These are two engineering(ish) projects outside work that I’ve been working on over the years.

Jet Turbine Powered Helo Drone

I’ve always been interested in the world of aerospace (hence my work on a PPL). Sometime in 2014, I decided to learn aerospace engineering with the idea of eventually building a kit plane such as Lancair Evolution. I started with the textbook Jet Propulsion by Cumpsty and Heyes, which gives you a ton of theory on how a turbofan engine works.

But instead of building a plane first, I decided to build a jet turbine-powered helo drone. Yep, I got the idea to create a helo drone powered by a mini turbo fan engine. The plan is to build components through research, self-teaching in aerospace engineering/jet propulsion, advanced mechanical engineering, and physics. Turns out buying one is an extremely complicated process in itself, since you have to source several components, most of which are from the UK or Germany. Not to mention, when all is said and done, it costs around $10-20K. When creating a BOM, I found I’d be building one for around $10K. Based on my estimates, I thought I could do it for around $5K if I manufactured the engine. 

I use SolidWorks to design the turbine (based on a few blueprints out there), and contracted out the manufacturing to build the prototype (which is a major challenge in itself). The first engine that I'm building is a 10-15 lb thrust "mini" turbojet engine using schematics of commercially available RC turbine engines such as Wren MW54 and JetCat P60-SE, this will mainly test my ME skill and manufacturing feasibility. So far, it's been a bit difficult. Eventually, as the designs evolve, I would like to create a 25lbs+ thrust engine. Maybe this will be a 2022-23 project!

I’m using a JetCat PHT3 as the benchmark (and test bed) until a “usable” jet turbine is developed. I need to develop a "forward" mounting rail system that can accommodate a gimbal camera stabilizer for mounting a FLIR Vue Pro. I also plan to use the PowerCat helicopter conversion (which includes the boom/pod, tail rotor, exhaust system, fuel tanks, main rotor) or AirStar JetCopter SX (airframe) + 800mm LH main rotor blades, which seems to be the go-to setup for this kind of thing.

For flight controls, I'm using a standard radio controller that will allow manual LOS (line of sight) control but also allow building an autopilot system. The autopilot will enable the craft to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) autonomously (as per FAA regulations). The autonomous system will be implemented using the ArduPilot APM 2.8 Flight Controller Board and APM Planner 2 software, with a Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 as the ground controller (with the radio controller as a backup). I think for “true“ BVLOS capabilities, I will need to get an FAA authorization. Since the FAA keeps changing the rules (2016), I'll have to get back on what qualifies as an experimental vs. UAV/UAS.

This project is still in the works because the first version, yep, I crashed it, which is why I’m using a JetCat for the time being.

Animation

Storytelling is something I grew up with (Disney), and animation is a mode of storytelling that offers stunning visuals when done well. It’s also a dream of mine to create a feature-length animated film. It’s also a reason why a part of my career took place at Disney. At Disney, fascinated with how Disney/Pixar creates stories, specifically animations, I took it upon myself to learn Maya. Having a computer science background, I started off with Maya and started modeling, starting with the Utah teapot. I really love Khan Academy's Pixar in a Box (they have one for Imagineering too, and I encourage everyone to check it out!

From time to time, I build random models, mostly Disney/Pixar characters, which takes a long time! In 2017, I built a fully rigged Wall-E model (without the rendering or paintings) following various tutorials, which took 4 months to complete (I worked on it for 2 hours at a time; animators at Pixar/Disney can do this faster). For 2020, I'm hoping to learn storyboarding and develop a story and characters. In the next few years, I’ll be creating shorts and whatnot, so I can go from character to creating stories.