Quick worldwide 20cc gasser

[cyclic fever]

I wondered when it would happen. It's powered by Zenoah's new 20cc and its starting price of $650 is outstanding. I'll have to order one in the next few weeks. :)

http://www.quickheli.com/dominator20.html

[tdswan]

It's good to see someone's finally bringing the cost down in the gasser market. I'd like to see how much power that G20's got. It doesn't look as large as a standard gasser, either. It almost looks like a 50 size.

[cyclic fever]

The power should be great. I've flown a plank with the G20 on it and was impressed. Its said to have a better power to weight than a G26. I'm thinking It'll be like a R60 with the OS 70 on 15% but I'll know for sure soon enough :D

[cyclic fever]

Looks like it geared to run 640's at and above 1800rpm. Wish it had gearing options to run 680-690's up to 1800, maybe in the works, I duno.

[schwa]

sorry for the stoopid question, but by gasser you mean that it can run on regular petrol? i always thought that the turbines were called gassers (i dont know why).

is the power to weight why you would go with a gasser?

[cyclic fever]

sorry for the stoopid question, but by gasser you mean that it can run on regular petrol? i always thought that the turbines were called gassers (i dont know why).

is the power to weight why you would go with a gasser?

Yep, gasser is slang for gasoline, the only stupid question is the one never asked :)

Do you mean "with" the power to weight ratio, why would I go with a gasser?

Owning a gasser is No handicap my friend! Can a gasser flit and flirt about like a 90? Not quite, but close. A very skilled builder/pilot can put on a show with one that can do every stinking manuver that a 90 can do, it just happends at a slightly slower pace. Moreover comparing the two is a bit odd anyway. Other than outwardly looking similar under the skin they are very different animals. Different engine materials, fuel/oil reqirements, plumbing, ignition,HP and torque loadings,and so on. They dont fly slugish as some would have you believe, heres a link to Bergen's site of vids....

http://www.bergenrc.com/Videos.php

The biggest advantage is fuel cost. I did the math and flying my Raptor 60 would cost close to $300 in fuel cost a season. Same flight time on gas would be about $50! :eek:
By my math the gasser will soon be paying me to fly it vs. poor guys fussing over there large nitro engines. Heck in just a few sesons flying, I've saved enough to BUY the nitro heli their flying. While my gasser might have a slighly lower power to weight ratio than their nitro heli, my wallet's power to weight ratio as compaired to theirs is much greater, lol :D Its all a matter of what one is trying to accomplish.

I like flying nitro once in a while but I want to fly fly fly! For me, gas make more "cents"...(sorry, I'll stop)...I cant help admire those big nitro birds in flight but for many, fuel cost keeps them either out of the hobby or, in it but cant fly enough to become really skilled at it.

[cyclic fever]

While I may not need to, I want to make it clear that I'm not against any aspect of the hobby. Planes , helis or any of it. i play with it all myself. Boats,cars helis and planes, gas, nitro electric or free flight, I've dont most of it and still do. As far as our helis go, be it nitro, electric or gas, not a one is better than the other. Each just need a different set of skills to do with any success and thats the fun of the hobby.

[schwa]

thats very intresting. i had wondered what the diff is between the two types

[tdswan]

The fuel savings with a gasser are being felt here. I could fly my gasser all summer exclusively, crash it once and still be money ahead on it compared to my Raptor 50 in fuel only. That's also using the Coleman at about $5/gallon.

It sure has a "WOW" factor, too. You wouldn't believe the spectators at the fun-fly I just attended. Everyone watched that gasser and kept asking me to fly it again and again. People had all kinds of questions about it.

The weight is a slight draw-back. It definately does fly heavy. Take is slower and there's no problem! :cool:

[Shawn K]

I thought I'd interject another thought into the gasser fray.

If you're looking to get into gasser helis for the first time, be aware that you can pretty much throw out anything you thought you knew about engine tuning. The techniques and variance in nitro engine tuning is nothing like tuning a gas engine. Once you get a gas engine dialed in, you're pretty much set for the season, but getting there is not a simple "Do this, do that" affair. Whereas with a nitro machine you can have an engine that's not fully optimized in tuning and still pull decent pitch and have a relatively smooth bird, a gas helicopter requires that your engine be tuned right first, before you even attempt to do anything else. Messing with throttle curves or pitch curves will do nothing but aggravate you and make you chase your tail until the engine is tuned correctly. Being able to tell what setup issues are tuning related and what issues are setup related is a new discipline, and will take time for you to learn. I've not even begun to get into the fun you'll have diagnosing an ignition related RF problem. :D

Also, there's no "cheap" gasser on the market. Every one of them is in what I would consider the upper-end market price-wise. Crashing (it will happen) will hit your pocketbook harder than most nitro machines.

Gassers are cool, no doubt, but don't be fooled into thinking that you'll just jump right into it and everything will be roses. You'll have a bit of a re-learning curve. I sometimes miss my Intrepid Gas EB. :p

[tdswan]

Agreed, Sean!
You're absolutely right.
It was a loooong row to hoe to get that gasser working correctly. I've had mine over a year now and it's easy to foget the frustrations I went through setting it up. Even the build process is different than a "plastic fantastic" heli. You're not just slapping together another heli, you're building a flying work of art. EVERYTHING has to be checked and checked again for proper runout and balance or you'll pay for it later. Engine tuning can actually cause seemingly unrelated problems at times.
I jumped on RunRyder's gasser forum and absorbed ANY posts I could find relating to the Predator Gasser. I also had a few issues that weren't covered there, so I pm'd a Century rep or two during the process.
Don't let that scare you off, I just recommend getting a couple of builds under your belt and do your reading before delving into the gasser world. It's definately a mis-understood off-shoot of the helicopter hobby. Take it from someone who has went through the "school of hard knocks"! ;)

[Shawn K]

No arguments here, buddy. I don't say what I said to try to talk someone out of a gas machine, but rather to make sure that people understand what they're getting into before they plunk their money down.

There are days when I think about having a gas machine again (especially weeks like this one, when I went to the field twice and burned through a gallon of CY 30% each time), but then I'm reminded of some of the trials I went through learning a gas machine a couple of seasons ago. It was a big learning curve, to be sure.

Ultimately, I switched back to nitro machines because I know what my long-term goals are for flying, and a gas machine was not going to be the tool to get me where I wanted to go. I still think back to my Intrepid with good memories, though. That EB gasser sure had a presence about it!

[cyclic fever]

Got love Bergen's machines. I had and Observer belt tail, the short boom. I've also flown an MA 2005. Your not kidding that you must have everything perfect on a gasser to get the most out'a it. But now after its done fellas, look at what we learned in the process of building , set-up and balance. While one is never done learning in this hobby I'm sure I wouldnt know as much as I do now without my gassers. All this time I didnt see it myself untill last weekend I helped a friend who had a R30 that he was learning on. Everything was screwed up. ALL the pushrods were way off, nothing square or equal. We got the heli all redone in about 2 hrs and I was doing stat. flips and outside loops with it. At that moment it hit me just how much it has payed off to have kicked and screamed at my gassers because they demanded that I really had to know what I was doing and I had to learn it. I know I wouldnt know how to set-up a nitro bird as well as I do if it hadnt been for my gasser experience. Do you feel this way too?

[Shawn K]

Absotively. :rolleyes:

[tdswan]

Posolutely! :D

[Jonathan Ott]

So...has anyone built the Dominator 20 yet? How's it perform? Details, guys...details. :D

Jon