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Since more than two years, Pixel has become the trendsetter on the Micro-Helicopter scene.

This Gallery is made for all those who want to share the Pixel experience

Alexander Van de Rostyne

Flying radio controlled models in a living room, who has never been dreaming of it? What about a looping above the kitchen table, or a touch-and-go on the carpet, wanna drop some sugar in your coffee with a switch on your transmitter...?

During autumn season in 1996, some European modeler magazines started reporting about a new wave in our hobby: slow-flight. Slow-flight was another substantial shift in what could be expected as possible, much alike when quarter scale hit our existence some 15 years ago. Some very inventive people had broken all 'standard' rules, and made planes fly that weigh no more than 100 grams or so, batteries included. They called it 'slow fly', because those planes flew slower than walking speed. On a calm evening, one could now expect to go out walking with his micro Blériot, rather than just letting the dog out. I learned about the new technologies used, and found out about what I thought to be impossible till then: 3.7 gram proportional servo's, 10 gram propulsion motors, 2 gram speed regulators, 4 gram receivers, 30 gram battery packs and so on. Being myself a rather veteran modeler (since some 30 years), and a RC Helicopter freak, I started dreaming about this little RC Helicopter that would use the above mentioned technology. An idea was born, and about a year and a half later, I managed to design, build and successfully fly three prototypes. Pixel is the name, and refers to the smallest visual component on a computer screen. Pixel I was the first one, and flies at 125 gram. Pixel I showed to me, and to the modeler's community, that the impossible became possible. It was a shot in the dark, but I hit the target. With that experience in mind, I wanted to do better, meaning even lighter. At 95 grams airborne for Pixel II, I can safely pretend to have developed the lightest fully controllable RC Helicopter in the world. When that was done, what do you do next. Yes: build Pixel III. Here I wondered if I could bundle all the experience I build up into a much more mainstream helicopter. I ended up with a 50cm model that is half of the weight of anything comparable. More importantly, I build it with standard and inexpensive RC components. To give you an idea, the main motor costs not more than 8$.

After these, I kept on experimenting and more Pixels came to reality. The latest one is the Pixel 2000 (named like that because I believe this one will make it into the next millenium). The Pixel 2000 flies at a mere 48 grams. It got airborne in the month of may 1999, when the birds....

This site guides you through the virtual Pixel Gallery. Just like in a real gallery, you can walk around, go in and out of your areas of interest. You will find tons of pictures, and I present them in the best possible quality. This may lengthen the loading process over the net a bit, but I noticed that none of you seem to like blurry pictures! I will describe some of the construction and test methods. After all, my purpose is not to keep this all for myself, but to incite you to go the same road. I want to insist that Pixels are unique prototypes, and are not for sale. I am sorry for all those who would like to buy one.