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Vario
Gazelle Vario’s iconic Gazelle
is big and impressive

DJI Naza-H
Testing the new DJI Hobby
NAZA-H with GPS system Small Rotors 6S T-Rex 450
The Blade 450 for sport flying Adrenalin rush and
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Issue 279

T-Rex DFC 600 Nitro


An ‘old school’ flyer tries FBL

IN THIS ISSUE REVIEWS EVENTS TECH


9
REVIEW
words/PICTURES: Jon Tanner

Vario Gazelle
Vario’s iconic SA341/342 Gazelle is big and impressive

W
hy did I choose to build a Gazelle? Fenestron tail rotor, which was the first time a Alternatively, a JetCat PHT3L can be used
For me it is one of the iconic Fenestron had been used, and in 1971 an early and of course the Vario turbine 1002/77 Electric
machines, I love the streamlined production machine broke two World speed mechanics could be used. So already you have
fuselage with the big glass cockpit records including speed over a straight course several options! I should point out that fuselage
and that Fenestron tail. Add its performance reaching 312 km/h (194 mph). The Gazelle kit is supplied for turbine power, so if you chose
and that it was used by the ‘Blue Eagles’ became very popular with the military with some the electric mechanics, you would have further
demonstration team, which was formed in 1968 25 counties operating various versions of it, work to accommodate the flight batteries.
and they used the Gazelle in their displays until mostly for observation, training and anti-tank The Gazelle is designed to be a large, practical
2008. duties. In total some 1,775 were built between ‘stand-off’ scale model rather than a full scale
The Gazelle was born from the French Army’s 1967 and 1996 and many are still in service, both model although, as with all Vario models, you can
need to replace the Alouette III and it wasn’t long in the military and civil arenas. add plenty of scale detail to make it that much
before the design was enlarged to become a more accurate. The difference with the Gazelle
5 seater making it more versatile. Interestingly, The Model is that a couple of big compromises from the full
the first prototype SA 340 produced by Sud Vario’s SA 341/342 Gazelle is big at a scale size have been made to make it a more ‘flyable’
Aviation – later to become Aérospatiale, flew in of 1:4.2, giving a fuselage length of 2400 mm machine.
April 1967 with a conventional tail rotor. This was (7’ 10”), it can be fitted with a 2 or 3 blade rotor The engine is mounted low down in the
only 2 months after a major joint development head giving a rotor diameter of 2300/2360 mm mechanics and in front of the main shaft, with
and production work share agreement signed and the advertised weight is 19 kg. The model the exhaust exiting from the right side of the
between Aerospatiale and the British Westland is designed for turbine power using the Vario fuselage. The reasons for this are pretty obvious,
Company. turbine #1002/67 mechanics with a Jakadofsky i.e. simplicity and a forward mounted engine
It was in 1968 that the SA341 first flew with the Pro 5000 or Pro Edition engine. assists the C of G, resulting in a lighter model.

20
T-Rex DFC 600 nitro

Another ‘straying’ from true scale is that the


Vario design engineer chose to use the left hand
rotation mechanics (the full size is right hand
rotation) and this was in order for the model to
fly with the skids level, to explain, a left rotation
model tends to ‘hang’ with the left skid low, but
the exhaust thrust from the right counters this
‘lean’ resulting in a more level flight. The lean is
caused by the tail rotor thrust being below the
main rotor and so creates a roll moment, while a
high tail rotor that is the same height as the main
rotor doesn’t create a roll moment and so flys
more level.
You could argue that if the model exhaust was
on the left, then you could run a right rotation
head, and for that matter the full size ‘leans’
anyway! Well the model would lean a lot and it
would be very noticeable, also the full size has
a large opening behind the right side doors that
supplies cooling air to the exhaust via the pipe
under the exhaust – I understand this is powered
by the venturi effect. The model uses this hole as
the exhaust position. The model dimensions are:

