DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Hey guys! Sorry I have not been on RCU in a while. I now have a 60 size DAG autogyro. I still have some adjustments to do. It is tail heavy right now, but I still managed to throw her around the sky for a few minutes. I have to find a more narrow pitch prop than what I have. I may go with a 16x6 APC. Power is provided by Saito 115. I had to modify the tail gear. That Sullivan tail gear only works for me if I rework it. The springs dont do anything for me. I have set up with music wire replacing the spring now and think it will be good. John Wayne "The Duke" is my pilot. He looks like he is in pain because of my flying!!! LOL! The head is roll only with elevator and rudder. I guess that is about everything I can think of.....sorry for rambling!

Dave


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

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Dave,</p>

Gorgeous model... and great video!!!  The flight looked great, too.  Classic lines, great overall looks... you got a winner there, Dave.</p>

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Thanks Mike.....here is the link to my "A day of flying". In the flying footages, you see me setting up the gyro for flight. You will see the take offs are long in the beginning and get shorter as I go along.

I have an APC 16x4 on there now. I may change to a 16x6 and may also add more angle of attack to the rotor axle in hopes of slowing her down for a bit. I can slow up now....but she does not pull out fast enough. I will do more setting up soon...


Dave

<span style="font-size: medium">http://blip.tv/file/2139720</span>

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Great model!! [&amp;:]Could you post some numbers? Rotorspan, weight, lenght, etc. I'd like to attempt a big bird someday and it would be nice to have a reference. :)

PS. The 4-stroke sound really makes justice to the model.

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Dave,
Looks good.. Hope to you and your Autogyro next week at Muncie.

Jim

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Jim......I wish I could get ou there. I suffer from herniated discs in the neck and back. I am in way too much pain to drive out there. Beleive me.....I will be thinking of you all!!! Please take lots of photos?

Dave

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Sorry for beating a dead horse.....but I did some modifications to the landing gear. I madesome airfoil shaped struts and covered them with aluminum from a large energy drink. A friend from down south inspired me to do it as he had done the same thing on his Kellett. The aluminum has rivets imbossed via a ball point pen. I glued the aluminum with 2 part epoxy. The cones were made from wood dowels and machined the rounded tapers with file on the lathe. I hold them on with music wire used as push pins into the balsa and two part epoxy.

OK.....enough bable....I have to post the photos before I fall asleep. LOL!!!

Dave

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Oh man!!! I forgot to show the newest revision. I expereimented and really like how it worked out. I enlarged the control surface of the elevator. It has a nice shape to it now. Enjoy the photos.........

Dave

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Whirlybird Aviation's page has moved to: www.whirlybirdaviation.com in case you were wondering what happend to the ATT pages.

Dave

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

A lot has happened since I have stopped by. Where to start? OK....first off, one of my RC clubs never allowed autogyros to fly there. I stated my case to the club officers and the owners of the land. They requested a flying demo of my gyros. Well....if any of you know me.....I am all about flying for a crowd!!!:D So, I did my demo and got the two thumbs up and they requested a second demo before the club meeting and then would vote on allowing autogyros to fly there. They voted yes!!!! Hurray!!!

The bad news is I crashed my DAG 60 right before the meeting. Even with a crash....they voted yes. I got seriously disoriented as I was out too far. I have some footage of the DAG flying before the meeting. I did quite a few flights. The wind was wicked and had a 45 degree cross wind. Not easy flying a fixed pitch in conditions like that...but i had to prove that it would fly.

Last flight was two days ago. I did not relaize but I had a hairline crack on the motor mount. After flying for a few minutes, the crack turned into a break.[:@] before I could land, the vibration was so bad....it broke apart my radial engine!!! Cylinders were be dropped like bombs! LOL!:) No worries...just got to make another one...:D

The good news is it has been rebuilt and please check out the photos and movies below.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MalIs-JqS9w[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU38QpsZoM0[/youtube]

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

beautiful model Dave, I just saw your photos and videos of your DAG, for the first time, I guess I don't feel bad crashing my larger bensen today after a nice flight, my transmitter is acting up and I think it was an intermittent connection inside of my transmitter where the battery or antenna plugs in. My scale Bensen repaisr are simple though. Love the way your model flies very realisitc take off and landing nice and smooth.

