Sep 14, 2022     First visit to Gyro Technic - (4 hours)       Category: Research

After exploring many gyroplane options, I ran across Gyro Technic which is located an hour away from me. I called and setup an appointment to see their products. To say I was impressed is an understatement. The designer, Denis Schoemaker, is a brilliant design engineer and a meticulous craftsman. Every component of the aircraft borders on a work of art. And I liked the fit!!

  Oct 06, 2022     Starting small...meet Gizmo! - (6 hours)       Category: Research

Gyro Technic has created a very cool model Gyroplane called "Gizmo." Since I ultimately want to teach new gyroplane pilots I thought it would be a great instructional tool and building it would allow me to check out the craftsmanship, blueprints and build instructions provided by Gyro Technic. It was a fun little project that turned out to be an excellent introduction to building a full-sized Gyro Technic kit.

  Oct 18, 2022     Meeting another builder - (4 hours)       Category: Research

A month after first visiting Gyro Technic, I made a second trip to their facility to meet Leigh Allison, another builder, who built the first VX2 model which he has nicknames "Blue" (for obvious reasons!) Leigh is from the UK but did his build at the Gyro Technic factory over the course of several visits to the U.S. I had learned much about his build by following his thread on the Rotary Wing Forum (highly recommended read) and was excited to meet him in person. I was not disappointed. He was a huge help in defining what I was looking to build. It also gave me the chance to learn more about the kit manufacturing process.

  Jan 04, 2023     Engine mount test setup - (8 hours)       Category: Engine

We used a test frame setup at the Gyro Technic facility to refine the engine mount and location for mounting the 912iS components. This is the first VX2 with the 912iS engine which required quite a few modifications from the 912ULS installation used in the first VX2 built by Leigh Allison. We also sent initial kit parts off for powder coating.

  Jan 26, 2023     It begins.... - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Parts arrived from powder coating! Organized parts and and prepared jigs.

  Jan 27, 2023     Assembling keel - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Began assembling the keel rail. Organized the black anodized parts that arrived.

  Jan 30, 2023     Addition of mast, engine mount and tank mounts - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installation of mast and engine mount assembly, and start of oil tank mount.

  Jan 31, 2023     Frame and controls assembly - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed cyclic tube and control Y along with rudder cable pulleys.

  Feb 04, 2023     Nosewheel, controls and oil tank - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continued work on installation of controls; installed nosewheel; installed oil tank for Rotax; organized recently highlighted parts.

  Feb 09, 2023     Mounting engine accessories - (6 hours)       Category: Engine

Tailwheel mounted; mounted Rotax fuel pumps; finished oil reservoir mounting; mounted oil cooler; One photo of parts inventory at Gyro Technic. So lucky to get to build right at the factory with so much expertise ready to help.

  Feb 10, 2023     Tail assembly day! - (12 hours)       Category: Tail Feathers

Long day assembly the tail feathers assisted by Stief Counts and Denis Schoemaker. Denis designed a jig that makes skinning the tail assembly a breeze. Very impressive design. I included a pic of my Rotax shipping crate.

  Feb 11, 2023     Rotor brake, teeter tower, rudder pedals and more - (8 hours)       Category: Controls

Assembled the rotor brake, the teeter tower and attached rudder pedals.

  Feb 16, 2023     Continued work on controls and rotor head; Engine - (8 hours)       Category: Controls

Continued assembly of rotor head and controls. Riveted pre-rotator ring to rotor head assembly. Pressed rod ends into landing gear rods. Moved engine from test airframe to my airframe.

  Feb 17, 2023     Landing gear assembly - (8 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Assembled brake calipers, brake discs, wheel hub assemblies and landing gear struts. Installed wheels and tires. Added the experimental stickers!

  Feb 23, 2023     Pre-rotator assembly testing - (3 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Tested fit of pre-rotator power takeoff assembly.

  Mar 02, 2023     Seat and fuel tank fitting - (2 hours)       Category: Interior Finish

Tested seat mounting and attached to airframe. Mounted fuel tanks.

