the perfect gyro trailer

[asra]

Hello guysIf you had your drothers and were skilled in steel fabrication as well...what would you build from scratch this time around? bearing in mind that you have about five grand to purchase all steel and sheet,fittings,gas bbq,small gen set,solar shower...you get the idea.In particular...ease(or as easy as it"s possible to get)of rotor blade handling and in particular,suspension.Something other than the rigid dual axle things you see on most trailers.Or do i just knock the **** end out of a caravan?Peter

[Greg Mitchell]

G"Day Pete,If you do a search on the GyroVan or Butterfly GyroVan you will see what I did with my "Drother" (singular) while my other real "Drother" sat around drinking.The Drother was paid about $600 for a weeks workFlat colourbond sidings come off of a discontinued roll of "sand" (?) beige anyway. $400 and I"m still cutting off it to make flashings for the house and other projects.Mine is dual axle, drop down rear, tall enough for Butterfly with a std flat roof, kicked angle in front (with $20 window from "Drother" ex rubbish tip), simulates a fuel save. Door is a a tip special from the "Drother" might have been $20 as well. Dual bunks off side walls drop down. Another "Drother" special, two steel bed frames (yeah from the tip) narrowed cut down and rewelded. Two large slabs of particle board, slipped into the frames, couple of new cut down foam sponge mattress material to suit.

[asra]

Gidday mitch,i"ve read you on the forum,you"re a funny *******

[Greg Mitchell]

G"Day Pete,I hope the Missus and Kids just put that on my head stone when I"m gone but I"m afeared they"ll have other things to say. 8)Not me Your Honor! Cheers, Mitch

[Greg Mitchell]

Hey Pete,Welcome to the ASRA forum,

[asra]

Gidday mitchThanks for the trailer tips but i"m a bit further up the road than that.My main interest is suspension(airbags ala toyota celsior etc or coil over shockies or both,maybe gas struts too)and ride control re sway bars etc,good set of electric brakes too,so the local auto wreckers is going to get it"s teeth picked a bit.If there are any other members out there who can hint or help it would be much appreciated,otherwise it"s a couple of days worth of surfing the net to find what i need,in the way of the above.It"s 7.5mtrs long by 2.4 wide and axle centre to ceiling is 2.2 with the appropriate hump for the mast right at the back,sorta like a sailplane trailer but a bit wider and higher.In the front is my bunk along with a heap of tools and odds and sods,as well as 300 litres of fuel over the axles with a balance tube between tanks on either side,aux fuel pumps too.Work with a few shipwright"s so internal fitout is not the problem it would have been.I was understating the price but eight grand and about 200hrs should stop it i hope.Never heard of lameroo but i guess i"m going too.The minute i finish this contract i"m going to try and get some instruction here in wa,otherwise it"s over to the east and will hunt for a second-hand rotax two stroke(bit like the author)single seater here and there.Wanted to fly gyro"s for the last ten years or so and divorce two years ago has provided the opportunity,a little bit like having your testicles torn back up thru your wallet as they say so i"ve taken the opportunity and done my homework.Looking forward to flying again in a major way,and before christmas i hope.Cheers all

[Greg Mitchell]

Cheers Pete,I"ll be in the West after Lameroo Nats in South Aus.Good luck with you gyro journey. Mitch.

[asra]

Cheers for the good wishes and info mitch,and hope lameroo is great.South Australia eh?not to far from here if i had the six spare days i"d need to do it.What dates? I do a lot of aerial photography and it cost clients about 200 an hour for a commercial pilot and aircraft,makes actually getting the shots easier too,no flying or nav work so free to concentrate on the asthetics.The reason for that type of trailer is that once i"m up and running i"ll be using the gyro to "scout" some of the jobs where permitted,but mostly it"s so i can get some low level wildlife shots right out on the edge of the desert and back down around cue and mt magnet,beautiful country.Streaming low level video too for the web site when it is up and running.Shoot a lot of airshows too with a top end canon full frame sensor dslr and pro zooms.I"ll handhold that but am interested in mounting the video camera/s on the gyro with an lcd display i can monitor and switch.Let me know when you are over please and have a safe trip,can bloody dangerous driving these days!Peter

[Michael]

Hi Peter -The best fully enclosed trailer I have seen along the lines you describe was custom made for Richard Browne-Cooper in Perth WA. His name and no. is in the mag so if interested, give him a call. You might pick up some ideas.Michael.

[NiqueNaque]

Cheers for the good wishes and info mitch,and hope lameroo is great.South Australia eh?not to far from here if i had the six spare days i"d need to do it.What dates? I do a lot of aerial photography and it cost clients about 200 an hour for a commercial pilot and aircraft,makes actually getting the shots easier too,no flying or nav work so free to concentrate on the asthetics.The reason for that type of trailer is that once i"m up and running i"ll be using the gyro to "scout" some of the jobs where permitted,but mostly it"s so i can get some low level wildlife shots right out on the edge of the desert and back down around cue and mt magnet,beautiful country.Streaming low level video too for the web site when it is up and running.Shoot a lot of airshows too with a top end canon full frame sensor dslr and pro zooms.I"ll handhold that but am interested in mounting the video camera/s on the gyro with an lcd display i can monitor and switch.Let me know when you are over please and have a safe trip,can bloody dangerous driving these days!PeterWith all due respect Peter, there is no way you will be able to drive a camera and pilot a gyro at the same time with any level of safety, unless you make the camera work as a "HUD" as in military aircraft - even then you could come a cropper with the distraction of trying to make a camera do what you want it to. The cost of a distraction can be fatal to you.. so consider a two seater with an experienced pilot on these missions, you shoot, he drives and you don"t mess with each other, or you both die, it is that simple - would you ride a motorcycle single handed and do the same thing - that is how it should be thought of.Not withstanding, if you have had a look at the footage for Ken Wallis - which Mak McKay has a copy of - c/- Hunter Valley Gyro club, you can see how good gyro shoots are - and this dates pre 1990..I know if you take it up you"ll have a buzz flying, being able to sell the experience to others through film is a great thing too.Cheers,Nick Tomlin.

