Building Mariah Gale

Oh...just got another "SPOT" I guess he just Gassed up and split from Merced @ 11:53am
Probably no food there Vance is fairly predictable when it comes to eating! ;-P
 
Well Vance arrived at Harris Ranch at 1:12
I got a Big Red Exclamation Point (!) that said his SPOT was urgent so I phoned Vance and he said he thinks that his battery in SPOT is Low that's probably why I got a weird message! Whewww!

Anyway...guess what he's having for Lunch..Yup you guess Harris Ranch Steak...the Brat!

I'll keep ya'll posted he's supposed to call me back right before he leaves Harris Ranch. He will be calling to find out what the Marine layer is doing!
Cheers for Now! Ed
 
Well he left Harris Ranch @ 2:44pm and is now In San Luis Obispo he arrived at 4:09pm so I suspect he'll be home around 5:30pm. I'm sure you'll all hear first hand about his trip!
Cheers! SgurlEd
 
Things are going very well!

Things are going very well!

The trip was a much bigger adventure than I expected and it will take me a while to write about it and the mistakes I made. I learned a lot and I will write about it in a separate thread in flying photos even though I didn’t take a lot of pictures. I don’t take pictures when I am trying to manage a challenge.

As it is I am rushing around to keep all the balls of the project in the air so it will be a bit. I also need to think about what went wrong and the lessons. This is the build thread so I will try to focus on building Mariah Gale.

Jim did not go flying because he was afraid he would get hooked. He liked the Predator a lot and found himself thinking “I could build this”. He has enough expensive hobbies and doesn’t need another. I will get him up in Maria Gale.

We spent Wednesday night reminiscing about our racing adventures together and sort of planning for Thursday. I was exhausted from 8 hours and close to 300 miles of flying. I didn’t understand why but my friend Jim recognized that I am on high alert the whole time I am flying and the tension is exhausting. The flight back wasn’t as exhausting and I did a better job.

5:15 we were up and feeding the horses and dogs and cats. We got to the Georgetown Airport about 7:00 and started taking pictures and measurements. We don’t want to lose any of the Predator’s good flying qualities. People there were very friendly and helpful.

I realized what we were doing is each designing a gyroplane and then reaching consensus.

Jim has no back ground in aircraft but he worked for twenty years on a very fast racing sloop. He even competed in the Transpac with this little craft. He knows a great deal about water dynamics and how it affects the way things work so he didn’t have any trouble applying that knowledge to understanding how a gyroplane works. He realized that the Mooney tail will affect the way it responds because it is lower. I hadn’t thought about that.

The plan is to build the two side trusses that are defined by the engine mount and the passenger and her relationship to the propeller thrust line, sort of firewall forward. We want to have the variable load as close to center of gravity as possible so it handles the same solo or two up and with the fuel tanks at different levels. We may put 10 gallons under Ed’s seat to tie the two side tanks together. Hopefully it will always be full so it doesn’t matter that it is below the center of gravity.

We are essentially building the two frame sides, tacking them together and let the seats, me and Ed define the cross pieces. In about a month I will go back up with the seats and Ed and figure out how to hook the two sides together and how much and where the sides converge.

The big parts like the front suspension will come next and then the mount for the tail and the main gear. We redesigned the main gear and it will be an A arm on either side that attach to the center lower tube on the keel, we are back to a three sided truss.

There will be to angled push rods that are attached to the axel and go to a link that operates a hydraulic damper. The A arm will be made from aero tubing and the push rod will be faired. We are trying to minimize camber change and hope to have a foot of travel. We are willing to give up a drag to achieve these goals.

Once the tail is mounted we will install the engine and seats, guess at the body weight put the people in and that will define where the suspension goes. The rotor tower is the last structural thing to be built because we want to get the rotor head in the correct position.

Details like the control system come next and the panel mount. We try to think ahead so we don’t back ourselves into a corner and at the same time focus on the task at hand. The fuel tanks will define themselves and we will use that foam to reduce the fire hazard. We are planning on moving the controls below the floor so we end up with a clean floor and use space that is wasted on the Predator

We are going to build a frame table so the two sides are identical. It will have blocks to hold the tubes in place and Jim uses his mill to cove the tubes for a good fit.

We are both 4130 and tig welding enthusiasts.

Jim and I are having a great time and we love working together again. It has been nearly 30 years since our last big project together and 8 years since we built the phantom Indian for Bonneville that set a record but never realized it’s potential.

While he is working on the sides and frame table I am going to get started on the tail.

I have some repairing to do and we want to cut about 8 inches off each side of the horizontal stabilizer. This will require drilling out most of the rivits.

I have a big day tomorrow so I am off to bed.

