I thought I would send some pictures of my latest project if anyone is interested. It took one year to complete, scratch building all of the heli mechanics, free turbine gearbox, exhaust manifold and most of the turbine except the turbine wheels, nozzles and several other engine items which are of Wren manufacture. The engine is a governed free turbine design. The engine consumes 3.5oz./min. with enough fuel onboard for 18 minute flights during hover and slow forward flight combination. Main blades are 810mm. MAH manufacture. Tail blades are 130mm. SAB manufacture. Wet weight is 25lb.

I fly in my backyard with about 20 gal. kerosene used so far. I plan on making a canopy this winter for it. I hope the attached pictures are downloadable since I have little experience sending pictures. They are compressed JPEG.

The heli flies well, much better than expected considering the complexity, you have to love the sound and smell of a turbine. It flies like a heaver heli as one would expect, with a governed rotor head speed of 1500 rpm. The rotor head should withstand a much higher rpm but I do not intend on doing wild aerobatics. I have been slowly stiffening the rotor head dampning to quicken response.

I wanted a well built heli, being a toolmaker I am never happy with the quality of purchased heli's, but of course profit margin is not a concern. The heli was built using many high grade materials such as 7068 and 7075-T6 aluminum, carbon fiber frames, 17-4PH,321,316,309 and 304 stainless alloys, 4150 steel, hastalloy x, aluminum bronze etc. I built a spot welder using schematics from the internet, a very handy tool for combustion chamber and exhaust manifold fabrication.

The gas generator is limited to a maximum 140k. out of a maximum sustained 160k. and even at this level it has more power than I will ever use. During preflight testing I had the heli strapped to two 2x12 boards weighting 25lbs. it will lift these with a gas generator speed below 140k. for an airborne weight of 50lb.

The pictures that I sent show a as yet to be connected eagle tree data recorder, this unit will enable me to collect information on rotor head speed fluctuations with changing load along with other parameters, to best setup the governor and ECU.