VTOL rc airplane called the Vertigo

[machiningfool]

I wanted to challenge my building ability for rc aircraft. I was a member of a club here in Seffner Fl. and I had been flying since I was 26, I am 70 now. I fly helicopters and fixed wing, both models and the full scale, so I decided to scratchbuild the Vertigo. You can still get the plans from Airplane News. The original design was created by Grumman aircraft when they were experimenting with VTOL's. One of the engineers got permission to make available to the public this design, one of several that they had built and flown. What a challenge, took me six months to build, twice. So, after a year I flew the model as designed, as I made the mistake of redesigning it to suit my desires, bad idea. After building for six months, had to re-build it correctly as per the plans. It flew flawlessly after that. The motor is an OS Max ducted fan motor capable of 26,000 rpm with a ducted fan, but only turned 18,000 with a 10 inch prop. It weighed 10 lbs. Here in the video was the first hover attempt, I hovered it 15 times after that, never transferred to horizontal flight yet, maybe some day. You might want to skip to about 9.5 minutes, it was cold that day and I had problems getting it warmed up. Robert Brown. What are the odds, Jaffrey Stevenson was in my club and I didn't know that he had built one until one day he showed up with his Vertigo, I will attempt to add one of his videos of his going from hover to horizontal and then back to hover.

[kbalch]

Another awesome project!

I'm a longtime pilot and CFI, myself. I've always been interested in RC, but figured I'd always be one little hiccough away from an expensive crash. Perhaps oddly - and despite at least half a dozen declared emergencies over the years - I've never felt that way about full scale flying. I'm sure it's all about my perception of control.

I'd love to see the Vertigo translate to horizontal flight - and back!

Ken

[machiningfool]

I flew in the Army, UH1's am also an instructor, multi instrument, rotary, and ATP. I only stopped flying RC when I began building my house, but who knows, maybe I will start again someday, I have a few more projects to do like a CNC router of which I am well into construction. The next best thing to flying RC at the field is to buy RealFlight RC simulator. It is just like flying at the field. I fly it once in a while just to keep my skills up. They are about 200 and you get the controls with it. I added a video of my friend flying the Vertigo just for you, thanks for the kudos, Robert Brown PS To kbalch, The nice thing about the RealFlight simulator is that if you crash, you just push a button and you're in the air again instantly.

[DIYer]

The skill sets the people have on this board leave me humbled!

[machiningfool]

Thank you DIYer for your kind words. Here is how I feel about sharing. When I construct something, I feel that there is someone out there that might be able to use either all or part of what I have done and I feel guilty if I don't share it, even though most of my endeavors aren't in detail, it might spur someone on to even a better idea. Thanks again. Robert Brown machiningfool