Scale 1:4.2
Length 2400 mm Fuselage, mechanics and the large windshields in the boxes
Width 500 mm
Height 690 mm a 3-blade (2300 mm) and to make things a bit Starting Out
Rotor 2300/2360 mm more complicated, Jakadofsky offer two versions Delving into the boxes reveals a lot of parts
Motor Jet of their turbine, each with a different rpm – so and it’s worthwhile getting it all out to check that
Weight ca. 19 kg choose carefully! The list used here is: you have everything, in my case Vario had let me
know some parts would be sent later including
As with all Vario models, you buy the basic Pt. No. Description the tail speed up gearbox, but this wouldn’t be
fuselage and then add the scale detailing packs PRO 5000 z25, Kero start option needed for quite a while.
you want plus your chosen mechanics and 3420 Fuselage kit Gazelle Anyone who is interested in scale models knows
matching rotor head/blades etc. You also need 703/38 3-blade rotor head for 12mm that building one usually needs a lot of planning
to buy the turbine, or if you choose the electric 68/50 Swashplate driver 12 mm and thought before cutting or gluing. This is
mechanics, the motor and ESC etc. I chose the 413/3 3-blade-set 2300 mm L.H. certainly true with Vario models, mainly because
turbine option using a Jakadofsky PRO 5000 342/22 Turbine mechanics for Gazelle there are so many options and a single set of
with kero start; remember that you need to order 70/105 Pushrod 3.0 x 105 mm instructions cannot cover these options in a singe
the engine with the correct number of teeth on 342/53 Dome fittings set Gazelle document. Thus you have a manual that shows
the clutch bell for your chosen rotor head. 832/68 Swashplate for main shaft 12 mm you how to build the fuselage, another for the
To explain, Vario recommend a higher head 342/37 Fenestron tail drive system mechanics and more instructions to cover specific
speed for the 2-blade rotor head (2360 mm) than 92/76 90º angle gearbox Fenestron sub assemblies. Consequently you are likely to be
93/93 Fenestron Cine-Scale 13-blade presented with gaps in the build sequence and
26/8 Tank for kerosene 2.5 L areas where you will need to do things your own
342/2 Dummy turbine Gazelle way. In other words it isn’t straightforward!
342/62 Stator Gazelle The main document is the Gazelle Build Plan
342/16 Exhaust for Gazelle booklet and other documents are used as the
342/29 Cockpit Gazelle build progresses, so this is where I started.
31/34 Joystick set Gazelle First job is cutting out the windows and door
1/16 Pilot Gerald, 300 mm apertures in the body; but you soon need the
1/29 Pilot’s jacket mechanics so that’s where I started!
342/5 Door fittings set Gazelle These mechanics are used in many Vario
10/96 Rotary light 4.8 Volt fuselages and so have been well developed and
are proven. Many of the parts including the drive
As the saying goes, the deal was done, the train are also used in the ‘top’ mechanics where
order placed, a large amount of money changed the turbine is fitted at the top behind the main
Twin main gears, note the one way bearing hub, hands and boxes were on their way to me. shaft – ala Huey and Squirrel. Jakadofsky turbine
while the upper gear runs on a large bearing, engines are ‘single wheel’ gas turbine engines
also note a big spur gear and four guide whereby drive is taken direct from the shaft that
bearing blocks to retain the gear mesh One pinion
drives the two
main gears,
the lower gear
drives the
main shaft,
and the upper
gear transmits
power through
the second
pinion sharing
the load

3 mm side frames with This is the PRO 5000 engine; it runs at 98,000
substantial spacing blocks rpm, while the internal gears reduce the output
rpm to 19,300 rpm driving the 25T clutch bell