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Mario,
I was going to reply last night, but I was just way too tired. So....thanks for the kind words on my DAG 60. I too love the scale like flights I get with her. The rebuild went well....but the motor mount had a crack in it....it let loose on a test flight a couple weeks ago. It flew fantastic for a crashed and rebuilt gyro!!!:D I do need to change the motor mount before I fly her again. Busy on many things....she will have to wait a bit.

Dave

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Dave,
No problem, on the response last night. Sometimes crashed and repaired models do fly better than off the drawing board. Did you designed the DAG? sell kits/plans for it?

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

The DAG series of gyros and the Profile Kellett are all my designs. Plans are available........

Dave

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

ok i have some questions here you migth be able to help me on the dag 60 autogyro im building ,,,,i had build the dag40 and i had no luck trying to take off try aerobalsa blades,also blades i build from plans and keep fliping over ,breaking stringers,blades, elevator,could not get one fligth etc,,,finally i sold it ,but i seen videos of the dag 60 and looks like everybody has good times with it,plus i like the idea of having one autogyro
,ok now im building the dag 60 im thinking that because it has and elevator will be easier to put it in the air ,,will be more like a plane
,but,,,im using hard balsa im most of the construction means more weigth,(reason why...more strength),my question is how much is supost to be the final weigth if there's any?if it's heavier is goin to snap/breake the rotor blades on take off or fligth?im goin to glue sig airfold to hard 1/8 balsa when is time to build the blades .still i have to build the elevator install all the electric,servos landing gear..so weigth keep coming up..im thinking on a 91 4 stroke magnum i have new in a box...
another question i have is that i seen guys using a round plate for the rotor base ,should i stick to the plans and do what the plans show?what will be the difference on using this round rotor plate?
sorry for all these questions ,im not and expert on autogyros,,
im ataching some pics you'll see the changes im goin to make on the top of it to save weigth by not using balsa blocks ,,,just stringers ,,,,also is goin to have that round look.
also you can see that i use brasswood stringers on the sides ,,reason,past experiences with the other dag they broke in a fail take off
im goin to see if i can weigth it and give you an exact weigth of it ,,,
thanks for all the answers and help you can provide me on this build ...

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Yes sir! You've come to the right place. Joe with whirlybird here!

The smaller DAG R1 is a little tricky to get off the ground even with the standard blades. We are now having luck taking fiberglass clear ducktape over the aerobalsa blades with some success with the G-10 triangular plate. But AB blades probably won't help you were because of the size of the DAG 60.

First off, go with the triangular plate. It's easier to make and will flex better. And yes, shape those blades. It's very easy to do and perfection is not an issue here. They are not spinning 1800 rpms like a helicopter but balance is important. You can cheat by adding extra monocote if one blade is lighter. I've even used aluminum tape.

Like I said, the DAG 60 flies better and is more stable. I've never had it do the roll left syndrome and since it was such a good flying machine, it became the base model for our PCA-2. What's amazing is the PCA-2 which has a wing, is about 3 pounds lighter! HA!

Glad to see some activity on the autogyro forum again!
Joe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l60GJ6zLxoc

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Well, I decided to keep this thread alive a little and amilcar some confidence!
Here's some maidens of the DAG 60....remember, it only gets better after they are trimmed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKsh...feature=relmfu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvqdxgwhyw4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U4m2PuQSx8&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOS_TsZWTew

It should be noted from these flights, CG and mast angle have been altered...so you have a head start amilcar!
Joe

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

jaja thanks for the videos ,,,you are rigth i need some confidence after building the dag r2 and not be able to make one fligth,,,i got a litle frustated ,,but after seen videos of the dag 60 how it floats in the air ,,i want one .
Now,, i could not tell by the videos the angle of the mast,,,if i build it as per plan will be ok ?actually at this point on the building changing the mast angle will be a litle challenge..
im waiting for some balsa wood to build the horizontal stabilizer and rudder so after all these part are in place ,i can start to play with the cg of it....and then another question i have is i'll have to hold full elevator up for take off?
again thanks for those videos ,,,

RE: DAG 60 maiden flight
 

Yes....follow the plans. All the modifications have been made. That was about 4 years ago on those flights and safelandings, imsofaman and I were flying the prototypes back then. You'll be fine!
Joe

http://whirlybirdaviation.sandvox.net Up and running

www.whirlybirdaviation.net Still working on it.