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Hello all:
Ever since the late 70's/early 80's, I have been waiting for the day that I could fly a model helicopter. I started back into this hobby almost 7 years ago and the only aspect of the hobby I was interested in was helicopters. I couldn't get the hang of it then and the lack of gyros, collective pitch, and help from anyone close, made it even harder so the two successful flights (one full tank hover and one forward flight) were quite an accomplishment. In those days, I had no idea that London, Ont. was the main hub of helicopter flying in Canada, or I would have been able to get the parts I needed to keep on going. Just a couple of days ago, I found out from another forum member, that the Schluter distributor was in London, sigh. As it was an important hub of helicopter activity, it played a large part in why London was chosen as the first location for the World Championship Helicopter meet. I dearly hated to let my original Heli-Baby go but I guess it was the path that I was chosen to follow.
Spring forward 37 years and I now find myself owning a prototype Heli-Baby NT and one of the first production kits from the new manufacturer, Minicopter.de. When I picked it up in Niagara Falls, I was somewhat underwhelmed as the box was nothing more than plain cardboard. No labels, pictures, or even part number, just a boring box. Inside were the canopy halves, boom, pushrod, frame sides, cockpit floors, landing gear, blades, lots of peanuts, and a small but very heavy box which was taped in place at the bottom. I wanted to head home fast so I didn't bother to dig out the small box and found out later that it was the same box the mechanics of a Diabolo are packaged in. That's one compact package that even held the unbent tail skid wire (more on that in a later post). As I started the build, I was struck by how precise the parts are made and when assembling the main gear assembly, you are surprised by the fact that there is no adjustment for the gear mesh, period. They provide shims to fit the main shaft so you have no slop vertically but that is about it. The mesh is perfect and since only one gear ratio is made, there is no need for any adjustment in the future.
The first group of pictures will get me through the upper chassis assembly and get me ready for the battery box and float struts next. I am now pondering the gluing of the canopy so I might be looking at that for the next few days as I don't want to muck it up Take care.
Don