Thank you, Vance
 

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Great start Vance. The adventure, an appropriate step and preparation for you continent spanning dream. Delighted that the old team fell right back into lockstep and the collaboration on the project began so well.

It seems that you are full steam ahead and keeping us well appraised of your progress. Mariah Gale is taking shape and metal is being worked as we speak. Exciting

A small digression but delighted to tell you I have at last been able to get back into the air over the last few days and able to slake my thirst with the real thing instead of being your virtual pillion rider.

Since the Bensen is a short legged little thing, and the temperatures here unseasonably cold, my jaunts were limited to 40 minute mad and passionate Mayfly dances on the wind.

Had a gyro friend from Zephyrhills Tony Smuz and his wife Cathie as guests for a day, took them up to show them our Gyro nest at Rissington and introduced him to some of our group here who were at the airfield. Took the Bensen for a quick whirl then took them back to London. Went back yesterday for another couple of nibbles at the apple. Immensely fulfilling.

Looking forward to your progress reports to us rubbernecking fans.
 
Paul you piqued my curiosity. Looked in some log books. Began instructing in Miami in 69 with 124hrs:11mins left two years later with 2,259 hrs:14 mins.

Average day was between 5 and 8hrs flight time not counting pre-flight and post-flight briefings. Start time at the school was 6:30 two evenings a week until 10:00pm for night flying.

Wages were below the official poverty line but we were younger, it was a great start, hugely enjoyable and a fantastic time with wonderful memories despite the odd students who were trying hard to kill us both.
 
Progress

Progress

Glad to hear you are back in the air Leigh.

I am very pleased with the way things are going.

I love to stand with giants.

It is interesting you should mention sponsorship Stan.

In one of Jim’s lives he was the publisher of a group of magazines and he feels that if we put together a business plan and present it to the right people a sponsorship or an advance is a real possibility.

I don’t have any tattoos and I would like to keep it that way.

Thank you for the insight Paul, it sounds from Leigh like you got it right.

I was not nearly as tired after the return trip because my learning curve was not so steep and the danger seemed somehow less imminent although more protracted.

Thank you Pete, I feel that more people would see it if it was painted on Mariah Gale’s body rather than tattooed on my body.

You are one tough man Leigh. It is no wonder you are a philosopher.

I kept that sort of schedule when I raced, work a job and then work on the motorcycle until 2AM. When the bike was finished I would drive straight through for three days with two other racers. We would hook up with other racers going across the wide open spaces and draft each other so we could maintain a higher speed for longer. Only the people at the front and the back of the train would have their lights on so to the sleepy police we looked normal.

Jim would often work on my engine all night and I would assemble the bike in the truck on the way to the races.

I feel that passion driven excess produced some of my favorite memories.

I spent a lot of time on Saturday with a very eccentric propeller designer named Paul who works with Catto and he gave me some useful advice about aerodynamics. He designed the propeller for the fastest biplane at Reno. He suggested that he might design a propeller for Mariah Gale once she is built and tested. Interestingly his propellers make very little noise.

I also spent some time with the fellow named Rim who designed and built the racing biplane that is in our hanger and he endorsed our iterative approach to designing Mariah Gale. He talked a lot about coupling and stability.

Sunday and today were not good days to fly around here so I worked on cleaning up the minutia of life.

Thank you, Vance
 
Vance
What is MG going to look like?
 
At this moment she looks sort of like this.

At this moment she looks sort of like this.

Hello Roger,

At this moment in time she looks sort of like this.

The suspension has changed since this doodle.

Ed has been raised since the doodle.

The plan is to build everything but the body and transport it to our composite person. Cover it with foam and carve a plug that is fairly benign aerodynamically, smallish, converging from 25% back with a windshield for Ed and a cowl over the engine and lots of fairings for the exposed bits. Run it by my aerodynamicist. Modify it appropriately and make a mold and pop the body out. It will probably be carbon fiber and e glass and vacuumed bagged. Then we will mount the body, test her, paint her and go flying.

It is so easy to talk about and yet is very time consuming.

Thank you, Vance
 

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Nice.

Retractable nose wheel?
like a cozy or long-Ez
 

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Interesting! I'll bet lots of fixed-wingers will recognize the Mooney tail.

Will the sight line from the rear seat be as good as the Predator's? We'd hate to see fewer of those cool approach shots from Ed...
 
It is hard to miss the Mooney tail

It is hard to miss the Mooney tail

Thank you Roger,

At this time there is no plan for retractable gear.

Hello Paul,

It is hard to miss the Mooney tail.

Ed got raised up somewhere between 4 and six inches Thursday and the floor was dropped several inches. We will finalize Ed on our next visit to Greenwood when we finalize how the sides work.

Ed and the fuel are the movable loads. We are trying to get them as close to the center of gravity as possible.