  Mar 07, 2023     Installed instrument pod, rotor head - (6 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Installed instrument pod; installed pre-rotator bracket; continued assembly of rotor head with rotor brake. Installed rotor head on mast.

  Mar 08, 2023     Pre-rotator and more - (8 hours)       Category: Controls

Continued work on pre-rotator components on engine; added pre-rotator bendix to rotor head; fuel tanks mounted; seat belt mounts added; Nav lights added; Trim spring mounted.

  Mar 09, 2023     Added control rods, decals, mounted rudder - (8 hours)       Category: Controls

Tail feathers arrived back from powder coating. Assembled and mounted control rods. Added decals and N-number to rudder. Assisted Denis in initial balancing of rotor blades. (Also have video.)

  Mar 09, 2023     Initial balance of rotor blades - (1 hour) Category: Rotor

This is the initial balancing of Razor Blades rotor.

  Mar 15, 2023     Horizontal stabilizer and rudder cables - (8 hours)       Category: Controls

Installed horizontal stabilizer and end caps; installed rudder cables and tested fit.

  Jun 06, 2023     Initial panel design - (2 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Denis at Gyro Technic put together some proposed panel layouts as we finalized the layout. The Trig radios are in hand, but still waiting on the Kanardia PFD and EMS glass. At the center is a mount for my iPhone Pro Max running ForeFlight with a MagSafe charging mount to charge in flight. Also included is the screen layouts in close-to-final form (still a few tweaks to be made.) In addition to those three screens (available on either device) there will be a fourth map screen that can be selected.

  Jun 07, 2023     Final panel layout - (1 hour)       Category: Instrument Panel

The final panel layout is complete and radio control heads mounted. Awaiting the Kanardia instruments (due in any day now) and a few anodized parts to finish things up. [Edit: Turns out we needed some enhancements to the panel so this wasn't quite the final!]

  Jun 14, 2023     Wiring and panel design tweaks - (3 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Started laying out the required cabling and tested sizing for the wiring conduit. Looks like we're going to have upsize the conduit to handle all the wires required for the 912iS and radios. Added a new base plate to strengthen instrument pod. Tweaked the panel layout to add additional items required by the 912iS. Radio mounting rack fitted with radios and miniDAQU interface for the EMS.

  Jun 14, 2023     Warp Drive prop arrived - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

Unpacked and started fitting up the prop. Unfortunately one of the blade blocks had undersized holes so will need to chat with Warp Drive tomorrow.

  Jun 14, 2023     Laser engraving video - (1.0 hour) Category: Instrument Panel

A quick video of the final panel being laser engraved.

  Jun 16, 2023     Test mounted Propeller - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

Finished assembling prop and test fitting it to engine. Ordered proper length bolts for final mounting. Still need to pitch it.

  Jun 16, 2023     Installed radio antenna - (2 hours)       Category: Avionics

Installed VHF comm antenna in tail and ran cable to panel.

  Jun 16, 2023     Worked on engine wiring to panel - (5 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Added pins to the engine cables. 912iS connectors are a bugger! Finished (hopefully) final panel layout.

  Jun 19, 2023     Continued work on electrical system - (4.5 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Continued work on engine interface plugs; pulled the wiring for anti-collision lights. Finally pulled the entire umbilical cord through the keel. Lots of wires!

  Jun 21, 2023     Brake lines connected - (3 hours)       Category: Landing Gear

Installed brake line connections, including rotor brake.

  Jun 21, 2023     Installed Push-to-Talk - (1 hour)       Category: Avionics

Removed pistol grip, removed PTT and soldered wiring to switch and toned it out.

  Jun 21, 2023     Connect anti-collision lights - (1.5 hours)       Category: Lighting

Connected wiring to anti-collision lights and chose flash pattern. I have a video of the flash sequence if I can remember how to add a video.

  Jun 21, 2023     New prop bolts and end plate       Category: Propeller

The correct length bolts arrived for prop so installed it with a spacer end-plate.

  Jun 21, 2023     Mounting holes for GPS; Avionics wiring - (3 hours)       Category: Avionics

Drilled holes for two GPS antennas, one for the Kanardia PFD and the other for the Trig TN72 GPS to support ADS-B. Continued work on avionics wiring.

