Futura57
Senior Heliman
Location: UK
| Thought I'd share the work I've been doing to modify some Futura mechanics so they will fit in a Robbe Hughes 500e fuselage and allow a full front cockpit to be installed (eventually).
As always I have reverted to using my trusty wood-working skills to make up mounts to reposition the cyclic servos on top of the frames ahead of the swash. These fit under the Hughes 500e top windows with less than a centimetre to spare. The collective servo has been moved to the top of the frames aft of the swash. The main problem was avoiding any snagging of the linkages as a result of inverting the four 90 degree bellcranks.
At the moment the setup is cobbled together with various thickness threaded rods, old ball links and some spare servos. I can report that it works a dream and is as smooth as the original. I have also added extra bracing links and there is absolutely zero slop.
Credit has to go to Robbe for the original servo configuration which is a marvel of engineering and mechanical ingenuity. It wasn't until I looked at it closely (and flipped it) that I realised just how clever it is.
You can see from my Futura 90 picture that the stock servo locations take up a lot of the front of the heli.
In the new configuration the fuel tank will be moved to the side opposite the muffler. It will probably need to be replaced to get one that fits. There should be little or no fore/aft CG movement as fuel is used, however the CG will need to be brought forward by mounting a large flight battery in the forward floor compartment along with any other avionics that can be conveniently relocated. Also, the weight of cockpit detail and pilots should avoid the need for additional dead ballast.
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Hardware eventually fails - Software eventually works! |
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Though on reflection I do prefer the closed loop slop free arrangement 
