Adam i saw your introductory post, you appear to be a very competent builder, and as a fan motor pilot I am certain that you will find gyros right up your street. Getting a licence here is a very good idea
Was just wondering what sort of budget you were thinking of. I know that when we built our Hornet over 10 years ago after we exceeded our initial $17,000 budget, I stopped counting so as not to depress myself.
I went to Ernie Boyette of RFD for our Rotor Head and DW rotor blades. He is no longer in business, but Denis Schoemaker of Gyro Technic has both Rotor head and Razor Blade rotors. These are quality parts, worth the price, and incredibly well made.
I did not much like Don Shobridge’s tail, in my opinion a bit weak. Denis and I were doing our Hornets at the same time and Denis was improving on the original Hornet all the time. His present day GT-VX1 is a very refined 582 version of that original Hornet he and I were building. He went with a tall tail which is a much better design.
Ours flew well, we unfortunately then ran into financial problems and had to part it out and sell, I had health problems and my son was going to A&P school.
I am now trying to finish my original goal and get myself a single seat gyro, hence the GT-VX2 build with Gyro Technic, initially for the US but will try to see if can be Section T approved here which may well take a while.
You it seems won’t have that problem in the Phillipines. You might consider looking at the GT-VX1 kit. It has a folding mast, which would certainly assist in shipping, a sound proven design that is safe, stable, and very solidly made, and, flies extremely well.
Barry Thigpen is a well above average pilot so would not suggest or advise people to attempt what he does, but it does demonstrate what the GT-VX1 gyro is capable of, Ron Awad is another very fine and experienced gyro pilot and Denis has just posted a video of Ron’s trial flight on Denis’s GT-VX1. See both of these here. I cannot recommend Denis's kit more highly.
