Spinny Bird - One Weird Aircraft

by rcbif | July 17, 2017 | (5) Posted in Projects

The road to Spinny Bird occured back a few years ago when I saw Veritasium's demonstration of the Magnus effect.From there I started watching videos of other aircraft that used the magnus effect and had to make one.

Youtube videos posted by tyoukogatalabo were a big inspiration for the flap style "wing" I eventually used and modified. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAqLyyg2AHk

Andy Kinsman was of great help sharing his flip wing kite advice -  http://sciencephotography.com/andy/index.htm

Flash forward to a few months ago, I got a 3D printed and I wanted to get this project out of my head. For some reason many, if not all of the magnus aircraft I saw online had powered rotors, or nonpowered rotors. I thought why not go in-between and use the prop wash? This would mean a high motor con figuration above the paddle which quickly had the design looking like a bird.

The prototype bird had a similiar overall design but was underpowered. I needed more power and more room to work with. I experimented with two paddle designs, but ended up with a simple flat design.

 Prototype

The "final" version which was completed at Flite Fest was designed in CAD (which I live during my day job) and used 3-D printed parts from my FT-5 3D printer.

Spinny bird maidened discretly at the East end of the flight line Friday night, and had it's more sucessful 3rd flight on Saturday. I had atleast 3-4 people asking me questions after each flight, and must have had my picture taken 50 times with the bird. It was nice talking to you all, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

In all the excitment of Flite Fest, I was too busy to film my own aircraft. If you have any footage or pics, feel free to share!

Pros -HUGE Attention Getter. After I shot my video review a family cameover to check it out. That never happens when I fly my normal r/c planes. Slow, somewhat forgiving, adorable and funny lookin.                                                                         Cons - Power hog, Slow, delicate, needs low winds, will fall like brick without power, and no real aerobatic capabilities.

Meet Spinny Bird!

- Find this article & others like it at www.FliteTest.com -

COMMENTS

Sir Fly on July 28, 2017
"Still experimenting with with the eleva-- PLANE!...........okay sorry, still experimenting..."

Lol that is a cool bird. It's pretty funny to see it fly. Derpy, but majestic in it's own way!

Well done man, keep up the good work!
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joshuaparker on July 18, 2017
It was great meeting you at Flitefest. Personally, I would have loved it to be called trash dove like the meme. All in all, it was a great plane and I enjoyed watching it fly. The Magnus Effect is a pretty cool concept and it is even more so cool to see it used on a plane. Great Job!!!
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Gryf on July 18, 2017
Great work! It was a real treat to see it fly at FF.
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mikeflight on July 18, 2017
Great work. Do you think adding extra paddles to the wing would help or would that cause more drag? I have not seen anything like that before. Great imagination and engineering. Well done:)
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rcbif on July 18, 2017
Thanks. I cant say for sure, but I think adding more paddles may cause less drag, but provide less lift. After all, if you add infinite number of paddles, you wind up with a cylinder. Peter had some success with his KFC Bucket aircraft which used cylinders, but he had to spin them at a much higher rate of speed than mine. A slow motion video of mine may be interesting to see the RPM. Per Andy Kinsman's research (link I posted), the single paddle worked the best in his experience. I think the first step to fine tuning this design would be trying different paddle diameters (smaller supports disks, shorter paddles).
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Air-headed Aviator on July 19, 2017
Well thats one way of flapping your wings!
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sotiris on May 28, 2018
Congratulation for your bird . I made one like yours. It really fly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4t340D4qQ&t=36s
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sotiris on May 28, 2018
You can see it youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4t340D4qQ&t=36s

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Duffusmonkey on December 28, 2019
I still love this. I think I am going to make one with 2 motors and differential thrust. Where did you locate the CG. In the front 1/3 of the cylinder?
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Spinny Bird - One Weird Aircraft