Round Hot Air Airship

OK   Its  a Single person  sized  Hot air balloon  with  a  PPG  cage and motor  with rudder and elevator in the prop wash .    The  first  step  in understanding  the  concept  and  gain  some  rudimentary  flight  info,   is  to  build  a model .   I have some  Weather balloons One 8 foot  and 3 -  4 foot  ,  could  build  a  quick down and dirty helium  version with . All the hot  Air  RC ships  are  EXPENSIVE!  and I would still have to  do the mods so,   I have some  Balloon foil  too , could  try  to  Gore  a shape   or just do  a  basic  2 piece  . 
 But the 8 foot dia Weather balloon is winning out  for simplicity  and a good round shape  that I can use .  String ,tape,  and tissue paper to  get the  the  basic  Hot Air balloon  tear drop shape. 
 The  Goal is to get  it  Neutral  buoyant  or just  ever so slightly  heavy  with the motor  prop  and  RC gear  on board.   Getting the prop  Dia  to   the scale of the ship,  so the  thrust zone  will  be  in proportion  is important.  As well as  the  scale of the control surfaces.    
 I could do a simpler version   with the  2 piece mylar  envelope   using  a  Air hogs  or Havoc  Mini  rc set up  but  the  control  surfaces  would have to be  manually  set to turn   and elevate. And I want to  see the lag time  between control inputs. Also large enough to  fly outside in  real light  conditions so the 8 foot is a  serious  consideration. .  But a  living room  size would be fun too.  Will  most likely  build  both.     
        Until next time . UP SHIP!  

You planning to use aerodynamic control surfaces?

Yes on the  real one.  As  symmetrical  and  thin as I can get  to hold up  to  200 pounds of thrust and  remain  rigid .  
  On the  model  More than likely   just rounded  edge   Foam  with  carbon  stiffeners  epoxied in .  The 8 footer   may use pre made   foam  wing cores . 
 I'm  going for the little one first .   

I found  some u tube's   of just  such  a  airship   I  described here,   But they  don't use  rudders  or elevators  in the prop wash .   They  may be using  steering  vents in the  envelope for turning.  I  would not  want  steering vents  in my  envelope because of the  loss of lift  they  cause  when  used expelling heat , and they  are  slow .
These are kinda old  vids.  The  second one  showed  a  take off  and  return  to  ruffly the  same location . The PPG unit  looked  like a smaller unit than   would use . 
  

Great videos on the subject. They appear to be of different balloons. The first video had two occupants while the second had one. Plus the bags are different.  

I think you have to have separate fuel tanks to run more than 5 gallons of fuel under part 103. I believe lift fuel is unlimited, but power fuel is limited.

 Yes  2 different  ships.  The  2 place  is larger  and  has more  drag  . The other is  single place  and  Underpowered  with  maybe 80 -  100 pounds of thrust.  Need to  do  research on propane  . I think it is  weighed  for a equivalent to 5 gal  of  gas,  But it is  actually  more fuel.  
 

Looking at power systems for  the model  . The  havoc Helli  toy  RC Just  wont work ,  So  have  ordered  some   RC  components  motor  ESC  and battery   weigh 8.75 ounces,  and the prop that works for this  setup is    8 inches dia,  which   will  equal  52 inches  to scale .  So it  will be  close to  a 1/7 th scale. ...? 
 Whats a 1/7 th scale me  weight at 192 lb. ?   Will have to do  some  scaling with   good  side view pics  on the  web   to  get the envelope dims close.  The only known I have is  the   8 inch prop =  52 inches .  So it  will be  that many props  high  and that many props  wide for the envelope dims.   .
  Anyway  I ordered  2  sets of  ESC motor battery  combos , In hopes I can  start the Lenticular  with  vectoring fans,  after this build. Only in  it  for  54 bucks  . And  I can  still use them  for  Foam  3 D  planes.  or  even  a RC Hover disk .   If  Ya'll need  some  RC stuff   here is the place to get it cheap. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?catname=Towerpro+Combos&idCategory=179&ParentCat=192 

