vario2

May 4, 2001
Haven't spent too much time working on the heli as of late, but I think I'm back in the swing of things!

To install the stacks and give them the appearance that they're going thru the panel, I'm gonna attach them with a lite-ply ring Gooped to the inside of the cowl. After determining the location of the stacks using full-scale heli pics as reference, I traced the stack diameter on a piece of masking tape and stuck the tape where I wanted the hole. It's too hard to try to trace the stack directly on the cowl due to the bend at the edge of the cowl.

After cutting out the hole with my Dremel, I made the ply rings and fitted them to the inside. The stacks will be weathered to look used, then glued in place after the fuse is painted.

I made my own landing gear. The stock ones, as seen in earlier photos, are not bent correctly. The ones I made are bent with larger arcs and are spread out further than the stock ones. I aluminum welded the skid steps on (made from aluminum channel). The skid runners and plastic joiners are the stock Vario units.

How about it! I'm actually updating the site! Sorry it took so long. I'm in the process of moving, so future updates may be sporadic. I'll try my best....

The aft cover is ready for final prime. Rivets, screens, and fake hinges are on. The front cover still needs rivets. Notice the intake "strakes" I put on. I used aluminum K&S airfoil tube shaped to look scale.

Benzin mechanics with Zenoah G230 installed. Note the modification to base plate for carb arm and linkage to fit thru. I had to make an exhaust shield to contain the cooling airflow. I haven't run the engine yet, so have no reports on its performance....

Here's how I routed the exhaust. On a tip from Joe Howard, I used a Vario teflon coupler as an exhaust tube. It's GOOPed in place. The exhaust pipe on the muffler floats in the center of the tube, and makes for easy in and out of the mechanics.

Random pics of project at this time. The fins are on and finished, the windows are covered in liquid masking film, and the hole in the nose of the fuse is for the inner part of the pitot tube, which will be installed after paint.

The doors are hinged and work nicely. I used a couple of magnets on each door to help them stay tightly against the fuse. I used Radio Shack "Rare Earth Magnets". They're super strong!

The fin is ready for rivets. I drew light pencil lines to follow with the glue drop rivets....

It should be ready for the base paint in about a week, assuming I get a decent amount of time to work on it! I hope to paint it before I have to box up all my stuff for the move. Not sure what I'll do if that happens....