RCM Polecat
Posted: 06 Jan 2021, 08:17
Also rediscovered (exhumed ) in my deep dives into the storage unit was my RCM Polecat heli. Published in 1974 - https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=6688 - it immediately caught my attention. The plan was ordered from the US as soon as I saw the magazine and I started sourcing the numerous bits based on the magazine article straight away. Ultimately the vast majority of gears, belts, bearings, the clutch (off a Dumas? R/C car), etc., came in from America, so gathering all the bits & pieces effectively took a year. Throw in my Senior High School final year exams & I was into it with the speed of a startled snail
Considering my metalworking skills at the time were "extensive" enough to allow me to hack a motor mounting plate or an undercarriage out of a piece of duralium, but not much more, I'd embarked on a serious undertaking There is no match for blissful ignorance driven on by the confidence of youth
Then Life interrupted - first job, part-time Uni 4 nights/week, off to site every uni break, courtship & marriage - suddenly 3 or 4 years had slipped by. My Polecat was actually finished whilst caring for my wife while she was bed-ridden for 3 months after a badly botched c-section delivery of our first son. Whenever they were both asleep I was in the shed sawing, filing, drilling, tapping, etc.
Test hops took place in the back yard. Imagine my repeated surprise when the close formation of all the bits I'd made/assembled to resemble a helicopter, worked mostly in harmony. I stripped some gears, made various repairs and or mods, but it worked multiple times!!!! For some time afterwards, the Polecat hung from the ceiling in the house to show off my model engineering prowess . It eventually regressed into storage & disrepair, ending up the way it is today. BUT, I never once considered getting rid of it. An electric conversion has always been the plan. Now, I can also reinstall the '75 EK Logictrol (after conversion), for the whole "back to the future" heli experience.
Considering my metalworking skills at the time were "extensive" enough to allow me to hack a motor mounting plate or an undercarriage out of a piece of duralium, but not much more, I'd embarked on a serious undertaking There is no match for blissful ignorance driven on by the confidence of youth
Then Life interrupted - first job, part-time Uni 4 nights/week, off to site every uni break, courtship & marriage - suddenly 3 or 4 years had slipped by. My Polecat was actually finished whilst caring for my wife while she was bed-ridden for 3 months after a badly botched c-section delivery of our first son. Whenever they were both asleep I was in the shed sawing, filing, drilling, tapping, etc.
Test hops took place in the back yard. Imagine my repeated surprise when the close formation of all the bits I'd made/assembled to resemble a helicopter, worked mostly in harmony. I stripped some gears, made various repairs and or mods, but it worked multiple times!!!! For some time afterwards, the Polecat hung from the ceiling in the house to show off my model engineering prowess . It eventually regressed into storage & disrepair, ending up the way it is today. BUT, I never once considered getting rid of it. An electric conversion has always been the plan. Now, I can also reinstall the '75 EK Logictrol (after conversion), for the whole "back to the future" heli experience.