Loren Fedje

Well, I finally did it. I bought my Starwood Lama back.

One of my concerns was “Would it fit in my 2018 Nissan Leaf” … If not I guess I would have to buy a new transport vehicle. My preference would be to keep the Leaf, a) because it’s an EV (haven’t been to a gas station or EV power source outside my home for 2 years now) and b) because I use it as a charging system at the field.

The Problem:

The opening on the Leaf from tail gate sill to top of opening is 26 inches and the Lama from bottom of skids to the top of rotor is 27.5” and the length of the Lama is 84” but distance from the rear to the back of the passenger seat is only 63”. How can I get this in there, and I don’t want to remove the passenger seat.

Will it work???????

The first thing I did when it arrived was to tilt the front seat backwards and remove the rear seat backrest, leaving the rear seat in place. By doing this it eliminated the length problem but the question still remained, what about the height? I had kind of worked this out ahead of time and that was that the top of the opening is 16” forward of the sill, so if I angle the Lama down into the cargo well which is 10” deep, it may be possible, and it was! Now that I know that it works, how can I easily get it in and out by myself at home given that it is heavy and bulky. (I was actually physically able to get the Lama out during my initial test but at my age there would be no question that at some point I would bugger up my body in some way)

Now, knowing that the Lama will actually fit in the car, here is my solution. Where there is a will, often times there is a way. :)

I first created a trolley exactly the height of the sill plate at the cargo opening. It’s just an old cabinet with 1/2” ply mounted to the top and bottom and 1.5” rubber casters. I put felt carpet on top of that for easy sliding the Lama on and off. I then constructed a platform into the 10” deep cargo area (36” wide by 30”) so that when the Lama slides in it will not have to drop to the bottom of the cargo area. I tapered that platform toward the front of the car by 2” so that when the head reaches the top of the opening it drops sufficient to clear. It ended up with a clearance of 1/4”, so perfect! This platform opens up for storage below and is carpeted so that the lama slides in easily.

I can now move the Lama in and out of the car very easily (one handed with no lifting at all). I also have a folding work table that happens to be exactly the height of the Trolly, so again, once it’s on the trolly, I just slide it onto the work table without any lifting.

At the field it’s a bit different. I can slide it most of the way out and then have a fellow pilot assist in loading it onto a wagon and pull that out to the pits and then the flight line.

And yes Michael Kranitz, I am a certified LamaHead!

This is for anyone looking at the purchase of a Vario Lama. The smallest one is the Baby Lama (1:8) 600 size, next up is the Lama 1.8 (1:6.3) 800 size and finally the Starwood Lama (1:5). There is another that's labeled a 1:6 but it's actually a bit smaller than the Lama 1.8

Starwood RTF
Lama 1.8 Under Construction
Baby Lama RTF, just have the cabin removed to make some adjustments.

My Starwood Lama has the Electric Mechanics which means a) find a place for the massive battery packs and b) getting the packs in and out.

Before I sold the Lama back in 2018, I had the packs installed directly below the mechanics and accessed them from the bottom aluminum wedge piece below the rear side panels. This was ok, but very difficult and uncomfortable to accomplish, but doable. The packs are 2.4 pounds each and installing from that direction is not easy.

Now that I have it back I wanted to make life easier so I modified one of the side panels such that it’s easily removed and replaced. I have shortened all of the original retaining screws and glued them in place so that from the exterior everything matches the other side and looks unchanged. This is only a template setup as I am having retainers 3D printed that will clip onto the tube frame with just the right amount of tension so that the panel will not come off in flight (I will still use one magnet). The bottom plate has 2 positioning pins and a magnetic attachment so I will be able to manipulate the packs from the bottom and sides.

The 2 pieces of wood adjacent to the aluminum fold are the main positioning guides. With these the final alignment will be perfect. There is only one way they fit.

The next step will be to modify the battery mounting system so that the packs just slide in so that I don’t have to position the present aluminum mounting brackets each time I put them in place.

Here are 40 full scale photos I took today of the remainder of the last Canadian Lama in operation. Sadly it had a mishap a couple of wees ago so now Canada no longer has any. These are now just skeletons. These are real working Lama's so nothing fancy here. These were used for fertilizing British Columbia forests.

These will be used by me to assist in achieving the best possible detail in the Vario Lama 1.8 that I am presently building.

I picked up a Jeti DS-16 and a number of receivers and have managed to get everything working just fine on one of my 3D Heli's using the Ext serial port from an R3/RSW to my Ikon2, and all functions work just fine (I have owned a Jeti in the past but only flew 3D Pod and Boom, so that part wasn't too difficult). Scale Heli's may require more outputs but how do I access the spare ports on, for example a Rex 7 or Central Box while at the same time using serial EX-Bus.

Now, if I was using a Rex 7 or Central Box would I be able to use the spare ports on the RX to handle additional functions such as lights, extra servos for retractable search light etc. and how would I accomplish that?

Google isn't much help here.

Perhaps the only way is to set it up as a standard RX with a loom to the FBL.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I just received my next project from Vario. (just waiting for the motor and blades) I am looking forward to the build. This is my first scratch build so it should be interesting and educational. I may be calling for help here and there.

The only things done so far have been to clean up the tig welds on the skids and a partial assembly of the mechanics (I need the motor before I can continue the mechanics but can work on the canopy in the meantime).

An update.

I have now installed the mechanics, partially set up the FBL and set up my Jeti CB-200 etc. Frame is now powder coated for the forward section and red and yellow paint to the aft of that. Canopy is now all cut out, primed and first coat of paint. I also started working on scale detail such as the 538 panel screws and installed the glass. Now this has to be taken all apart for detail finishing and more. Lots of fun.

I need some help with my lighting system on the Vario Baby Lama. The lighting package is the one provided by Vario (Baby Lama Lights - Lighting set). None of the lights work and may in fact be burned out. I have provided a pic of a filament which to me looks like the light is fried. (all of the light filaments look the same).

I didn't receive the extension but I figure I can extend the leads to the required length without any problem.

I just joined the group and thought I would share a bit of my past. Back in 2017/18 I had the privilege of owning this amazing Starwood Lama which was built by Mark Huffman who was kind enough to sell it to me and go through the effort of packing and delivering by air freight from Arizona to Belingham WA in a hand built wooden crate, where I picked it up and brought it back to British Columbia.

A truly great experience. I owned it for about a year and sold it due to health problems. Man I wish I hadn't sold it. I quit flying in 2018 and started up again in 2023 and now fly 3D Heli's and all sorts and sizes of fixed wing but this was by far the best experience I have had in the RC world. It was set up as electric 12S 2-8000mah packs. Here is a video of the maiden which was flown by a good friend.