Vario 1/7th scale Huey Gunship

I built this model about five years ago but kept the pictures and thought I would share the build here. Being such a big fan of the “Huey” series helicopters, I wanted to build this model from Vario. I was not building this model for competition so no documention necessay, I built it to suit what I intended for it to look like. It was another “Frankenstein” model, lol.

I called up a very good friend Rick Hayes and he still had aVario Kobold in the box that he had never built. For you guys not familiar with the Kobold it was a less expensive version of the Skyfox. After looking the mechanics over I knew I could modify them without a lot of trouble to allow me to build the model with a full cockpit and somewhat unodstructed rear cabin. You can see the modification in the pictures. It is equipped with a Vario “Electric Conversion’ using a Scorpion 4035 and I added a Darrell Sprayberry Clutch Conversion to allow a slow spool up of the main rotor. There was not a lot to do after removing the front portion of the Skyfox frames. I used 1/8 inch G10 and aluminum angle to create the reinforcement of the frames. The longer main shaft and upper bearning extension came with the fuselage kit and were added to the mechanics. I modified the woodwork and aliminum rails supplied in the kit to mount everythis securely. It worked out perfectly.

Since I wanted to make this a “Gunship” version I wanted to add the external armament and nose mounted granade launcher affectionately called “ The Chunker". I was telling George Baker ( TiredIron Aviation ) of my plans and he said he could print them for me. This would be my first venture into the wonders of 3D printing. George got those to me in very short time and they looked great. I purchased a couple of miniguns off Ebay to complete the package. I knew from the weight of the guns I would have to create some “hardpoints” to mount them to the fuselage. I epoxied small pieces of “T” shaped aluminum to the inside of the fuselage for the armament to be mounted securely. The external guns and nose mounted granade launcher really gave the Huey the look of a “Gunship”.

Next step was the cockpit. I used a lot of imagination with this model as it was being built on a budget, lol and I did not want to spend a long time building. Remember this is not “ rocket science” we are building models. I ordered a Roban 800 Huey cockpit and used the seats, instrument panel cyclis and collective from that and the end results were quite pleasing even though not true to the full size but was very acceptable for this build. I used the woodwork from the kit and made changes where necessary. I did scratchbuild the tail rotor pedals, lol. The pilots are 1/6th scale but I applied a little “ Chiropratic Surgery” and made them accecptable. I get a lot of my 1/6th scale pilots from BlackOpsToys.com because of their huge sellection of figures and accessories. You can buy the figure and do as I do and order everything separately, body, feet/shoes, hands/gloves, head of choice, clothing and then put it all together.

Once everything was trial fitted it was all removed for fitting the tail drive which was standard Vario with a 5mm stainless drive tube, 40 degree gearbox and standard Vario tail rotor assembly. I then sanded and primed the fuselage and sanded with 400 and get ready for a few hours of applying rivets. I still do my rivets the old way with syringe, needle and glue. after applying all the exterior detailing it was time to paint. I did not do a lot of paint research for this model, I went to Lowes and got a few cans of Rust-Oleum Camo OD Green, stepped out in the back yard and turnes it green. After the paint dried I applied the Callie Graphics and then went on to weathering. I do shoot a light coat of Testors “Dull Coat” over the entire model. Dull Coat is the “flattest” clear I have found and I still use it today on my military models. I picked up the ammo crates from Ebay and a good friend in our club David Shealy printed the “toe steps” for the skids. I really wanted to add WSPS ( wire strike ) but knew that would be a little overboard since the WSPS didnt go into production untill the late seventies, lol.