 Looking over  all the cloud hopper  stuff  . Ive  decided  to  explore  a little  different  approach to the Gondola situation.  All the hoppers  have  the pilot   wide open  for  getting  dragged  if  a landing  or lift off  goes not so good.  Getting  dragged  is a common injury  source for PG  and PPG  flying.  If your in a trike  at least you have  some protection  around you. And  Trikes offer a  more comfortable  seating position  with your legs  supported  and out front  ( recliner mode)  and not just hanging , looking like a small child in a large chair .
 Also  the fan unit  needed to  be  re-thought  now  that  we have a  light weight  frame  to  work  with.
 Most all Modern Airships  use vectored thrust .  So  why not  do that  instead of  rigging  elevators and rudders .  You  will always have  the  greatest  amount of  corrective power on tap  and use  throttle   to  vary the amount of input needed  .  So here is a concept  drawing . Notice the  home made  frame I've been  working on  for a PPG  and  delta wing trike .  Same type  frame only much  lighter .

The cart frame and drawing looks good. I am warming to the concept as time goes on. The system could be used for a gas balloon too. I am interested to see how you will implement the fan articulation. 

Just because round is a simple shape to produce and to balance out over the torpedo or football shape commonly thought of as "airship" Air ships can be any shape. The classic zeppelin or Goodyear shape works best because of their mission to cover Long distances in a straight line but making very large radius turns . We are not commercial airships, we are recreation airships. Our mission is vastly different . We want quick turns . Even the ability to turn on its own axis to  reverse direction  . Round Airships work best for this application.
Also ,Affordable is the name of the game here. Hot Air beats any of the lift gases in cost per cu ft hands down .
Heres a vid of the general idea. However Vectored thrust for all control movements could be used for ether gas or hot air lift ships. This vid is a crude example, and a good starting point. It works But It could work much better .

 Up Down vectoring ,
The   thrust requirements  places the fan unit on  a  frame member that  henge at the bottom. At the top  will be a   bar having a tie rod pivot attachment on the cage. Bar has  2  latch's   that  will latch  the fan unit  in the forward thrust position  and  Down thrust position to the main frame . It  will be  Bungee  assisted  to  raise back up easy  .  Basically  a  bicycle handle bar above the  head . With  brake levers  releasing the  latches. while both hands  are on the bar to  raise or lower the  fan.
Side  vectoring
 The  frame member that  raises and lowers the fan  will have a  round bar  attached to it  that  pillow blocks go on . The pillow blocks  attach  to the  fan cage. to allow for side to side pivot 
 ,  A pivoting  arm  on both fan cage attachments   that  has clevis on one end  and a  eye on the other part   at the right location that allow for  free    motion   for the up / down   vector but prevents  side to side  motion .  The control arms  will pass through guides mounted to the main  frame  to keep them in place . When the  shackle  and  eye  come back up from the  down thrust position  they  will be inside the tubes, so  they  cant  flex  . It will be a push pull set up with left and  right bar  and a latch  for  dead ahead  thrust.    

The  Turn table  is  the  key  to making  the airship  work , here is a close up of  a factory version. . 
 The  red handle unlocks  for  turning , the  3 little bearings  on points of the  triangle  are  what  hold all the  weight .  The  Holes  in  the ring  are  also  envelope  attachment points  at 4 points .
 Its not  clear but it looks like  there are some kind of  roller and retainer on the bottom side of  the  triangle points  to keep the disk aligned  and not  shift .  Only  when there is upward pull  from the envelope will it  freely  turn.  Also this piece is  part of the  burner .       

here is the underside , you can bearly  see the  retainer .
 With  dual tanks   a 3 hour +  UP  time can  be  had . 

The hopper turntable  Seems  small , and I  think I want  it  a little wider for better  stability  and  the  turn table  separate  from the burner for  ease of  maintenance  .   I looked around  and  came up with this .  Although  this one  is  much to  big , I will use the  same design ,  with  extended  flanges to the inside for  airframe mounting   and out side for envelope mounting  and  lock pin holes .   
  The bottom plate  will hold the envelope   and the top plate  will hold the trike  frame .  and  sandwich  the  bearings.  The top  ring  surrounds the bottom ring  with a bolt on capture plate so it cant  separate  with no load .

