Sandwich structure made from aluminum honeycomb core with fiberglass/epoxy laminate face plies.

Sprung Struts - Ultrasport is made of sandwiched aluminum honeycomb and glass/epoxy plies, which is tapered from fuselage to skid.

Their Skid is aluminum with steel plate on bottom.

The rear feet are only about 1 foot behind the masts. The wheelbase on one of the models is only 8'-0". All models use wheels on front and rear.

Consider having the two rear legs as straight members, not wishbone.

They will start at middle of seat and extend out under strong rear corner of seat.

They will be tapered.

They could have twist, which should give it a better bending action on landing plus give better aerodynamics in flight. The twist will hand the 2 legs and thus require 2 tools.

The 2 legs could be joined across the tail boom attachment location.

The width of the UltraSport rear bow at the skid is 3".

The width of the rear bow looks like 6" [5"] wide at the body.

February 18, 1999 I think the support widths are perfect as drawn and if additional strength is required it can be done by adding fiberglass in the desired area.

February 26, 1999 Can supports be narrower, with more fiberglass on both sides of honeycomb core. This will reduce the drag of the fuselage slightly.

Use unidirectional S-2 glass since it has approximately the same stiffness as metal. Unidirectional E glass has much less stiffness.

The foot pad could or should be a type of shoe that extends down (2") and out from the legs (to give additional stability on landing), has a curve which is the opposite direction from the curve in the legs, is removable (to replace &/or to reduce o/a width)

And made of a hard slippery material.

Must handle run on landing:

Consider very light balloon type wheel or skid, What about a cheap "throw-away" plastic vacuum molded bear-paw? Could have 2 wheels side-by-side with the end of the support leg located between them - Why?

Consider locating small wheels within the short stiff skid, similar to roller blades. Alternatively, locate one larger wheel at the back of the skid.

If the two rear wishbone supports can be unbolted at the engine/transmission then they can be swung in, without being removed, to make for a fairly narrow dimension.

Because of the inverted bow shape of the legs, the will probably want to make the helicopter pitch down in forward flight. This will be offset, probably, by the natural tendency of the helicopter to want to pitch up in forward flight.

The weight on landing will be forward of the center of the tripod legs, because of the pilot. This should be OK because the front leg should be stronger than the other 2 because of the seat front.

If to be made out of fiberglass then use 'S' glass since it has much higher tensile strength.

-or-

Consider Carbon for upper surface (compression) and Kevlar 49 for lower surface.

The mold could consist of a lower steel plate, approximately ¼" thick,

It looks like even thought the radius is large the honeycomb core will have to have flex in one direction.

When empty: 3.7" behind mast centerline. At gross weight: 4.12" in front of mast centerline.