Ballast Weight

This thing is simple to build and install with a few minor twists and turns.

First we chose to use screws to hold the tip on

because if we installed something later on, like for example a heater, GPS com unit, turbo, etc., the ship will have to be rebalanced and if you were to weld the cap on you would have to cut it apart or make a whole new one if you chromed it to get it in spec.  Just about everything you install on this little helicopter will affect the balance of it we believe so we didn't take any chances on welding it together.

 
Be sure to get the safety pin hole straight when you drill the holes for it in the mount tube and the skid tube
or it will only fit one way like it does on our ship lol.

Another thing we did was to drill the safety pin hole on a 45 degree angle so it couldn't fall out if the pin safety clasp came off.   

One needs to decide whether or not it is going to be chromed.

If your going to chrome it you have to drill a hole in the bottom of the main tube
so the liquids can drain out of it when it goes through the chrome dipping process.

The head needs some sort of eyebolt for a hanger so it can be dipped.
You can drill a 1/4 inch hole in the back of it and screw in a temporary eyebolt that can be removed later after the process is finished.

Be sure to put something between the mounting rack inside the tailboom

to take up the gap between the tail boom skin and the inside mount and be sure to do the same thing on the outside between the tailboom and the outside bracket.  RotorWay calls for silicone there but we used some material similar to gasket paper that has a rubber base to it to keep from having a metal to metal contact and to fill in the unevenness of the two mating surfaces.

We chose to chrome ours first and fill it later

so the chrome people wouldn't have to deal with such a heavy item and so we wouldn't have to drill the safety pin hole out later leaving a place to rust because you couldn't do anything to prevent it.  It worked out great and didn't discolor the chrome in the least.

As far as lead goes

Some builders I am told obtain lead from a plumbing supply house and some use lead shot like the shooters use in reloading shot gun shells which you can buy from a shooters supply.

The lead shot isn't as heavy so I wouldn't use that.  We bought some and filled the weight with it and it came out several pounds lighter.

You can always remove some lead if its to heavy but if it comes out to light your screwed.

We ended up using the lead shot to make a ballast bag I use when Im flying alone in the ship. It came out weighing 21 lbs and was the perfect weight to add to the passengers side floor board.

To fill it with lead you'll need some method of melting lead like a plumbers pot.

We used an acetylene torch and a cast iron skillet we bought from our local Wal-Mart which was DOA at the end of the process do to a large crack in the bottom of it lol.

We had no idea at the time where to obtain lead so we used old wheel weights we obtained from a local auto mechanics shop which they gladly donated to us just to get rid off lol.

 
It took alot of them and don't plan on pouring the lead and going anyplace
with the thing to soon either because ours took what seemed like forever to cool off.

We stuck an old phillips screwdriver through the safety pin hole to keep the lead from running out and as it cooled we rotated it from time to time to keep it from setting up in the lead.  When it was cool enough we removed it leaving the holes just the right size so we wouldn't have to redrill them.

We filled ours all the way to the top as far as we could and still get the tip on figuring we could always use an electric drill and drill the lead out if it comes out too heavy, because it would be a royal pain to add more lead to it and possibly damage our chrome.

When I went to RotorWay for fight training I noticed that

they have several different ballast weights

they use for different loads while giving instruction.  Thinking about it, it makes sence and I may one day order a couple more of them to help keep the ship in trim for the same reasons.

After I recieved my rotorcraft Lience

The  Big day arrived and I set out to take Donna for her first flight with me and

I learned something about the ballast weight the hard way.

 
I placed the ballast weight on the tail boom like I always did when I flew with someone in training
never thinking about Donna only weighing 118 lbs.

Prior to lift off I got the ship light on the skids like normal and everything felt just fine until I added Collective to lift the ship into a hover.  When I did the ship immediately began going backwards even with full forward cyclic applied.  We wern't anything but lucky here because if I had had 1/8 less cyclic I would have surly balled the ship up.

I called John Spurling and he once again told me

how to handle the weights just like he did over a year prior to this event that I had completely forgotton all about.

3 rules of thumb:

If I have a passenger weighing over 150 lbs	The weight goes on the tailboom
If I have a passenger between 100 and  150 lbs	I don't install the ballast at all
If I have a passenger under 100 lbs	I Place the ballast weight on the Skid.

This is how my ship worksout CG wise
and your ship may be different so be sure to do a proper weight and balance.

Anyways theres still more to the story lol.

The next weekend or so we gave it a shot again and this time I left the weight completely off the ship.  I got the ship light on the skids ever so carefully feeling it out before picking the ship up into a hover.  It felt pretty good CG wise but the ship felt like it was on steroids or something lol.

Prior to this experence I've never had a passenger that weighed less then 190lbs in the passengers seat
so the ship left the ground with much less collective and the cyclic input was much closer to center.

Once again after a conversation with John Spurling

I learned it wasn't just the weight difference there was also another factor working here that made this tremendous difference in the ship.

The 1st factor:   Weight!

It was obvious to me that with the ship having less of a load to pick up it that it would leave the ground easier, that part was a gimmie.

The 2nd factor:   Aerodynamics

This one never entered my mind but just being fresh out of flight school and all it probably should have.

Our ship with Donna (118 lbs) and I (142 lbs) onboard is much closer to a perfect CG.

With that in our favor when I pick the ship up into a hover the rotor disk is leveler thereby reducing the amount of lost rotorwash I'm used to loosing when I have a heavier person onboard

which makes the whole thing act and feel TOTALY different.

END