub, flies well! It is on the web pages I mentioned earlier. This plane is a modified version of Emilio Cabeza`s DC design.
This morning I exchanged the `flutter` hub for another I had as a spare, this has rather heavier code 5 hinges.
Colin