[MOC] AW 169 helicopter [US Navy edition]

[steph77]

Hi everyone,

This is my next project.

 

Its a replica of the brand new Agusta-Westland - AW196 Air ambulance.

This model is a lightweight transport helicopter designed to be able to achieve missions in about every possible environment.

This is also one LEGO project, and I have tried to take lessons from my previous helicopter MOCs.

At this point I have achieved the most difficult part of the MOC. The complete control center of the rotor's head is done and perfectly functional.

But before, have a look at the global model in it's WIP state:

The global shape is coming out of the bricks actually :)

On this picture you can see one joystick standing lateraly in behind the pilot seats:

And you have the same on the other side of the aircraft. Other point of view:

 

So, what's the goal?

I already build previously helicopters with onboard command, even realistic commands. It was pleasant but not always really practical. So this time I decided to make use of a pair of joysticks, one on every lateral side.

The left joystick controls the cyclic movement of the rotor.

• When pushing it to the front/back the swashplate incline to the front and back (forwards and backwards translation of the aircraft).
• Pushing the joystick up and down makes the swashplate incline left or right (lateral movement of the aircraft)

The right joystick controls:

• the collective mouvement of the rotor when pushing it up and down
• The pitch of the tail rotor (command is operational, tail rotor still to build)

Actually, the main rotor is perfectly functional with large amplitude movement of the blade. This amplitude was a real goal of this MOC, because I found lots of beautiful build on the net, but not really one with real large movements of the blades.

Other view of the rotor head, i'll explain you all of this later ;)

On the other function point of view, the BB already is placed in front of the rotor in order to assure a good wheight repartition on the 3 points landing gear.

I will place now a gear box with to reversible commands on it : one for the landing gear in/out command and one other for the winch, that actually does not exist.

There will also be one main clutch gearbox for the rotors, in order to be able to use of the other function without rotor rotation.

 

So, that's it for now guys, this is the first take of it. Building time: about 20 hours actually.

Any comment or idea will be appreciate.

Edited November 6, 2018 by steph77

[Thirdwigg]

So excited about this. Thanks for starting another fun project. 

Also, I like the idea of the side controls. This allows for great playability, without cramped fingers in the cockpit. Great idea. 

Edited December 2, 2017 by Thirdwigg

[rm8]

Love it, evene it is still WIP! Shape is

[MangaNOID]

Nice!

How much blade movement do you have? I thought most helicopters were only 30degrees or so (from quick research) haha, not trying to be pedantic or anything just curious.

excited to see this anyway as helicopters are my flavour at the moment 

Edited December 2, 2017 by MangaNOID

[nerdsforprez]

looking very compact.  Wonderful that you can get the odd-shaped battery box in such a small space.  I will also keep tabs on this project, IMO we don't see enough non-wheeled vehicles on here.... although we are making some progress!  aka.... Jereon's recent jet post....

[BusterHaus]

Very good work, I'm looking forward to the progress. The two outside joysticks are a great idea. 

[steph77]

The beast is coming to life:

Today progress are on the bodywork, rear part of the cabin,and also in placing and connecting the tail rotor.

As a particularity of the model of reference, the tail rotor is inclined by +/- 30°

Its been quiet challenging to reproduce it, and it took me a major part of the day.

Actually the landing gear are fixed, and I wonder more and more if i'll have enough place to realize the A plan. Will see.

Below are two pictures showing the tail rotor in action:

Neutral position:

And maximum pitch angle. It's about 45° of movement (the same for main rotor).The pitch is controlled by the rightside joystick when pushing it frontwards or backwards.

It's quiet logical to find the other collective function on this joystick, the other direction (up/down) controls the main rotor collective pitch.

Time for a more general view from the rear: the back end of the superstructure is finalized, with wings and flaperons.

Oh, I forgot it ;)

I also placed the heart inside the beast, after battery box, a medium motor is now connected to the mechanics...

The back doors can be opened...

 

So now it's time to rest a little ;)

The main questions I 'll have to answer now, as the place inside the cabin is very limitated, is to know if i'll try to motorized the additionals functions or not.

The landing gear could be manually operated, the presence of two joystick makes sens in that manual conception.

The winch would ideally be electrified, but I have to find the best way to do it.

