awesome as usual!

I can't wait until I get my first BIG heli...

I have flown the big gasser 300 and it was sweet to fly so I can imagine how nice a large scaler flies.

I just wish an R44 was available...

Roy Mayoral

Awesome Barry. Beautiful work.

I am starting the re-paint of mine this weekend and will start a thread.
Paul

Thanks!! Paul, I'm following your 300 re-paint, can't wait to see her in color!

Here's the latest: I fabbed up a scale exhaust over the past couple of days. I did the best I could to duplicate the real heli, seeing that it's really hard to bend styrene tubing. I had to put a piece of extension chord down the middle and apply heat and bend it a little at a time. The tube is 7/16" OD styrene, the muffler is a piece of Raptor E720 tail boom with end caps that I spun up on the lathe from some T6 aluminum. It slides right over the engine exhaust manifold tubing and has a metal tab that fastens it to the boom clamp. It's too hard to see in the pics, but I put a fillet of epoxy along the length of the mounting tab to simulate a weld and it came out nice. I'll put a stubby cross tube in to simulate connection of the 2 sides, then dry brush some rust on it and it'll be complete. The tube can't go all the way across, as it would intersect where my lipos mount. She's almost done...
Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

Barry,

Looking quite snazzy. The pipe looks really cool. And, the engine looks really good connected to it, too.

Does your scale subject have the diagonal tube that connects the boom to the main shaft tube? I was toying with the idea of adding that brace to mine. Vario doesn't include that part for whatever reason, but as I studied the photos of the real thing, it seems to be in most (if not all) of them. Just wondering if you had plans.. mounting it will take some fabrication, but nothing you couldn't do.

Joel

Thanks Joel. Yes it does have the top brace. I have been toying around with making that brace. It's taking some thought, because of vario's design limitations, no matter where I put it, it really won't look scale. If I connect it at the front boom clamp, then it's super long. If I make a clamp that mounts it just behind the belt cover, then the rear mount isn't in the correct location... Any thoughts on this?
Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

Barry,

I held up a rod on mine in the position that would best match where it is on the full size. It looks OK to me. I'm not sure that any dimension on the machine is exactly right, and adding this one tube won't be throwing off the balance. If anything, it will complete the look of the tubing on the 300C that is so characteristic.

From an aesthetic perspective, I think it's quite reasonable to add it in, even if it doesn't mount exactly how the full size does, given the limitations of the aesthetics of the Vario kit in the first place.

In terms of the mounts you make to connect it, well, that's a different matter. I would need to see some closeups to better understand how it was supposed to connect. Certainly, recreating a similar mount would be ideal, but, it would not be entirely out of place to make a good looking mechanically functioning mount that's simply finely crafted and looks the part. True, it won't necessarily be perfectly scale, but, having the tube mounted at all might be an incremental improvement over not having it at all.

As I spend more time on mine, I'll see if I can work it into my design. If I mount it, I'm thinking of machining a block that could be attached with screws into the rear of the rotor dome. That block would then have an attachment point centered, to hold the crushed tube end between it. I'm not quite sure what the boom end might look like yet, and would need to think about that some more. An inverted boom clamp design might be exactly what's called for though.

Anyway, since you're making such fine details on your model, I'm thinking you could probably adapt what the full size does and do a great job with it... If you post pictures of the mounts, I can give you more uneducated suggestions about it. ;-)

Joel

Thanks for your suggestions. Yeah, I'm leaning more toward your idea of making it, regardless if it's a little off. Here's the pics of the real heli. The brace is not centered on the tail boom. I could use the front boom brace mounting point and make a bracket to mount the front on the main shaft support. Note that the brace mounts at the intersection of the other tail boom braces on the starboard side. My heli has the tail servo there, so I would have to mount it on the port side (no biggie). I think I'll get started on this next week.
Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

You guys are nuts

Barry,

I can't quite see what the bracket looks like that holds the support to the rotor mast. Prior to seeing your photo, I was thinking of making a bracket that would be centered on the rotor dome, that looks something like this sketch:

A top down view:

Looking from behind the bracket:

How I was thinking of mounting it to the rotor dome:

Do you happen to have any closeups of this end of things?

