Streamlining my swashplate area- possibly?

[StanFoster]

Chris- Thanks for your input. I was mainly asking to just increase my knowledge about tufts. Earlier I took Vances advive about using tufts on my mockup fairing to see if it was out of the truck turbulence. It was, but just by about 6 inches. I feel I may have underestimated the drag reduction on the lower half of my new fairing. Just looking at it makes it "feel" like it is more friendly to allowing air molecules to pass on by. I seriously think I am done with streamlining outside of getting rid of my governor box sticking out in the free air. Stan

[utahgyrocop]

Stan,

The new fairing looks great! Thanks again for sharing.

Here is a video of "tufts" in action.

Aerolid Flow Visualization Test - May, 2007 - YouTube

Stay safe,

[Doug S.]

I think it looks darn good! And it works that just icing of the cake.

[Vance]

Originally Posted by StanFoster

Vance- could you elaborate on tufts a little more? Such as what is the best material, length, and tape attachment? What could be learned from doing such? Stan

Hello Stan,

I will get back to you on this Monday or Tuesday.

It is not a small subject and Ed and I are off for a drive to Santa Paula.

The Predator is still not airworthy.

Thank you, Vance

[StanFoster]

Vance- Let me clarify that I understand basically how tufts work, I just would like to sponge more info about them. I personally feel I am done streamlining as I have picked the two dirtiest areas to clean up, my landing gear and my swashplate /fuel tank area. These two areas gave me the potential to reduce many pounds of drag with my fairings. I have verified to myself that the landing gear fairings exceeded expectations, and my "initial" assessment of my swashplate fairing is looking to do the same. Future flights will have me with more accurate numbers, but the fairing is off to the painter tomorrow. ...........................................I want the burgundy sprayed on, then I will reinstall the fairing so I can accurately layout where I want the white to go. My thinking is that seeing the burgundy fairing actually on will help steer my decision on the prorportions of my white diverging bands that will go on. Then the fairing is back to my painter for the white to be sprayed on, followed by the clear coat. Stan

[baronpilot]

You know, Stan's innovation has me thinking. A guy can build a Helicycle for about $40-$50k (including engine) and modify it very easily.

We need people like Chris Krug, Stan, Homer, etc to design a 4-place simple helicopter based on the Allison C-18. You can buy a very nice running C18 for $30k or so. I think the airframe and components could be built for less than $100k making the total cost around $150k done. Nearest competition is a turbine Robinson for $650k. If I could own a turbine 4-place helicopter for the price of my Bonanza I would never fly an airplane again.

[StanFoster]

Todd- Doug Schwochert and Homer lead the way in my opinion for proving their ingenuity. Doug was responsible for us having the turbine in the first place. I am nothing more than.a tweeker, and a minor one at that. Thanks for the comment , but I cant even come close or even think i can come close to those guys. I wish I had 10% of their knowledge and experience. They design and build a good frame for a house so to speak. I come along and basically close up some gaps and add some trim. Stan

[baronpilot]

I meant to include Doug in that list. Each brings his own contribution. Doug could make the engine work with some help from Chris. Homer could guide the way for the cabin and rotor system and you could clean it all up. A $150k 4-place turbine Helicopter that had the reliability that the Helicycle does would sell faster than they could be produced.

[StanFoster]

I buzzed Barbara going full tilt, and she commented how fast I was going, but cant understand why I want to fly that fast. I explained how fun it is milking out more performance from any machine. Its fun having results exceed expectations. Now this fairing will be final sanded, and off to the painter. After I get it painted, I will do my 180 degree GPS groundspeed runs to see what the new top end of the Turbinator is. Final pictures sometime next week. Stan

[StanFoster]

I added a small brace at the top rear corners of my fairing. It needed the stiffening .

The bracket had some compound bends in it...it had to flare outward and downward to match the angle of the fairing. If my brackets arent on the plane of the fairing...then the shiny paint will reveal a wrinkle. Thats the tough part of making this fairing....doing it without wrinkles. I dont want it to look like it was made out of roadside Pepsi cans!


Now its off to be final ironed out , sanded and off to the painter.

I want it installed early next week before the fly-in on the 14th.


Stan

[WHY]

Stan, just an after thought, how is the compatibility of the new plastic fuel neck and cap with Jet A ??

Tony

[JEFF TIPTON]

To coin the phrase' I FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED

Does anyone else have the feeling that the Dewalt Racing Team rubbed off on Stan?

[StanFoster]

Tony- I have a sample soaking constantly in kerosene, for over 5 days now, and it is still very hard on the surface. Cant tell a bit of difference. Considering this will never be submerged anyway, I am not concerned at all. ..................................Jeff- Hey, always wanted to tell ya how much I appreciate your informative posts. You are da man! Yea, its fun milking out some mph, but I typically fly 70-80 mph. On cross county flights, then it just loves to cruise at 100-105 mph before my fairings. It seems to now fly easily go to 110 mph with plenty of collective left. A perfect example where this speed benefits was when i flew back from Chicago a few weeks ago. I had 20 plus headwinds, and i cruised at 110 mph. .............................. My GPS showed a groundspeed at 85 to 90 mph still. Had I had a fuel flow meter, it would be interesting to see how much the fuel burn has decreased at different speeds. Stan

[StanFoster]

My painter sprayed my fairing yesterday so just awhile ago I installed the grey/black pinstriping, then mounted it into its permanent place.

Stage 2 streamlining is now complete......but wait......there is more coming.....stage 3 after Mentone.

I can see more potential for reducing more drag and making it look more aesthetic.

Stan

[kstorm32]

SWEETTTTT.........

Nice job Stan

Ken-