Vintage Nitro RC Helicopters

Vintage Nitro RC Helicopters

This page will be an account of my efforts to find, and if necessary restore to flying condition, a collection of vintage Nitro Radio Controlled Helicopter models. At present I have two Kalt Space Barons, one in flying condition, the other under restoration, and a Hirobo Shuttle ZXX - also in flying condition.

 I should point out that at this stage I am still a newbie to all kinds of  heli's - I have over 40 years experience with RC models but they have all been fixed wing - Heli's are a new experience for me so this page will list my triumphs and successes as well as my failures, errors, mistakes and assorted other screw ups including the  - hopefully - few crashes I experience while learning to fly the things.

The 1st Kalt Space Baron

As I brought the model home from the dump. The photo doesn't show the dust, dirt, assorted crap or broken parts.

The Kalt Space Baron Restoration/Rebuild (Posted 27/09/11)

As mentioned on the home page I have recently been able to buy a BRAND NEW Kalt Space Baron. As soon as it arrives (bought it off eBay) I will post photos of both models together.

You wouldn't believe what people dump and throw away on  rubbish tips. A mate of mine told me about a model helicopter he'd seen at the local tip shop so I just had to go have a look. The asking price was only $30.00 so I took it home with me to see what I'd got myself into. Much to my surprise I found an almost complete Kalt Space Baron model from back in the early 90s. No motor or radio and the whole thing was covered in dirt and grime. I carefully disassembled it, cleaning and cataloguing each part as I did. A few key parts were found to be missing - mostly the motor clutch and fan etc.- but damage to the rest of the helicopter is minimal. The tail rotor gear box has a bent shaft and the ball joint connections on the cyclic and collective pitch controls have seen better days. Other than  that it's mainly cosmetic damage - the vertical and horizontal tail surfaces are broken and the windscreen and cowl is a bit ragged. I sent a few hours on the Internet and was surprised at how much information is available for these models. I even found a complete manual and parts list as well as other useful information that I was able to download! I am now determined that my latest folly will see the light of day and fly again after a full restoration. Now all I have to do is hunt down the parts I need to do it and any leads would be greatly appreciated.

As it came home from the dump!

The Rotor blades need to be replaced

There is some work to do here

And Here!

Surprisingly it's almost all there

All disassembled
Now the work starts. 
Stay Tuned!

Murphy's law - In any assembly one small part will be broken - in this case one of the universal links.

 As you can see the tail rotor shaft has seen better days.

Starting to put things back together - Main rotor shaft.

Beginning to take shape.

The bare bones.

Trial fit - The fuselage and canopy.

After fully disassembling the model and cleaning and inspecting all the parts I am pleasantly surprised. The biggest problem is replacing the tail rotor gearbox as the shaft is hopelessly bent and the tail rotor pitch controls are broken. As well as that both the vertical and horizontal tailfins are completely destroyed although I can fabricate replacements for those. There is also no tail push/pull control rod but I can replace that with a Golden Rod or similar.  Up front there is no engine mount, Servo box braces or Gyro mounting box and some of the collective and cyclic control linkages are broken or damaged. So the  parts I need are as follows:-

1. Tail rotor gearbox assembly or  alternately the Tail rotor shaft Part # 33014 and the blade grips Part # 33006

2. Aileron Arm kit or, alternatively the universal links Part # 34016

3. Engine mount Part # 31014

4. Gyro mounting box Part # 36012

5. The servo box braces Part # 36007

6. The radio switch mounting plate Part # 36027

I have acquired most of these parts now and the restoration is progressing

There are a few odd items with this model but I don't have enough knowledge to know whether they are modifications available as options or were just made by the previous owner. The most obvious change is to the Main Rotor blade diameter. According to the manual I have, the blade diameter is  41 inches but the blades on this model are 55 inch diameter. The blades are similar to and appear to be the same type and diameter as those supplied on the Kalt Baron 50 or perhaps the Jet Ranger. This might mean that the previous owner fitted a larger size motor than that recommended for the Space Baron (A 30 size - the Webra 28 was apparently supplied with the ARF version of this model) I haven't yet decided on what motor to use and accordingly I will also need to find the clutch and associated parts for what ever motor I fit The only part left on the model was the cooling shroud which appears to have been hacked around quite a bit. The other noticeable oddity is that this model is fitted with a tail boom brace (again similar to the Baron 50) and as far as I can find out the original Space Baron never had this fitting.

The 2nd Kalt Space Baron

Yeah well I want to differentiate between this Heli and the other one that I am restoring. As some readers will know I have two Kalt Space Barons. The first is one I bought at the local Tip shop for a whole $30. I have been slowly restoring it as I can find the necessary parts. The SECOND Kalt Space Baron is one I bought off eBay and - it is BRAND NEW. OK it has been around for years in storage and the period of time has left a bit of hangar rash here and there BUT - it has never been flown and I bought it complete with a new  (also old but unused) OS MAX 32H installed !

The model had been previously assembled but was broken down into component parts when it was posted to me. So - all I had to do was reassemble it. Hmmm - I am a complete novice when it come to RC helicopters and the first thing I noticed was the difference in construction. I've been build sport and scale fixed wing models for over 50 years so I know just about everything there is to know about balsa, ply, glues, finishes and covering and the various pitfalls you can run into along the way. I'm also pretty competent when it comes to the running, repairing and caring for IC (Nitro) Engines.

So to the new Kalt. The first thing that is very different is that one doesn't have to go selecting materials and laying out a plan. Construction is following a Manual and rather like putting something together from a Meccano set so the balsa knives, the glue pot and the usual construction tools can be put aside. Instead of a balsa knife, a sanding block and a coping saw you end up with a selection of screw drivers and small spanners as well as a vernier gauge and a dial indicator ! VERY Different. The other difference is that initial assembly is straight forward - all that is required is to carefully follow the construction sequence from the manual. THEN the fun starts. Setting up the model is a highly complex procedure requiring careful measurement and the double checking of all dimensions, connections and settings. For a beginner it is almost mandatory to  start an internet search for extra information and I was lucky enough to find a site which answered several of the many questions I have. The site is called Helicopter Fun and can be located at this address: -

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/

I highly recommend it for any one just starting out in RC Heli' s as it gave me a lot of essential information I wouldn't otherwise have had.

I've come across another very helpful website - HeliFreak!

A very active an informative forum that has something for just about anyone interested in RC Heli's

The web address is:-

http://www.helifreak.com/index

So - The Construction

More photos and details will be added shortly.

The Hirobo Shuttle ZXX

Photos and details will be added shortly.