3DRV question????

[skyguynca]

Well I received my Wooden Gyrodyne plans from the 3DRV guys, nice plans and looks very doable. Since I like that sample I am going to go ahead and get the 3DRV plans. The videos I have seen looks like a fun little gyro. I have a few hundred hours so far in gyros, just a baby though. I have most of my time in a KB2 and a Gyrobee, maybe this one will be as much fun. Anyone out there have or flown the 3DRV?

[Dean_Dolph]

Hey, David, just can't stay away from gyros once you've been exposed, huh! I think you probably hold the record for GyroBee completion time.

I don't know anyone that has a flying 3DRV so I'm going to assume that yours will be the first. However, as you will find when you get the plans, in the assembly manual you will see Monte Hoskins' comments about the Falcon being a copy of the 3DRV and there are several of those. I don't recall the details but it seems to me that this is true, with a direct relationship in the development of the 3DRV and the Falcon with Don Parham of RFI in the middle somewhere along the way. May be Don will pop in and clarify that relationship or say I'm wrong!

In any event, it is an intriguing machine. Take a look at this thread for a 3DRV discussion. http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2144&highlight=monte

[skyguynca]

Thanks Dean! Surely someone has done it quicker but the bee was so easy to build and great instructions.

[rfi]

Pop, Pop---here I am.
The 3DRV and the Falcon are basically the same. Monte built the first drop keel version of a Bensen B8 which he later developed plans for. Bill Allen built the first commercial version of that configuration which was the Aggressor. Bill came down to Albuquerque one weekend back in the early nineties and converted my stock B8M to an Aggressor in two days.
The Aggressor/3DRV/Falcon is very docile and is as stable as a rock. I put a 3-cylinder Chevy Sprint on the original Bensen with a cog belt reduction drive that Bill Allen designed. The ship flew very well. I flew it off and on for a couple of years and then my son converted it to a staggered tandem configuration with a Subaru EA81 engine.
Neal Carnes of Rotor Hawk developed the Falcon after the Allen family went out of business. Neal and his business partner had both bought Aggressor kits which also included the full enclosure and cowling but were missing some of the machined parts.
They first started machining parts for other Aggressor customers that didn't have complete kits and later came up with the Falcon kit which included a widened fiberglass body and engine cowling.
I put a couple of Falcon kits together for customers and extended the keel one foot because I felt it was needed with the full enclosure. The stock Falcon was a little short coupled with the full enclosure installed. I also replaced the 3 ft. span Falcon horizontal stab with my five ft. span "Longhorn" horizontal with 18 inch tip fins which provided additional pitch and yaw stability.
I had an Aggressor body that I had bought from the Allens that was widened and lengthened to form the 3-place RF-170 enclosure that we developed in the late nineties.
The 3DRV is a very stable ship as is the open frame Falcon, but with the enclosure I suggest one at least lengthen the rear keel a foot to get a little more pitch and yaw stability. Air Command now makes the Longhorn horizontal and a tall, all-flying tail which is almost identical to our RF-170 tail feathers. We built about a half dozen sets for Air Command and they then developed similar tail feathers in carbon fiber and Kevlar which are lighter than the fiberglass that we used to build.
We are totally out of the business of building gyro kits, tail feathers, etc. All I do now is Subaru EFI modifications. I do plan to build a two place, side-by-side tractor gyro for my personal use in the next two or three years but don't intend to offer kits or components. The airframe will be bolt-together aluminum angle and gusset plates which forms a truss framework. It is identical to the construction technique used on the BD-4 homebuilt airplane--simple and inexpensive to fabricate with essentially no welding.
They widened the body about three inches

[skyguynca]

Hi Don, thanks for the info. I am still sending the fixed wing guys your way when they ask about the subaru's. I am very familar with the BD-4, have the plans and one partially complete. Just thought I would knock out a quick little gyro to play with, I miss my KB2 and Gyrobee, such fun toys.....plus it will keep me flying until my coaxial project gets done. THanks again Don.