The engine, tail, me and the reserve fuel are fixed so their location is less important.

The space for luggage keeps moving around.

Design is an iterative process for us. We are starting from scratch so we have to prioritize the parameters.

Jim wants to make the body more stylish and Kevin, our aerodynamicist wants to make it hard for the air to get a hold on anything. Everyone but me and Ed wants a closed canopy.

Thank you, Vance
 
...Everyone but me and Ed wants a closed canopy...

Why not have your cake and eat it, too? In other words: why not design a removable canopy? The Arrowcopter has a canopy which can be removed and the gyro flown with just a windshield for the pilot. Getting rid of the canopy takes all of 30 seconds.

Having a closed canopy gives you better aerodynamics at the cost of removing you from the sense of flight by at least one degree. Your demand for a closed canopy may also depend on the climate you predominantly fly in.

-- Chris.
 
I usualy have the top down on the M Roadster

I usualy have the top down on the M Roadster

We may do that Chris and the better aerodynamics is why everyone but us wants one.

We will see if it works out.

I don’t see a way to take a two place canopy on our trip.

I love to feel the wind against my face.

I am getting older so some day it may be the right thing to do.

The fellow that is going to make our windshields is a closed canopy enthusiast.

I have the top down on my BMW M roadster unless it is raining.

If the windshields are designed well there is not much chaos from the wind up to about 100 kts.

If the weather is bad we won’t fly.

If speed was the point it would be a tractor with a TSIO 550.

Thank you, Vance
 
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In my experience, Vance, it is well worth the effort to build a wooden cockpit mockup using door skins and 2 x 4s. Lets you verify ergonomics such as seating comfort and control travel/linkages using electrical conduit. You need an electric staple gun, a table saw, a jug of glue and perhaps a conduit bender.
 
Your experience at building shows.

Your experience at building shows.

Thank you for the suggestion Chuck.

That is actually just where we are heading except we are metal enthusiasts. We have lots of tubing and benders of different sizes and radiuses. We are also experienced at making custom sand bends. We will tack cut and mark a lot. I am not current so Jim will do most of the welding and tacking.

We have a nice start because the Predator works so well. I have 570 hours in her so she is sort of a preliminary mockup. We are moving things around some although we expect the people to be in about the same place. We spent a lot of time on my last visit exploring ergonomics and reliving the flight up to Georgetown. That is why we raised Ed and lowered the floor. It was not comfortable with the seats as low as I had drawn them. We will experiment with different seat angles too.

Jim is going to tack together what we imagine the two sides of the frame are going to look like on his frame table and my next trip up I am taking Ed and the seats with me and we are going to spend a lot of time pretending to fly and moving things around. The engine mount sort of defines the back of the main frame but the rest is sort of wide open. We like using tubing because the body will not be right up against the frame so I need to be able to reach through in places to take advantage of this space. It is easy to get a tube in the way.

We are using a Pratt truss because it seems that is what most aircraft use. I like a Warren truss because it is more flexible but we don’t want to step out to far.

I already learned that as nice as my kneeboards work it would work better and I could see better if I had two little folding clipboards above my legs and further apart. Now when I want to write on my left kneeboard I have to loop my right arm around the stick and the stick shake makes my writing even more difficult to read. I can’t read my right kneeboard when I am holding the stick in my right hand. Moving them closer would particularly help with reading and marking my charts. Now when I hold them close enough to read the little numbers they flutter something terrible from the wind, if they are on my knee I can’t read them very well. I have been making bigger copies of them and laminating them but I feel this would be cumbersome on a long flight.

The body will be higher and wider at the front than the Predator and we need to use that space in a productive way. We feel the space for the panel will define itself. Getting in and out needs some work and I would like to be able to get in with my passenger already in place. We want to put the controls below the floorboards because in the Predator if we drop something it can interfere with the operation of the stick and pedals. It will make preflight a little more involved.

Thank you, Vance
 
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It has also been my experience that the best ride and least rotor vibration is to be had with a round tubular mast.

Here’s a Kellett KD-1 under construction in Japan during WWII. I doubt if mast flexibility is of much benefit to a 3-blade rotor, however.
 

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Would vertical compliance help hop?

Would vertical compliance help hop?

Interesting you should mention that Chuck.

My friend Paul the propeller designer convinced me Saturday that a single mast with a fairing would have less drag that the rubber mounted tower no matter how we faired it.

I have not shared this with Jim yet.

Do you think some vertical compliance would be useful?

It seems to get complicated quickly if I try to allow the mast to move vertically. Both the rotor controls to manage the movement without stick shake and locating the mast with some sort of linkage.

There is very little cabin hop in the Predator but I don’t know how much the forward leaning aluminum flexible hat is helping.

I will continue to use a slider head.

Thank you, Vance
 
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