Scorpion chopper

automan1223

Active Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
3,760
Location
Oriental, North Carolina
Aircraft
2p Tandem Air Command "Big Red"
Total Flight Time
250
Anyone know anything about the scorpion chopper the 133 I think.

I believe it has a vw engine. I see them from time to time, Dont remember if they were a "safe" design or adequate power for more than 1 person.

Local fellow here has had one for years and it collects dust.

Jonathan
 
scorpion

scorpion

I rode in a scorpion that had the Rotorway engine and was turbocharged. It was a nice machine. Ed Alderfer won grand champion rotorcraft at Oshkosh one year and his opinion was that they are underpowered, and should not be flown out of ground effect. You'll see alot of guys buy one and put about 30hrs on the machine hovering it and then get rid of it. Ed said his tailboom frame cracked while he was hauling it down the road on a trailer.
The Scorpion I rode in would fly hands off. The guy had it all chromed out and it was sharp. He ran a transmission shop in Rock Hill, SC. He flew up one day and gave everyone a ride in it. The very next week someone walked into his shop robbed him and shot him dead. His wife tried to sell the machine and was asking $22,000 for it. I think someone finally bought it for $12,000.
 
I have seen only two or three in my 30+ years of flying and I have never seen one fly. They seem to all sit and collect dust or never get finished. If I recall the very first ones had an outboard motor engine.

My opinion would be to stay pretty far away from one. There have been vast improvements in helicopter design since the Scorpion was conceived.
 
thanks

thanks

What a terrible story. Getting shot at your job. Who knows why you would want to rob a tranny shop.......

anyway, your right, they all seem to never get finished and collect dust. I dont know how much training an hour would cost, plus rebuilding the machine, I did remember something about the tailboom upgrade but I did not even do a search.
I got a boat and gyro project going on so I dont need another one, Its just I see these all the time....so I thought I would ask.

Jonathan
 
I never knew scorpions could fly anyway. :D :D
At least he Oz ones don't,thank crist. :rolleyes:
 
hstearnsjr said:
Hi,
I owned a Scorpion which B.J. Schramm helped me build.
It used an Evinrude 100 HP engine. They tried a Mercury engine, but they just
wouldn't last, blew rods etc.

It worked well. Now I'm building a Mosquito ( http://www.innovatortech.com )

See http://members.cox.net/hoyt-stearns

how was it on the controls? I have heard that the cable head is tricky to fly.
What would be the reason for this, where the controls sluggish or touchy?
I am working on a deal for 2 scorpions, one has the 162 exec engine, and vortec blades.
 
Scorpion flying qualities

Scorpion flying qualities

My Scorpion was a delight to fly. No appreciable vibration or control forces, and
very responsive and smooth. My blades were the Spruce, 4130 steel leading edge, and
aluminum skin. Negatives: heavy, V-belt wearing the pulleys requiring constant
retensioning, check the water in the cooling system.
 
hstearnsjr said:
My Scorpion was a delight to fly. No appreciable vibration or control forces, and
very responsive and smooth. My blades were the Spruce, 4130 steel leading edge, and
aluminum skin. Negatives: heavy, V-belt wearing the pulleys requiring constant
retensioning, check the water in the cooling system.


what I was wondering is how did the controls react? people always talk about how the cable head is harder to fly then the new head like on the exec.

is it becouse the cable head you are flying the head and not the blades?
just wondering becouse you sure see a lot of people get into a dynamic roll over alot. or do you think the problem is to many people tryed to teach then selfs to fly.
the Scorpion I am geting has the old cable style head, but has been upgraded with the 162 exec engine and the new style tailrotor from the exec also. I am hopeing to go get the helicopter and bring it back to n.c. in about 2 weeks or so. it is in oklahoma.
 
quadrirotor said:
what kind of animal are you?
Animal is the name the local bikers gave me many years ago.
but I am now tradeing my Harley for 2 scorpoins and some spare parts.
one is ready to fly with a 162 exec engine in it. I hope to go get them in about 2 weeks. I am waiting on a refund on a machine tool I bought from harbor freight tools,I am going to use that money to make the trip to get the helicopters they are in oklahoma. 1,228 miles from me.
when I get them home I will upload some pics of them.
 
gyrodude said:
I rode in a scorpion that had the Rotorway engine and was turbocharged. It was a nice machine. Ed Alderfer won grand champion rotorcraft at Oshkosh one year and his opinion was that they are underpowered, and should not be flown out of ground effect. You'll see alot of guys buy one and put about 30hrs on the machine hovering it and then get rid of it. Ed said his tailboom frame cracked while he was hauling it down the road on a trailer.
The Scorpion I rode in would fly hands off. The guy had it all chromed out and it was sharp. He ran a transmission shop in Rock Hill, SC. He flew up one day and gave everyone a ride in it. The very next week someone walked into his shop robbed him and shot him dead. His wife tried to sell the machine and was asking $22,000 for it. I think someone finally bought it for $12,000.
yeah Ed had one of the early Scorpions with the out board engine if I rememeber right, as for his tail boom breaking he must not have had good welds,I just brought my 2 projects home to greensboro from oklahoma,and I am here to tell you, there are a lot of bad roads between here and there.All the welds on both held up, but the radatior did start leaking,and the cab on the second one got trashed, but it was on the trailer backwards and was not bolted to the frame.drove about 65 m.p.h. most the way home.

the project with all the parts has a RW-162 engine in it,so it will have plenty of power, it came out of an exec. but still wondering what the deal is on the old cable style rotorheads. Oh well I guess it is test Rodent time...lol
I will let everyone know how they work out.
 
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