21
T-Rex DFC 600 nitro

carries the compressor at the front and power the more powerful Pro 5000 at 98,000 rpm, need careful positioning. The frames are from 3
turbine wheel at the rear. the internal gearbox, which is warranted for mm aluminium, they’re accurately cut, as are all
This turbine wheel is designed to extract as life, reduces the drive shaft to 18,200 rpm the parts, although a bit of adjusting was required
much energy as possible from the gas flow to and 19,300 rpm respectively. The engines are when fitting some of the frame spacing blocks.
produce shaft horsepower, and also reduce the completely controlled by the PRO ECU, which It’s best to fit your chosen swashplate servos
residual thrust from the exhaust, although this is governs the shaft rpm, and the Pro 500 engine before joining the sideframes… they should
still significant. Jakadofsky engines are unique I’m using produces 5.1 kW (6.84 HP). be mounted with the servo arm at the bottom,
in that they have an internal gearbox with the The mechanics themselves use a two-stage although one drawing shows them the other way
output shaft exiting at the front where it drives a gear reduction with the turbine clutch driving a up! Swashplate control is by four servo eCCPM,
Vario style clutch. large 120T spur gear that drives a 14T spiral cut I prefer to use ‘old school’ analogue servos for
The drive shaft speed depends on the engine, pinion driving the dual 63T main gears. One of this; so four Futaba S9206 servos were fitted.
i.e. the Pro Edition runs at 93,000 rpm and these gears drives the 12 mm main shaft through The Gazelle uses a 372 mm main shaft, which is
a large hub that includes an auto unit while the supported by three bearing blocks.
other main gear shares the drive load through a Care is needed when building the mechanics
second pinion gear at the rear that also provides making sure everything is square; with gear mesh
tail drive. and end float set correctly. The mechanics with
For this left rotation set-up the lower main gear servos and engine fitted weighs in at 4250 g (9
drives the main shaft, while for a right rotation, lb 6 oz).
the driving gear is on top. Four ball races are
used to keep the main gears in mesh and these Fuselage
Back to the first job… The fuselage is supplied
in two main front and rear sections, plus the top,
doors, scale parts, tailplanes and woodwork etc.
I always first wash the entire fuselage to remove
any release agent. The first task is cutting out
the windows and door apertures, which are
recessed and you need to leave a 5 mm lip – for
the windows I used trim tape cutting to this, while
the door apertures cut lines are moulded in. A
Dremel cutting wheel does the main work and I
use Perma-Grit fine files to finish off.
This is your first work on the fuselage and so
The exhaust is stainless steel and surprisingly it is a good time to look at how well it’s been
light. The lower fames are part of the fuselage kit made. It’s an excellent moulding from glass cloth
and epoxy with a gelcoat and very few, if any
imperfections, although the join line had a few
pinholes in it. I was pleased with the mouldings
and particually liked the extra carbon cloth where
the exhaust will be. With the windows and doors
cut out, the fuselage is quite flexible, so you need
to be a bit gentle with it….
The first job now is to glue in the plywood floor
ribs and the undercarriage tubes. Positioning is
clearly shown but I did make sure the floor ribs
Be aware that the fuselage join line is not were level and the floor lined up with the doors
Floor ribs and u/c supports installed; note the necessarily the centre of the fuselage!
carbon cloth where the exhaust hole will be cut sills, a little fettling was needed but not much. An
important point with any fuselage is that the ‘join’
line is not the centreline, so when centring things,
you need to measure!
The undercarriage tubes are sandwiched
between pairs of ribs with crosspiece ‘floors’
between. Once glued together with the tubes
securely glued in place, these need to be
carefully lined up with the u/c holes pre-cut in
the fuselage – you can use the u/c itself to help
with this. A tip when gluing anything to the epoxy
fuselage is to first roughen the surface to remove
the waxy residue. I always tack the parts in place
with Cyano and micro balloons. Once I’m sure
everything is the right place I use a Loctite 2-part
Formers are glued into the body to both Hysol epoxy (9466 or 9462) applied with the
This shows the areas for cutting – I used 5 mm strengthen the fuselage and also support glue gun and applicator. The glue can then be
trim tape as a cut line for the windows components pressed into a fillet and left to set overnight.

22
T-Rex DFC 600 nitro

This shows how the piece of tail boom lines up The holes are to give access to glue the
with the tail formers and boom section in place – not easy!
The manual suggests covering up the holes – I
left them open just in case!