  Jun 21, 2023     Anti-Collison light flash sequence (video) - (.2 hour) Category: Lighting

Here's a short video showing the flash sequence.

  Jun 22, 2023     Continued work on Avionics - (8 hours)       Category: Avionics

Continued work on terminating avionics wiring, including wiring up plugs for Trig GPS, Transponder and Comm radio. This is some of the most time-consuming work on the entire build.

  Jun 26, 2023     Continued work on wiring - (7 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Continued work on panel wiring...so many wires!! Hopefully she'll be ready for the first power-up in another day or so. Also labeled the backside of the panel for easier reference while wiring!

  Jun 26, 2023     Put fluids into engine - (1 hour) Category: Engine

No pics but I added the the brake fluid to the wheel brakes and rotor brake, then put in the engine oil and coolant for the engine in anticipation of the first run coming soon.

  Jun 27, 2023     Installed gears on Pre-rotator shaft - (1 hour)       Category: Rotor

We heated the steel gear to around 800 degrees using magnetic induction, then dropped the shaft into for an extremely tight bond between the two.

  Jun 27, 2023     Continued work on panel electrical connections - (6 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Continued terminating and connecting the wiring. We eventually got to power up the panel and do some preliminary tests. We discovered the Kanardia CanBus carries power between them so we had to change our plan slightly.

  Jun 27, 2023     Set pitch on propeller - (1 hour)       Category: Propeller

Set initial pitch on all four blades of the Warp Drive umbrella. Initial setting is 10.5 degrees as measured at the tip. We'll see how that goes.

  Jun 28, 2023     Finishing instrument panel - (6 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

We had wire in some resistors for the LED lamps used by the Rotax electronic ignition system. That was a little tricky. We also wired up the headset jack and mounted it to the seat. Then the moment of truth came: Power up the panel for the first time, which you can see in the video below. Success! At least so far. We still have not tested all the engine electronics. Maybe tomorrow. We tested the radio....receiving was fine but we may have an issue with microphone impedance. I also programmed the ADSB info into the transponder but there's no way to test that just yet. I also wired in the USB outlet behind the panel for the MagSafe phone charger in the panel. Unfortunately I didn't realize the little push button on the front of it was a momentary switch that needed to be pushed every time you want to use it! So a different style unit is on its way. It should be plug and play. [Note: the website seems to scramble the order of the images sometimes.]

  Jun 29, 2023     Finished fuel system - (6 hours)       Category: Fuel System

Reinstalled right tank, crossfeed fuel line and fuel vent lines. Ran oil vent line hose. Calibrated Kanardia fuel gauges. Did hang test to determine CG without fuel, then with fuel. Installed updated brackets for landing light and anodized throttle lever. Cleaned up and secured wires for strobe lights. Also installed anodized mounting bracket for transponder antenna. Took it outside for some GPS tests. Noticed we weren't getting GPS info to the transponder so will need to troubleshoot that further.

  Jul 05, 2023     Pre-rotator components installed. - (3 hours)       Category: Rotor

Installed the some of the pre-rotator components including new link back at the power takeoff end.

  Jul 05, 2023     Troubleshooting ADSB position info - (2 hours)       Category: Avionics

The transponder isn't receiving GPS position from the TN72. We confirmed the TN72 is working and sending out data, but the TT22 transponder isn't getting position info. We suspect a bad GPS antenna so another has been ordered for overnight delivery in the hope our inspection the day after tomorrow goes forward. I'm guessing the ADSB won't be a show-stopper since it's not required where we are initially flying. We did pull the protective plastic off the Kanardia screens in anticipation of her being ready to fly!

  Jul 05, 2023     First engine start - (2 hours) Category: Engine

Our initial attempt at engine start failed. After some sleuthing we realized the initial ignition grounding seems to be backwards from our though logic so we reversed them and were gratified with the end result!

  Jul 05, 2023     Preparing the nameplate - (1 hour)       Category: Paint / Decals

One of the last steps in preparing for inspection is engraving the nameplate.