Pylon Flyer
Built by Ralph Laughton in June 2009
This model was inspired by several that have been made in the past and especially by a post made on the Spanner II mailing list by Geoff Brown regarding his vision.
The problem to solve is how to get the helicopter, on the end of the arm, to lift, tilt forward, fly around a pylon and land again. All this has to be controlled, outside the flying radius. Also, power has to be supplied to the helicopter’s motor consistently without continuous wire connection.
This is achieved by using the model as a return and supplying power via a pickup ring. Two pickups are used to ensure continuous connection. Should one pickup bounce, the other one should still be in contact — that’s the theory…
As you can see, this is a work in progress and there is a little way to go yet, but the mechanism, controlled by a Bowden cable, seems to work OK.