NEWS! - Updated : Revolution Mini-500 Project v3.1 by vSkyLabs
The Revolution Mini-500 is a 1990s American single-seat light helicopter, designed and built by Revolution Helicopter Corporation as a kit for homebuilding. Revolution Helicopter however went out of business in November 1999, and the kits are no longer available.
The Mini-500 was designed as a light helicopter that resembles a scaled-down Hughes 500, powered by a Rotax 582 64 hp (48 kW) two-stroke engine. The Mini-500 has a tubular steel fuselage with a foam and glass-fibre structure cabin. It has a two-bladed semi-rigid rotor and a conventional two-blade tail rotor. The first Mini-500 flew in 1992 and the company delivered the first production factory-assembled helicopter in July 1994. Production of kits ceased in 1999 and the company claimed that more than 500 had been sold.
The aircraft has had a parlous history... as Rotax warns owners of the 582 engine in the Owners Manual about its limitations: "This engine, by its design, is subject to sudden stoppage. Engine stoppage can result in crash landings, forced landings or no power landings. Such crash landings can lead to serious bodily injury or death"... the statement is supported by the 16 fatalities when operating the Mini 500. Initial intentions were that it would be powered by a MazdaWankel engine, but this was abandoned and plans shifted to the Solar T62 turbine engine. There is no indication that new production by Stitt, has delivered any aircraft kits.
The X-Plane version of the Mini-500 was released back in January 2019. There was a fully upgraded X-Plane 12 version released 12 months ago, but this update refines the aircraft to the latest X-Plane 12 dynamics and features with version 3.1.
Flight dynamics:
Airfoils update.
Refinements for the rotor system, increasing (a very bit) of the margin for autorotation envelope.
Skids physics refinements to fix the tendency for self-yawing to the left on paved runways, at 100% RPM, collective down.
Sounds:
fixed issue caused when removing the doors inflight (sound remained as if the doors are still connected and closed).
Interaction:
Stick (cyclic) manipulator sensitivity increased to follow stick actual motion.
Starter keys switch interaction improved.
Graphics:
Minor touches for canopy and pilot appearance.
VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot' Project - Professional-grade physics, handling and performance characteristics.
Highly defined and engineered flight dynamics model of the Revolution Mini-500, built around the powerful X-Plane flight model. The Mini-500 performance was analyzed by experts.
Fully functional VR (Virtual Reality).
Multi-Layer FMOD sound pack, composed with actual recordings of the Mini-500 helicopter engine and rotor sounds.
Unique aspects of the Mini-500 helicopter are simulated and are part of the flying experience by definition: Manual engine/rotor RPM management, low rotor-inertia aspects, in-flight nose tuck during engine-stop, rotor RPM management, retreating blade stall condition (Vne), typical Mast bumping, typical autorotation capability and more.
The VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot': Revolution Mini-500 is designed as if it was a real kit-built helicopter, awaiting for it's first test-flight. Was it built exactly as instructed? Will it fly as expected? wow there is only one way to find out! You will have to get familiar with it step by step...or you might get yourself into serious trouble when mistreating it. Mastering the Mini-500 will sure make you a better helicopter pilot!
The original pilot's manual and other 1st hand references contributed by the Mini-500 real-world designer were one of the core-materials during development of this project, and the VSKYLABS Mini- 500 pilot's manual includes the actual data and information of the actual Mini-500 manual.
Autoupdater based on the SkunkCrafts autoupdater (XP12 only) - all updates are being pushed smoothly without the need to re-download the entire base package (base package will be updated every once in a while to minimize the gap).
(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Rights Reserved
comment_23493NEWS! - Updated : Revolution Mini-500 Project v3.1 by vSkyLabs
The Revolution Mini-500 is a 1990s American single-seat light helicopter, designed and built by Revolution Helicopter Corporation as a kit for homebuilding. Revolution Helicopter however went out of business in November 1999, and the kits are no longer available.
The Mini-500 was designed as a light helicopter that resembles a scaled-down Hughes 500, powered by a Rotax 582 64 hp (48 kW) two-stroke engine. The Mini-500 has a tubular steel fuselage with a foam and glass-fibre structure cabin. It has a two-bladed semi-rigid rotor and a conventional two-blade tail rotor. The first Mini-500 flew in 1992 and the company delivered the first production factory-assembled helicopter in July 1994. Production of kits ceased in 1999 and the company claimed that more than 500 had been sold.
The aircraft has had a parlous history... as Rotax warns owners of the 582 engine in the Owners Manual about its limitations: "This engine, by its design, is subject to sudden stoppage. Engine stoppage can result in crash landings, forced landings or no power landings. Such crash landings can lead to serious bodily injury or death"... the statement is supported by the 16 fatalities when operating the Mini 500. Initial intentions were that it would be powered by a Mazda Wankel engine, but this was abandoned and plans shifted to the Solar T62 turbine engine. There is no indication that new production by Stitt, has delivered any aircraft kits.
The X-Plane version of the Mini-500 was released back in January 2019. There was a fully upgraded X-Plane 12 version released 12 months ago, but this update refines the aircraft to the latest X-Plane 12 dynamics and features with version 3.1.
This project is part of the VSKYLABS 'Test-Pilot' series, designed specifically for use with X-Plane cutting edge Experimental Flight Model.
This aircraft is also available for X-Plane 11 (obviously with out the dynamics and effects of X-Plane 12)
Images are courtesy of vSkyLabs...
The Revolution Mini-500 v3.1 by vSkyLabs is now available from the X-Plane.OrgStore
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Yes! - the Revolution Mini-500 Project v3.1 by vSkyLabs is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here :
Revolution Mini-500
Price is US$26.50 (Currently on sale for only US13.20!)
Requirements
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News by Stephen Dutton
18th June 2024
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(Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) All Rights Reserved