Butch
Active Member
I finally finished her. I have been working hard long hours on this bird and I just finished her. I stayed up late just to see if she would run. I am by myself so I blocked the wheels and tied her down. I cant afford the electric starter yet so I gave her a few pulls and she fired right up. I had to shut her down quick because it is 2 in the morning here. I will take her out for a test flight after I get some sleep. This all started when I decided that I wanted a tall tail on my Bensen and I had bought some 24 foot blades to take the place of the old Bensen metal ones. I was quick to find out that the tall tail would not work on my Bensen. The mast was too short and the rotor blades would strike it and also even with my original Bensen tail the blades would strike the ground with the stick all the way back. These new blades have a 3 foot hub bar. I was looking on barn stormers and found a modified drop keel bensen that had fallen off a trailer and broke the frame and also damaged other parts. It had a Rotax 503 and I picked it up cheep. I have 1 original Bensen and another one that has no motor. I completely dis assembled the new one and then I used the frame off my spare bensen, I cut the keel and drilled all the holes to match. My mast was too short so I ordered a new redundant one. I used a drill press and all my holes were spot on. I used all new hardware cables etc. I got lucky with the Rotax It was in good shape. I spent 2 months on the project and now I have a very nice centerline thrust machine with a good tail and horizontal stab. I also have a pre rotater which I installed new bearings in along with a new drive cable from gyro tech. No more pushing on a board for brakes I now have drum brakes on the mains. I will post some pics after I wake. I am excited to fly this one