Tail section with formers fitted, the black


sections are the ballrace supports for the tail
drive tube

The basic mechanics do not include the lower Tail speed up gearbox – the ‘boom support’
frames – these differ between models and are slides into the boom section that’s glued into
supplied with the fuselage, you will find that the the fuselage, the speed up ratio is 1:2.353
lower spacer screws are in slots, which allows
some fore/aft positioning. The Gazelle mechanics
are secured using long M4 screws that run You might recognise the red internal gear
through the lower spaces and then through the assembly from the original SkyFox mechanics,
undercarriage tubes and the u/c itself (the u/c is the output uses the original cruciform drive
supplied in left/ right halves sliding through the
fuselage holes and into the tubes). This means
the mechanics must be carefully positioned
so the holes are drilled in the right place. A
measurement is provided to position the fore/aft
location of the main shaft.
We now turn to the top cover that needs holes
cutting it before adding ply plates with M3 back
nuts to hold fix it in place. A top plate locks the
top of the fuselage to the mechanics, which uses
a ply plate glued to the fuselage – only fix this
when certain that the mechanics are correctly
positioned! The manual also shows the fuel tank
frame being fitted now, but I left this until later – it Fenestron, note the reinforced bellcrank, the Inside you can just see formers supporting
is shown on the right side ahead of the exhaust, pitch range is adjusted by maxing the throw the tube, the top plate is for the mechanics
however with the kero start option, there isn’t and then securing the 2 mm pitch wire in the stay bracket, note the pencil lines used to help
brass actuator alignment
room so I later fitted it to the left side.
of the tail giving limited access to glue the
The Tail… formers in place within the moulding; the tail pitch
The tail section is almost ready to glue to the rod goes through holes in these formers too, so
main body, however a couple of formers need alignment is needed here as well.
gluing in. The only thing that runs within the In addition the tube tail drive needs to be aligned
main tail section is the tail pitch pushrod – it along its length – it’s supported by ballraces in
runs through holes in the formers, so make sure holders glued to the formers previously glued into
they are lined up! The tail drive tube is in the the tail. The tail drive uses a speed up gearbox
scale position running along the top of the tail, mounted at the front behind the mechanics, this
before going through a raised section where a is mounted into a second short piece of tail boom
short piece of tail boom is installed inside, which that again is held by formers, and the gearbox
carries the tail gearbox. This is the trickiest part slides into the boom retained with a M3 screw.
of the build… I didn’t yet have this speed up gearbox, but the
The tail gearbox fits to the short piece of position of the tail boom section is directly above
tailboom and two tail tube drive support the the boom section and a hole is cut to help locate The pitch pins run in the central grooved disc
drive tube in it. The piece of boom fits inside the it. Thus the tail drive tube is centred on this hole that slides in and out to change the pitch
bulge on top, which then goes through into the and can be easily measured on the tail section. I
Fenestron tunnel. The gearbox is positioned by said it was tricky! sections, I aligned them and drew pencil lines at
fitting a plywood disc to the gearbox, which fits It was now time to join the main fuselage the join to help check alignment when the glue
snugly into the tunnel. sections, a bit of sanding was needed, mostly was being used. After roughening the surfaces,
The tricky bit is that the tail boom is held in because a ribbon of glass cloth runs along the I used 30 minute epoxy and once happy with
place with a pair of plywood formers in the bulge moulding seams and this makes it a tight fit, so the alignment I stood the model on its nose so
and a reinforcing ply ring where is goes through I carefully sanded them flush and the join was the tail would not droop while the glued set – it
to the tunnel. Two holes are cut in the underside good. You really only get one go at joining the worked!

23
T-Rex DFC 600 nitro

I made the tailplanes removable


to get the model into the car

Rear door
fixed top
and bottom,
passenger
door using
the central
handle

Mechanics position checked showing the top Back from Denis and looking fantastic – it’s too Turbine battery at the front, flight packs and
plywood former needs adjusting big for the office now! ECU not at the very front, but I didn’t want to
use extension leads; all are under the floor

Mechanics in place Ply plate with pump underneath, everything needed is by the rear door

The HeliCommand 3X-Treme mounted on the mechanics with the You can see the exhaust in this photo
Spektrum Rx on the sideframe

24
Great cockpit detail, Vario with added 3D Nice Vario seats with pilot Gerald It’s a shame to hide it away in the model!
printed detail

