[Lyle Swallows]

Hi All, Welcome to my build. not quite a full build and not quite a resurrection, more like a resuscitation as this Kit is from late 99, has passed through 3 hands two that have really done any work to it, one that has ran it for a 0.1, and none that have flown it as it is still incomplete.

i came into this kit as a hobbiest who likes to tinker and love helicopters, they are my profession as a Mechanic and i am certified to fly them. so why not try at my own!

i only have a 2 car garage with a 7ft high garage door at this time so space is limited.


but i'm determined!

this will be the start of my build thread where i will mostly just ramble... feel free to chime in. call me an idiot, give me kudos, or just read on and pass right on through. this is my page to collect my thoughts and post my pretty build photos i am proud(and some not so proud) of.

i may also post some inspiring flying pictures and cool pictures of my work all helicopter related.

[Lyle Swallows]

so far i've started going through the drive system, tail and main rotor hubs/shafts. not in a race to finish anything. its nice taking it at my pace unlike work some days.

found some issues such as the slider ball plating and a gritty swashplate bearing that cleaned up nice with solvant and new grease, made a main rotor mast stand yesterday just before a flight in my buddies R22 for some insrtuction.

[Sam Oliver]

I'm going to have to put on my jacket when I look at your post.  I get cold just looking.  Probably won't have an engine cooling problem!  

Nice to have a another certified mechanic specializing in helicopters on board and participating.  Good luck with your project.

Is your mast stand for the purpose of rebuilding the rotor head back up?

[Lyle Swallows]

I'm going to have to put on my jacket when I look at your post.  I get cold just looking.  Probably won't have an engine cooling problem!  

Nice to have a another certified mechanic specializing in helicopters on board and participating.  Good luck with your project.

Is your mast stand for the purpose of rebuilding the rotor head back up?

Engine cooling is never an issue here unless it's a REAL ISSUE haha. i would love to change to electric fans in the future after the initial build is finished. better Alternator, and electric water pump at that stage too.

Yes! i just got my teeter friction last night, at the topside of 12lbs which i like for the initial setup to allow it to break in, will be making the hub centering tool soon. it's also for upright storage since i cant have it installed and move the machine in and out of my garage... tedious.

i think i'll use it for Static Blade balance and blade sweep aswell. may make it out of metal at that point, this was just to get it off the ground and tables. Jealous of your Joe Huff engine Sam!

[Lyle Swallows]

Bearpaws! these are made by Nathan Keith out of Canada, he was delightful to work with although he no longer owns a Rotorway. played around wjth the wheel cutouts on the outside and inside, i prefer the inside as that puts the most surface area on the outside, the more surface area side will have a tendancy to Tilt up as it has more floatation, tilting up on the outside as the skids spread with load will push outward rather than dig if they tilted up on the inside of the skids.

have to fine some clamps that will fit and modify the wheels a tad,

im very happy how these look and feel.

[Jared Hartzell]

I've got the same bear paws @Lyle Swallows! Never knew who made em though.

[Lyle Swallows]

well back home and have had a quiet day or two to continue looking at my machine, day dreaming, planning, plotting.

i'm greatful my job when i'm away from home has ALOT of downtime so i can study the prints and manuals and observe the builder mistakes so i can correct them to the best of my ability... once a hole is drilled it is harder to correct than drill it right the first time though... but doesnt mean i can leave it be.

so heres a bunch of pictures of the issues i have found! yay!





stringers are supposed to be straight right? while there are no hard creases i'm still not happy with the waviness of the tail boom structure...




the frame is sitting on the cross tubes themselves and not spaced to only be on the bolts like the manual says, also the tailboom braces were not clearanced, i intend to Weld the brackets on the cross tubes, drill the new holes with the proper clearance and frame angles.



there are these spacers on the seatback so the seatback is not resting all the way back on the frame? these are 1/2"-3/4" long. at 6' i could use all the leg room i possibly could get! i've already been commited to epoxying in all the original nut plate holes and completely redoing all body panel alignment... not an easy task filling in all holes and fairing out a clean surface...

overall i am enjoying this deep dive into this machine as i believe it's important to have a full grasp of everyinch of this machine and in order to trust a truly Amature built helicopter i believe this is important for ANYONE buying a used Rotorway not built by a reputable builder... TRUST BUT VERIFY!

[Sam Oliver]

Those are some pretty wavy stringers?    As far as the spacers go on the seat back,  From my perspective, after spending way to much time trying to fit the Seat Back to the frame per the instructions and the videos as well as speaking to some other builders a couple years ago when fighting that fitment, I came to the conclusion there will be some amount of spacers required.  On the A600 videos as I recall Mark Peterson specifically addressed the potential need for shims of some sort.   On mine, (which is not yet completed) I have to have shims/spacers each different thickness on 3 of the four bolts that mount the seat back to the frame.  My understanding is with the seat pan as far back and left as it will go, you will only certainly end up with gaps between the frame and seat back portion.  Just because of the quality of the molds from the factory.  And to use shims rather than try to pull the backs up tight with the bolts as that will deform the fiberglass and result in cracks down the road.
Part of one of the kits I am using was riddled with what I would politely call "not up to my specs" and after a short inspection, I determined I was going to take everything back down to scratch rather than "trust".  The only way I would be comfortable "Verifying" the build.  Restorations or rebuilds are always more challenging in my experience.

[Lyle Swallows]

finished making my hub centering tool, i really like the print they include in the rotorway

manuals for this. using the shims that it was initially setup with which are two .020" shims and two white nylon bushes for each side i'm showing .008" off center. :/ i'm gonna play around with the assembly of it incase i put something not in its corresponding position, i do have a shim kit thankfully, but my friction is set at the higher end already of 12ft lbs so i cant add any more thickness or i will lower the friction.

i do have delrin bushes aswell to replace the nylon and see how that effects the stackup. just have to play with it but i feel .008" misalignment from the factory is alot. measured back and forth ALOT so i dont think my tool is assembled incorrectly. i'll play with it in the next couple weeks as i've got my wedding to go to and a fun honeymoon away from this Alaskan cold...

[Lyle Swallows]

after stripping my tailboom i found one of the stringers was not properly formed. it bowed when it was bent so in the middle the formed bend is only 1/4" thick where as the rest are 1/2" thick. this made this section of the tailboom very flimsy and noticeably wavy. glad i dug into it.

also have a slew of parts on order for uograding my electrical system to be capable of supporting a lithium battery EarthX ETX1200 and future Electric water pump/cooling fans.