Thinking of buying it for a couple grand. Build by a retired engineer (who has since passed) for his grandson. The grandson wasn't interested. So the son wants it out of hospital garage. bird is completed.but not yet flown. What do you guys think?

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....922ea03c49.jpg
What is it?

Are those meat thermometers sticking out of the cooling ribs?

An RC-helicopter?

What can go wrong?

I think that thing is called a G1 from a company long gone.
It is said, that it can not autorotate.
I would suggest to make it an RC-Helicopter and hope for a spectacular crash for TikTok. A live sized Barbie would look good. Or Playmobil.
My price for that? You have to pay me.

A MKII dangerous .

I think, I would remove the seat, servo up the controls and make it remote controled platform to do heli logging in my back yard.
I am sure it can lift 100 pounds of something

https://www.vortechonline.com/g1/grfx/g1.jpg
then you got 3 engines, so its a fail safe plan :}

Could it be a far distant relation to this?
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7b0bde3780.jpg

Max altitude 10,000ft according to the brochure. Seems like a bargain. Go for it.

https://www.vortechonline.com/g1/

Wow, a three engine aircraft ! Triple Briggs and Stratton ?

There's minimalist, then there's Minimalist.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....fb543a7ceb.jpg


If you're intending to explore M. Sablier's altitude envelope, I'd suggest tweeds and stout walking shoes.

Does anyone know what this is? - Yes, your in luck - bloody dangerous.

What do you guy’s thing? - I’m loving the overhead fuel tank, reminds me of the Ford Pinto, or is it the Aventador.

PAN PAN
 

PAN PAN - one POB meat ready need to land as I like my steak medium rare.😳

The Roger Bacon phrase "sudden not entirely unexpected twang" rises irresistibly to the surface of my mind...

My suggestion would be to offer it to the Helicopter Museum at Brandywine Airport in Pennsylvania...

Looks like a recipe for a world of pain!

​​​​​​​Smart lad.

Casper posted an interesting photo where folks questioned three engines but did not query the notion of the single rubber belt driving the rotor system.

I suppose some here are not risk averse but are brain washed by the industry focus upon engine failure while ignoring far more critical safety issues.

There are other helicopters with single belt drives. And that one is presumably for the tailrotor. I think that the flimsy plastic pully is way more frightening.

But one must admire all the torque stripes ... or blotches.

I don't think the three engines are a safety feature. They are all needed because that thing can not fly on two engines. Therefore they are an unsafe feature.

Like the Enstrom I learned to fly in! It autorotated beautifully though.

Thread drift, but can anybody work out how the George Sablier personal rotorcraft was supposed to work? There are some cryptic references to how the torque from the rotor was counteracted but all I can see is a small fin/rudder behind the operator which seems to be oriented at the wrong angle to counter any torque in any case. This item also casts doubt:
https://elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpre...ter-rotorhead/

Only photos I found are of it demonstrated on the ground, not flying. So did it ever fly? Some photos like the above seem to show a pulley arrangement below the rotor but lacking any drive belts. So was the rotor only spinning in the photos due to autorotation in wind? There is no hint it had any tip jets to drive the rotor.

Back to the OP: what a complicated and precarious looking drivetrain!