Joel

Hi Joel, funny but what you have drawn up is very similar to the part that I started machining yesterday at work. I don't have a detailed pic of that bracket, but the pic that I do have is very similar to your drawing. The biggest difference is that the top of the bracket has a more distinct angle and the hole for the strut is in the lower quadrant, not centered. The real part appears to be an aluminum forging. The vario mast support measures out at 20mm (.787), so I'll have to use a boring bar to machine the radius. I don't have any metric end mills Just makes the job a little more involved...
Barry

PS, thanks for the reference drawing, much appreciated!

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

Barry,

My plan (perhaps, an Evil Master Plan), was to carve the arc from the 20.0mm diameter into the block using my mill. While I can't accurately cut that arc by turning the hand wheels manually, I can program that into the CAM software easily enough.

I would be happy to cut an arc into a block of aluminum for you, if that would help you out. You could machine the rest of the block out afterwards.. if you like.

If I machined a large piece of aluminum, and bored a 20.00mm circular pocket into it, it would give you material for machining multiple attempts, too. ;-) I say that, because I'm not good enough to machine the part perfectly the first time, all the time.

That said, I am going to 3D print a bracket first to test my prototype, to help me prove out my design. Of course, if you manage to post a picture of what the bracket really looks like, I might be able to copy that and make a more accurate looking bracket prototype. And well, the 3D printed part might actually be all that is necessary, if it's sanded, primed and painted, because the plastic is quite good. I'm actually blown away by how strong the material is.

Either way, let me know if you want me to carve a piece of aluminum for you. Of course, if you'd rather hog it out manually, that's fine, too. I know there is satisfaction in doing that.

Joel

Hi Joel, thanks for the kind offer. I was planning to make one for you while I was at it I'm thinking that the 3D printed part is strong enough for this application. There is really no load on the part, it's just a place holder for the strut. The aluminum mast support takes all of the abuse. I was just planning to bond mine to the mast with aeropoxy. If you feel like printing this bracket for me, I would not complain! PM me if you feel like doing one for me while your at it. I'd be happy to reimburse you for your time/shipping cost. In the meantime, I'll look for a better pic of the bracket.
Thanks, Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

Barry & Joel,
This is how the mast strut connects on the 1/3 scale...for what it's worth.

Paul

Thanks, Paul!

I spent a little time last night refining the 3D model for the bracket. I added the 10mm radius to the back so it would have a flush fit. Interestingly, I had a bit of a conversion problem when I exported the new model to STL, which is keeping me from printing the test piece. I will resolve that, and show a picture of the printed part once it's done.

Since it's not load bearing, if I can make it smooth with primer, I'll leave it in plastic. If not, I'll machine it. I might also try both and see which I prefer.

Either way, it's a lot of fun to work on a tiny detail like this one and take it from concept to reality.

Joel

Paul, thanks for the pic. It looks like vario is using a boom clamp of sorts for the bracket. Kinda looks like the bracket that holds the belt cover on my smaller 300.

Joel: looks like you're making good progress!
Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

Joel, here's a better pic of that strut bracket.
Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

After the pleasure of seeing this beaty in person you are very and I mean very lucky it didnt go home with me barry..

Ken

LOL Ken...

So, I machined the brackets for the mast and boom. No matter what I did (without bending the strut) it would not clear the servo or servo bracket to attach it to the side of the front boom mount. So I made the additional bracket and mounted it on top of the boom for simplicity. The strut is aluminum tubing. I still need to paint the strut and make some spacers to center the strut in the brackets. I machined the 10mm radius in to the brackets, so they are a perfect fit, then I bonded them with aeropoxy. Joel, I'm glad you talked me into it. The heli looks so much more scale now.
Barry

All helis and planes have an expiration date stamped on them...you only find it after you crash!!

Looks great Barry. Nice work on the brackets.
Paul