Latest in Scale Helicopters

Being a Veteran of the Vietnam era I have a great fondness for anything helicopter during that time. If you have not read "Low Level Hell" by Captain Hugh Mills you should read it. That is the man and the book that made "Miss Clawd" a well known helicopter in the scale helicopter community. This is my second Miss Clawd with the first being built in the early ninties and nitro powered. This one is a product of Vario Helicopters and equipped with Vario Benzine mechanics, powered with a Scorpion 5035 and retaining the Benzine clutch with a Heliworkshop clutch adapter, a Castle 160 ESC on 12S, Spektrum electronics and a Sound system making a very realistic model. The mechanics were highly modified to allow for a full cockpit and easy battery change. The cockpit is completely "scratch-built" from wood, plastic and aluminum. Pilots are a product of TailoredPilots, WarBirdPilots and patches added for the Vietnam era. Personal weapons and other cockpit accessories came from BlackOpsToys and Ebay. Stetsons were 3D printed by my friend of many years Mark Burks owner of Micro Designs. The "stogie" in the gunners mouth was the idea of my fellow full size pilot Csptian Randy Rivers that I shared a lot of civilian airspace with who also flew the OH 58D in the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars. I try to fly this model just as Miss Clawd was flown by Captain Mills.

I have built many Hueys, from the Hirobo 30 size to the big gas powered Hirobo but this 1/4.8 scale Huey is the largest at around 98 inches. The first picture is how it came out of the box. I had read many things about the HELI-FACTORY models and the detail and quality was much more than expected. This is one of their "Super Scale" models with rivets and raised panels, panel lines and many other exterior details created during the manufacturing of the fuselage. HELI-FACTORY cuts out all opening panels and doors/windows and pre-installed all the woodword ready for the mechanics to be installed. The mechanics were assembled and ready for the installation of my Spektrum electronics, Kontronik 1000 and Kontronik 200 ESC. I installed a sound system for a very realistic start-up and shutdown. The rotor head is the most realistic Huey head I have seen in a model.
The cockpit and armament are a product of SCALE-PRINT. The pilots and gunners are from TailoredPilots. I had the model flying within a couple of weeks "in the white" to get it airworty before disassembly for paint, personal detailing and weathering. I chose to build this Huey to represent a "C" model flown by the "Razorbacks" gunship platoon in Vietnam. The dummy turbine engine and M40 nose mounted granade launcher were 3D printed by Russell Rohan. I prefer my models to look well used and this one is highly weathered. Everything fit perfectly and flys GREAT !!!

Sharing my deep fascination with helicopter weaponry, especially the Cobra's M197 Gatling Gun. To me, this gun has the greatest potential to come alive as a scale model, primarily due to its rotating barrels. I have designed and built many versions and sizes of this gun for different customers over the years, for 1/6 Len Mount and Alterbaum, 1/7 Vario and 1/9 Roban, static and animated. The latest version is a fully auto-run, multimedia experience featuring motion, sound and smoke. Here are all the different gun and TSU variations.
Edited: I've just added the final completed version of the gun and TSU.

I had been tossing around the idea of getting pilots for my helis for the longest time. On one hand, I've always felt it wasn't necessary to have a pilot since I'm not looking inside the heli while I'm flying. On the other hand, it's a nice scale touch.

I ended-up purchasing one from Warbird Pilots with a high voltage servo driven dome and have it tied-in with the collective. I removed the utility harness that came with it since the real Mercy Flight pilots don't use them. The flight suit is the same color the Mercy Flight crew wears, btw. I'm kinda toying with the idea of painting the helmet orange for more accuracy, but I'm not in a big rush to do that, though.