450 Making progress

James M. Lewis

Armed Forces
Hi everyone, just wanted to you update you on my scratch built 450 Sky Crane Helicopter. Here are some shots of the fuselage in the rough, yes it looks ugly now:sour:. Have made a pair of landing gear mounts for the two wheels sets that support the fuselage on each side. Each landing gear including the one under the cab will hold (2) 1" rubber tires for a total of 6 wheels. All landing gear struts will be spring loaded to absorb the overall weight of the aircraft when landing. The opening seen here will house the main frame with all the goodies associated in a secured setting (made a special platform for it). What you see is the 1/16" plywood that's supported by pine braces. I have a 2'x4' 1/4 inch styrofoam sheet that will be cut to custom fit on top of the plywood and glued between the pine frame work. The foam will be sanded using 80 grit to form a smooth surface with the pine. then will use 220 grit. The finished fuselage will be covered with Scotch Brand clear packing tape and eventually painted. The round head screws are only temporary, will replace them with flat heads. The inside of the tail section will be enclosed in a gray sheet colored spongy foam that comes in packages that are fragile. The foam material will keep the tail boom in place. All panels on top and bottom have easy access and the battery will have it's own tray forward of the main frame. This will help with CG. My bird will have a 5 main rotor head since no one has a 6 bladed for a 450. All blades are carbon fiber. Also have a 4 blade tail rotor for the tail fin. Will have enough room to install a complete navigation lighting system with head lights mounted underneath the cab section. I'll eventually build a cockpit complete with scale pilots. With fran11784 help in the set up my 450 Augusta A109 FBL gyro system, then I'll know how to set this heli up correctly. Want to thank Rackman for his awesome input also in this build. Know she'll have some weight but figure a PC range of -3 to + 8 and 100% max TC to start, she can hold her own. And yes I'm taking my time in this build figure I would have invested 200 hours prior to maiden flight. Hope one day to have a video:thumbsup:. Best regards, Jim
 

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James M. Lewis

Armed Forces
Thank you for your comments. Never thought of it as a diamond, hmm good point. Will make this the very best project I've under taken :peaceful:
 
Last edited:

heli46

New Member
Hi everyone, just wanted to you update you on my scratch built 450 Sky Crane Helicopter. Here are some shots of the fuselage in the rough, yes it looks ugly now:sour:. Have made a pair of landing gear mounts for the two wheels sets that support the fuselage on each side. Each landing gear including the one under the cab will hold (2) 1" rubber tires for a total of 6 wheels. All landing gear struts will be spring loaded to absorb the overall weight of the aircraft when landing. The opening seen here will house the main frame with all the goodies associated in a secured setting (made a special platform for it). What you see is the 1/16" plywood that's supported by pine braces. I have a 2'x4' 1/4 inch styrofoam sheet that will be cut to custom fit on top of the plywood and glued between the pine frame work. The foam will be sanded using 80 grit to form a smooth surface with the pine. then will use 220 grit. The finished fuselage will be covered with Scotch Brand clear packing tape and eventually painted. The round head screws are only temporary, will replace them with flat heads. The inside of the tail section will be enclosed in a gray sheet colored spongy foam that comes in packages that are fragile. The foam material will keep the tail boom in place. All panels on top and bottom have easy access and the battery will have it's own tray forward of the main frame. This will help with CG. My bird will have a 5 main rotor head since no one has a 6 bladed for a 450. All blades are carbon fiber. Also have a 4 blade tail rotor for the tail fin. Will have enough room to install a complete navigation lighting system with head lights mounted underneath the cab section. I'll eventually build a cockpit complete with scale pilots. With fran11784 help in the set up my 450 Augusta A109 FBL gyro system, then I'll know how to set this heli up correctly. Want to thank Rackman for his awesome input also in this build. Know she'll have some weight but figure a PC range of -3 to + 8 and 100% max TC to start, she can hold her own. And yes I'm taking my time in this build figure I would have invested 200 hours prior to maiden flight. Hope one day to have a video:thumbsup:. Best regards, Jim
Well good luck and hope you finish good idea anyway have a great day
 
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