 

As usual, any comments are welcome :)

 

 

 

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

That rear rotor is insane! Do you have a picture of the real life heli?

Great progress BTW 

[shadow_elenter]

nice!

 

[MangaNOID]

Thought there was some black magic happening for the rear pitch, took me ages to see the axle down the side.

nice use of the wheel hub too!

[brickless_kiwi]

what its the part # or parts you are using for the swash plate?  that your 9 long link and 6 long arm are connecting to?

[steph77]

Here is a link, from our forum, where you'll find all info ;)

[steph77]

Actual state of the WIP:

Front cockpit done, doors can be opened, not still 100% satisfied with it

id:

The rear view shows you rotors, tail commands and engine output

The command situated on the inner roof of the cockpit is the main electric command (rotor rotation)

I particlary like this point of view :)

This begin to look like it had to do :)

Next step is finding a way to insert in a way or another the winch mechanism.

 

As usual....

 

[agrof]

Jaw dropping technical delicacy, as usual from You!  Love the alternative usage of the wheel hub. (I made recently something similar, but it is still just in experimental phase.)

Maybe the nose could be covered a bit better with small panels, or with white beams, but not obligatory.

[BusterHaus]

Wow, the main rotor mechanism looked big and slightly out of scale in the first post but it goes fits really well once you added the rest of the details to the build, and the tail section matches it very well. Keep going, you are making excellent progress. 

[Qukie]

The rotor configuartion looks incredible  great work so far

[steph77]

 

10 hours ago, agrof said:

Jaw dropping technical delicacy, as usual from You!  Love the alternative usage of the wheel hub. (I made recently something similar, but it is still just in experimental phase.)

Maybe the nose could be covered a bit better with small panels, or with white beams, but not obligatory.

It is true i like models like this who are really challenging and really technical Inside :)

I had noticed that the nose needs some reworking on. i will try Something but no clear idea at this stage

9 hours ago, BusterHaus said:

Wow, the main rotor mechanism looked big and slightly out of scale in the first post but it goes fits really well once you added the rest of the details to the build, and the tail section matches it very well. Keep going, you are making excellent progress. 

The scale of the rotor head is deeply linked with the 7 studs wide swashplate. If you analyse closely you will notice that there is no real place for the jet engine due to the rotor's size. I had to make some compromise but the global shape is ok according to me, even if there is still some work.

 

Thanks for comments.

I need a pill now before going deep Inside the mecha to fit the last functions....

[steph77]

What do you think guys of that winch design?

Manually operated finally. I just consider that PFS here was not the main interest as all other commands and stuff are manual.

I also have a problem with the vertical panel on behind the front door and with the door itself.

No idea on how to fix that as I can not describe what hit my mind on these points.

Any idea?

 

[Thirdwigg]

I like the look of the winch.

To me, the black and white is a little visually disruptive. Is there a certain version you are trying to replicate? What happens if you switch the black parts to white? I was thinking mounting a #21 and #22 end to end vertically to take the place of the black panel would look better, but after looking at pictures of the AW 169, why do you just mount 2 or 3 1x7 liftarms vertically to fill the gap. The side of the AW 169 does not curve much, so this may look OK.

Re. the door, I would add a small panel to the bottom to fill it in a little. I would remove the vertical frame and make the door only on the bottom, like this, not like this. 

[steph77]

Hello,

I will try this to see what it looks like.

Thanks for suggestion :)

I am planning a video now and i am searching some software that can take two video in a same picture, one will show the joystick and the second one the action on rotor.

What do you used for video editing?

[Boulderer]

I'm really interested in this build.  I've worked on the AW169 in the past and its really nice to see a model of something that I've had some (albeit small) contribution to designing.

[steph77]

I think this project is enough advanced to declare it finished,

Thanks all for comments and advice.

Her is the final video, I hope you will enjoy it.

Steph.

 

[Aventador2004]

Very good finished product, so much playability for a kid.

The vid is nice too.

[Boulderer]

This has turned out better than I'd hoped!  The functions are implemented incredibly well   

HoF may well be relevant.

[MangaNOID]

Lovely helicopter! The video makes it look so good. 

I like how balanced and solid the functions look too, with the blades spinning.

 

Edited December 12, 2017 by MangaNOID