[asra]

Hello Michael and thank you very much for the info.Llewella is posting me the asra forms and will get them in due course.I get the impression his contact details are in every mag thru some form of advertising ?and if so will see them.If not would you mind e-mailing me contact details so i can see it,providing he has no objections.Hello nick and thank you for taking the time,and putting the thought in,to reply.I realise it"s maybe not so hot a subject as choppin" wood with ya blades but none the less an important thing to me,that i"d like to get as right as possible.I hate grinding brand new paint off to add a bracket or two,i"m be a fussy *******,and i like shiny paint jobs too!.You may be being a little overpoweringly general in your comments and perhaps assumptions also.Modern digital slr"s are lightning fast compared to the old analogue(film)bodies and the L series pro zooms focus in nano seconds it seems,compared to even five years ago.Not withstanding all that,when you are used to shooting at low level and making rapid decisions the camera is not even there really,you"ve seen the shot and it just happens in milliseconds,but everything else is,in that you are intensely aware of your surroundings/speed/height/sound/potential obstructions(they don"t sound good)and only God knows what else.There are also many issues with positioning and perspective,and no matter how well you communicate with the pilot,and i"ve had some brilliant one"s(liza springs to mind,italian jobby...God she could fif fif fly)they cannot position the aircraft where i want it and it"s not there fault,only you can see it.All this at the relatively safe height of five hundred feet(not counting the bumpy stuff which makes me very wary) and up to fifteen hundred at times.Thanks for the heads up suggestion and will have to look at that for the videos as they will be contour chasing sort of,and i"ll either walk or drive it first with a gps.Ya know those little wires cowcocky"s love to string from this little hill side to that ol" bore pump shack and shoot...always in shadow early or late afternoon and bloody can"t see em"Normally use a 206 with the door off and when the pilot say"s yeh i"ll slow it down,he means 80knts.The gyro will give me a lot of freedom and manouverability in that regard and i take your caution seriously,there"s old pilot"s and bold,you know the saying.Was thinking of a mechanical linkage from the camera/s underneath and behind to something at eye level but not obstructive re view,large thin rectangular square(35mm frame perspective,imagine bending up an old coathanger and slamming it thru the top of your instument panel like a moveable gunsite)which is easy to sight and as long as it is all securely and safely fastened i"ll be in heaven.The thought of having any of that **** departing thru the prop scares me so will look at it long and hard.All ideas welcome in whatever form you choose,am i taking a risk here?))cheers all

[Mark Horan]

Yes Nick,you are right again. The dangers and perils of life.............how pleased you must be when bedtime comes around. The safety and softness of the blankies and pillows......sure safety must be paramount when flying, but lets face it, there aint many trees to crash into at 100-AGL. I am able to control my landcruser ute at 100km on a dirt road, steering with my knee while rolling a smoke with my two hands (im not clever enough to roll it one handed). Is this behavior dangerous? It would be easier to roll a smoke while flying my Gyro, but all the tobacco blows away when I try to lick the paper.There are many people in the world who can walk and chew gum at the same time, without causing any serious damage to themselves or those around them.The next time you go for a fly, try picking your nose, You will gain the satisfaction of being able to do two things at the same time with the added bonus that probably no one caught you gouging for gold.Cheers for now,MARecKless

[Ken Watson]

hey Marcus, how you going. You underestimate our Nick. He"s the only bloke I know who can fly with his hand on it all the time. Now that we are both back lets start a new subject like "lets pick on Nick".

[NiqueNaque]

Haw haw, You ingrish sooo foonnee... .Actually I got to thinking about this ... You"re bullshitting me Mark, you couldn"t drive a land cruiser at a hundred K"s down a dirt road and roll a cigarette can you?? Surely not, your land cruiser wouldn"t be able to go that fast with your lardy **** in it, probably more like 80.And picking your nose in flight, I"ll confess I"ve never tried - how could you get past the visor on the helmet? You must be a man of many, many talents, and so clever with your razor wit too! My real problem is I am right handed, I daren"t take my hand off it as flying left handed would be very unco.. how you do it must be stupendous, maybe you"re left handed!You"re my hero Markus Uranus, I bow and scrape to your superiority, oh that I may be so skilled.Ken, Hello. How are you? Pleased to meat you, remind me not to shake hands when I see you, I might get an STD off you....Cheers,Nick.

[asra]

You guys are bloody funny.I"ll reply to yours first nik nak as it contained so many of the answers i was looking for....