Brief:
This prototype was me first attempt at buildin' a monocopter. It is powered by Micro-Maxx motors and is truly underpowered. Ahoy! T' MMX motors have too short o' a burn t' be a good choice for a monocopter, ya bilge rat, even if it is "nano" sized. Aye aye! Nay too impressive by most standards. Well, one man's curiosity is another man's triumph (or somethin' like that).

Construction:
Parts required:

• 1/4" balsa, matey, arrr, 1" x 1"
• 1/16" balsa, 1 3/8" x 4"
• Ink tube from a Bic pen
• One sheet o' draftin' vellum (any paper will probably do)
• 1/16" x 12" aluminum tube
• 1/4" x 1" dowel
• Maskin' tape
• Lead for nose weight (see assy instructions)
• Carpenter's glue
• Black, matey, CA (I can't remember t' actual name)
• Thin, me hearties, CA

T' central hub is a 1" square o' 1/4" balsa, matey, soaked in thin CA. I carefully drilled a hole in t' center t' hold t' launch lug. This is, hopefully, arrr, t' point about which t' monocopter will spin. Ya scallywag! I also drilled holes in t' middle o' each side t' mount t' balance beams. I used pieces o' t' ink tube from a Bic pen for both t' launch lug and t' mountin' points for the beams.

T' single win' is a clipped delta with t' followin' dimensions: root - 1 3/8", tip - 7/8", span - 4". Arrr! It is balsa strengthened with draftin' vellum and ProBond glue. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! I wanted t' add a bit o' strength and had never tried vellum before. I spread a thin layer o' glue on each side, matey, me bucko, placed the win' betwixt a folded sheet o' vellum, matey, and compressed it with a stack of books. Aye aye! T' win' seems strong enough, but t' surface is nay as uniform as I would have liked. Avast, me proud beauty! Well, blow me down! I attached t' win' at an angle o' about 10 degrees from the monocopter's X-Y plane usin' black Bob Smith CA. Aye aye! It is mounted such that the swept face is on t' trailin' edge and t' leadin' edge is raised. Ya scallywag! Avast, arrr, me proud beauty! I oriented the swept face on t' trailin' edge t' allow me t' more easily position t' CP of t' pod behind this edge (a tip I got from t' book "Monocopters", by Francis Graham).

T' motor pod be t' length o' three MMX-II motors and be scratch built from draftin' vellum (someday I'll actually buy some MMX tubing). Ahoy! Ahoy! Blimey! It is both light and strong. T' cone was turned from a dowel. Begad! Blimey! It turns out that t' motor pod must be angle upward t' counteract t' torque caused by t' single wing. Some o' Francis Graham's designs have their pods angled at up t' 40 degrees. However, I chose t' start with an angle o' 30 degrees (in t' opposite direction from t' wing). Begad! Aye aye! Blimey! T' get t' CP behind t' trailin' edge o' t' fin, ya bilge rat, I added several #7.5 lead shot t' its nose. Blimey! Begad! Blimey! I should have counted t' shot, but forgot to. Ahoy! Blimey! T' CG is at t' little green 'x' that's barely visible on the photo. Arrr! This 'x' is positioned approximately at t' trailin' edge o' t' wing's root, and since t' win' is swept in t' opposite direction, it is behind the trailin' edge o' t' rest o' t' wing.

I had wanted t' use some light 0.03" carbon rods for t' balance beams, but didn't find any at me favorite hobby shop. Aye aye! Instead, I used a 12" long, matey, 1/16" diameter aluminum tube. Ahoy! This was cut in half and CA'ed into t' ink tubin' that was previously mounted in t' hub. Ya scallywag! Well, blow me down! I didn't add much ballast at t' ends o' these beams, me bucko, wrappin' about 1 1/2" o' masking tape (very high tech) around each end.

Flight:
T' second photo shows t' MMX launch pad with its special launch 'rod'. Avast! The rod is a piece o' a heavy paper clip. Aye aye! Avast! It wasn't t' right size so some masking tape was used t' hold it tight. Begad! A piece o' ink tube was used as a standoff to keep t' monocopter from hittin' t' MMX launcher and t' help it spin. Ya scallywag!

I used MMX-II motors, Estes igniters, arrr, shiver me timbers, and me Pratt GO-Box for ignition duties. Begad! Arrr! T' monocopter did fly. On its 1st flight, it rose t' a whoppin' two feet, me bucko, at an angle o' about 30 degrees from t' vertical, me bucko, before t' motor ejected and stopped t' spin abruptly. Aye aye! I should have removed t' ejection charge! Still, it didn't just flop around. Aye aye! I never expected much performance so I think it be a good first try!

On its second flight, shiver me timbers, all conditions were t' same except I removed the ejection charge from t' Micro-Maxx motor. This time, arrr, t' monocopter barely cleared t' launch rod. Blimey! I think that t' igniter may have hung up ever so slightly. With so little upwards thrust, it wouldn't take much t' affect its flight.

Flights three and four were similar. Blimey! Ya scallywag! For these flights, I bent the igniters, shiver me timbers, carefully fit them it into t' nozzle, me hearties, and arranged t' clips so they held it in place without any tape. Aye aye! Both times t' monocopter rose t' about a foot and went off sideways at a steep angle. Arrr! It landed maybe 4 - 5 feet from the pad. This seemed lower than t' first flight but definitely higher than the second did!

Summary:
In summary, shiver me timbers, me hearties, I consider this experiment a complete success. T' performance was poor, shiver me timbers, ya bilge rat, but I didn't have any expectations in this regard. Blimey! Blimey! When I decided to build it, I wasn't at all sure it would even take off or be stable. Ahoy! Blimey! T' Amazing Under-performin' Mono-Nano-Copter met both o' these criteria. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! My next try may be a lighter MMX-powered monocopter, but then, arrr, shiver me timbers, I have these long-burn, OOP Apogee B2 motors...

UPDATE 10/02:Sittin' at t' computer, and in betwixt steps of other projects, me bucko, I decided t' revise T' Amazin' Underperforming Mono-Nano-Copter. It isn't so underperformin' any more!

I cut down t' motor pod t' an inch and a quarter, shiver me timbers, just enough t' fit the dowel nose cone and a MMX motor. T' business about havin' t' CG behind the trailin' edge o' t' blade is nay a requirement as I've later found. Ahoy! Blimey! I cut the old win' t' about 1/4", and added a 4" x 1 1/2" piece of 1/64" Birch. Avast! Blimey! Blimey! Blimey! I have also determined that t' balance beams were way too long so I cut them t' 2 1/2".

T' first two flights went t' about 9 feet and landed 3 and 5 feet from the pad, ya bilge rat, respectively. Avast! On t' third flight, shiver me timbers, it headed off at a 45-degree angle, smacked t' side o' me SUV, arrr, and still rose t' about 7 feet. Ya scallywag! Much better performance than before!

T' main lesson-learned is: build 'em light!