A little different  roller place ment  to keep  the table  wabble  and drag free

Well ,  after a  massive  shop  clean up  and inventory of usefull stuff ,  I  has  decided to  proceed  with a 4 foot  Dia , RC model  .   The Real  Hot air envelope size is  a 46 ,  basically  a  2 place  balloon size ruffly 
46 ft Dia X 48 ft tall.  , called a  Duo , with the  trike, motor and tanks  equaling  the weight of  a   second person. This will  give me flight capability  through out  the  year even on hot summer temps,  with  best lift on  cool days .  On  real hot days I may be limited to one tank to keep the AUW  down  .
 Here is a  hot air lift  to volume   table          VOLUME sq ft          Gross Lift           You may  find useful.

Pilot Only	21-42,000	350-800 lbs.
2 People	42-65,000	650-1300 lbs.
3 People	65-77,000	1000-1500 lbs.
4 People	77-105,000	1200-2100 lbs.
4-6 People	105-120,000	1650-2400 lbs.
5-7 people	120-150,000	1900-3000 lbs.

    The  size  of a 46  scaled down to a  4 foot  dia  is almost 1 inch  = 1 foot .  Close enough .  So the prop will be  a 5 1/4 inch  prop  to  equal a  real 64 "  that I plan to use  I have a total of 2 pounds  of gross lift to  play  with using helium and a 4 foot balloon .  
 The trike frame will be 6 inches long  X 2 inches wide spaced roll bars , And that opens the door  for  knowing the size of the all important  turn table . Needs to  be light weight, and I'm looking at  plastic  screw on container lids and  the  threaded neck of the container with a flange of extra material around it  , or threaded PVC couplings ,easy to glue on  flanges and,   when lubed up  , easy to  turn . 
 There are  sail  winch  servos used in  RC sailing  that I could  use, to  have  a full 360  degree rotation . and also lock  the  direction  , I'll have to order one , and use a rubber band for the  drive belt. This way I can test the  180 stop and reverse direction  maneuver .  
 Now  that I have known perameters I can  order the  right  RC stuff.           

In  digging through  some  stuff , I found a old hard disk drive  motor over all 2 inches  and  just  right in scale size   dia . It  is  very  light , and has extremely smooth  rotation . I carefully  pulled it apart and  gutted it of the  coper windings  and  magnet , it  weighs just one ounce  now.  Its easy to  put the needed flanges  on it, and  the configuration  already has a  belt  race way for the  winch  servo  .  So I gots   me a turntable now.! Heres what it looks like .
   

Started work on the fan cage using  1/8  aluminum  brazing rods bent into   hoops, and used spider wire fishing line  with  super glue to lash it all togather .  Same  thing  with  the  frame supports  that hold the motor  and  its  vectoring pivots.  Its  7 inches OD  and feels very  rigid after  setting up all night . I'll mix up a little 5 min  epoxy and go over all the  joints with a thin coat just  for  extra support. Spider wire  is some  really tuff stuff .that  super glue  really likes .
Just for motovation  I  air inflated  one of the latex weather balloons  and hung it in front of the  work table .  
 I'll work on the pivots today at work . 

Ok ,  I  got  the frame built,  Servos  mounted and hooked up  to the  vectoring  fan cage  ,  3 piont landing gear mounted    And it  weighs  4 1/4 ounces  .  Still need motor  , prop.  ESC  and battery .  
 Not the  best  pics  , fan is  vectored  down , little less than 45 degrees   in the first  ,   and  back up,  and left  thrust  on the next .  

Looks good. Things are coming along fast. 

Thanks  Dude ,  I like  sitting  down  with  a pile of  stuff  without  a clue  to how  I  will  proceed
 and come up  with something  usefull.  zero  drawing  were  used ( or harmed )    to  build  this  ,  It  was all on the  fly.

I dont know  why  there are pop up  adds on  the pics I  pulled  from the  web ?   Anyone  else  see them ?
Is this  a  site  function  or  has  my PC been hacked  to  add tags  to  immages I post ? 
 I only  see them  when  I  view the site  as a visitor  though.   When I login ,  their  not there . >>>?