Hirobo Dauphine 60 Electric Conversion

I purchased this Hirobo Dauphine around 2002. It was my second scale helicopter. It was nitro powered with a OS 60 engine running 15%. I had many flights, it was smooth, balanced however the fenestron tail performance was always tenuous depending on the engine’s performance and air temperature. I dealt with it, then put it on the shelf for 10+ years. After renewing my interest in RC I jumped into turbine helicopters. My Lama and 429 builds are posted on this site.

Then I got introduced (late) to electric helis and planes. Blade, Goosky, SAB Goblin….gosh electrics are nice! Then I bough an electric conversion for my Vario Bell 222. That was plug and play.

The Dauphine just sat and I needed a winter challenge. Below is what I did.

I had seen one conversion of a Hirobo Dauphine which utilized the original nitro’s centrifugal clutch and reportedly flew well. It gave me inspiration so I went to work.

Starting with the engine out, I took a pic of the frame and scaled it in Fusion. Then I proceed to fabricate a bracket that would accept the new electric motor. I did not want to modify the frame and used as many existing components as possible.

I went to YouTube school on everything motors and ESC. After a few calculations I used:

Xnova Lightening 430/2.5Y-560KV 8P
Hobbywing Platinum 180A HV SBEC V5

The original gear ratio was 97/10 pinion. I sourced a 12T 6mm bore, 1 modulas pinion gear.

I have conducted two test hovers. One was 4 minutes and the motor temp was 108F. The max recommended is 70C or 158F, so nowhere near that.

I installed a Jeti receiver, 900mH backup and Bavarian Demon Axon gyro. I will post various pictures of my process.

I used the Bambu to print prototypes before machining the aluminum bracket.

I utilized the original engine upper bearing support. I had to slot the mounting holes to allow for pinion to main gear adjustment.

The battery boxes attach to the frame and utilize the existing motor mount. 2-M3 screws attach the box. The boxes are oversized a bit. The sleeves are used to secure the batteries and have a catch retainer. You might notice the holes in the sleeves are the depth of the M3 heads to ensure no rubbing on the batteries and will not pull out once the batteries are inserted.

The electronics tray holds the Axon, receiver and 900 backup receiver.

The ESC mounts to an existing tray Hirobo provided.

The battery installation and access is always a concern. The Dauphine had a solid upper cowl. This required splitting, fabrication of brackets and magnets to hold it in place. I am not too proud of the split however it is what it is.

The mechanics fit nicely and the electronics are in one place. I can completely remove the mechanics and test everything including the tail rotor servo (with an extension cable) except the landing gear. Once installed, I set up the head pitch and Axon parameters.

As the title notes I post the second test hover. Nothing to see here except that it happened. The engine temps were in spec and it is as smooth as I remember (except for the smoke). The pinion to main gear shows no apparent wear. Granted the total hover times of the two tests were only 8 minutes. So far so good. More to come when I fly some circuits.

Again, the video are nothing to see....just a proof it wants to fly.

https://youtu.be/5fscGklltsA?si=iSHYBnJd5Bcy8v-F

Credit to Eric B for some video at the Chatfield Warbirds and Classic 2026 (no sound)