The finished Fenestron with the optional stator

By this time I had the tail speed-up gearbox,


it’s a heavy duty item using several existing
Vario components such as a one-way bearing
(auto unit) and the original Vario gear reduction
unit with its internal gear, but used in reverse to
increase the speed (40:17).
The reason a one-way bearing is included is to
protect the drive train against any sudden change
in torque caused by the Fenestron. The tail pitch And then it was ready
servo fits to this gearbox, it is important to use
a very powerful servo, initially I used a Futaba areas, but is not nearly as long as the Gazelle mine was the cockpit and once again Nigel
S9206 with very short arm, which has been very so the tail would be between the front seats. Cartwright came to the rescue! I had made sure
good on other large models, however I later I’m glad I checked because I needed to make the supplied floor panels fitted, so I met up with
changed it for a Futaba BLS352 and longer arm the tailplanes removable for it to fit! I glued two him and like magic, a while later a superb fully
(13 mm). Positioning the tail speed up gearbox carbon tubes into the tail and corresponding fitted cockpit arrived! Nigel had used the basic
is a bit tricky as access is limited and I found the tubes in the tail planes – a pair of 4 mm magnets Vario components and added to them using 3D
supplied wood formers needed trimming. was added to make them stay in place in flight! printed detail – fantastic!
Separate instructions are supplied for the The doors then need fitting using the Vario With the fuselage returned and looking superb,
13-blade Fenestron that fits to the usual Vario accessory pack, the right door fitted better than I set about finishing… which took quite a
metal tail gearbox fitted with a short and hollow the left, but some gentle heat will help reshape while… I decided to use a Spektrum AR9100X
output shaft. When building the tail gearbox, it them if needed. The rear load bay doors were PowerSafe receiver, powered by two Spektrum
has to rotate counter clockwise as viewed from secured top and bottom while I used the central 5-cell 2700 mAh NiMH running through two
the left. This is because the Fenestron blade handle for the front. The windows need cutting Spektrum regulators. The Jakadofsky turbine
holders are offset giving considerable pitch in one out from huge vac formings, cut lines are shown, comes with its own operating equipment
direction and very little in the other, also the tail they are reasonably accurate but not exact – I including a large 3-cell Lithium battery pack,
blades have a flat bottomed section, so in effect, later wished I’d paid more attention to this… ECU, fuel pump, fuel valves and connectors etc.
all the thrust is to counter torque, i.e. nose left I elected to glue them in rather than use the One thing I had done was to keep a very close
and turning nose right is left to the torque. shown screws. check on the weight of the model – ideally it
Fenestron tail rotors are not very efficient in The mechanics were reinstalled and the final needed to be less than 20 kg ready to fly, without
models, so this makes sense, but it does put a positioned done with the top-securing bracket fuel. Over 20 kg and I would need an exemption
high load on the servos and linkage. Vario supply fitted. The exhaust hole was cut out, along with certificate… Thus I fitted the battery packs as
a metal extension to the pitch bellcrank that also a vent in the base of the fuselage. The dummy far forward as I could, but I wanted to keep the
strengthens it. I know some users modify this turbine and exhaust were trimmed to fit. ‘wet’ components close to the fuel tank and
linkage. The whole tail needs careful assembly; I had gone as far as possible before painting… so a ply plate was made. I fitted the fuel pump
make sure all the bearings are in place! The chosen design is of a machine that was underneath, with the fuel filter vertically through
I was disappointed that the tail blade grips use operated by a Hungarian operator, Hidroplan it. The fuel valves are adjacent, keeping the
two open bearings to support them; so keeping Nordand, who advised me that HA-LFP had fuel lines short, and a Festo bulkhead fitting for
them lubricated will be a challenge. I tried grease since been repainted. I contacted them and they fuelling was used. I also fitted the switches on the
but this ended up coating the Fenestron tunnel, kindly gave me permission to copy their scheme. plate and the regulators are on the sideframe.
next I used some motorcycle chain lube, which The advertised ‘EWOS’ ‘European Workshop on The model needed almost a kilogram of nose
seems to stick better! I found the tail blades were Open Systems’ organisation closed in 1997. weight, which I secured in the very nose under
not well matched and some replacements were Everything was stripped out and I met with the floor. This brought the whole model, including
needed, that needed trimming… Denis Stretton who had offered to organise the the three, large 433 g rotor blades to 18,099
painting and what a fine job he did! Meanwhile g without fuel – great, no exemption certificate
The Rest I went about setting up of the mechanics and required and I happily informed the LMA (Large
The manual next shows the tailplanes being 3-blade rotor head, using a HC3 Xtreme (now Model Association) of this as I’d previously
glued in place, now I have a Mondeo estate, Bavarian Demon 3X) SAS. informed them that one might be needed! And
which has one of the longest and flattest load The other item that needed better skills than then it was ready…

25
Flying
First flights are always a challenge, and the First tentative hover, it looks fanatic,
bigger the model and investment, the more it although the tail needed work
always seems to be. Also with a rather drawn
out project, which these big models are, it’s more
than possible to forget finer detail and thus I
always like to get a second set of eyes to check
the model over. I’m glad I did because between
fitting the SAS and first flight, I’d installed a
firmware upgrade to the HeliCommand, i.e. the
new Bavarian Demon system… what I hadn’t
noticed was that orientation of the SAS was
incorrectly set, but Denis did and it was soon
corrected – phew!
Range checks were done and then it was time
to start the turbine. This was my first experience
with the kero start; it took a bit longer for the
engine to start before settling to a very consistent
idle. A last check of the controls and I engaged
Idle Up that gives 100% throttle, again the engine
seemed to take a little longer to reach flying rpm,
but once there I added collective and the model
lifted off into a controllable hover, although the tail
did not feel locked at all.
I landed and increased the rotor head gyro
gain from the Tx and also increased the tail gyro
gain. Second lift felt better but the tail was gently
pulsing from side to side, which was somewhat
unsettling. I gradually increased the gains until it
was as good as it was going to be using the Tx
adjustments.
For the next outing I had changed the gyro gain
control because the JR gyro function only gave
about 80% gain in the SAS… This improved
matters and I found that as the tail control
improved, the rotor head became more stable
too, so I started to move it around a bit. I have
to say it looked superb and the tail clearly had
plenty of power, so its lack of hold was due to
a servo/gyro or mechanical issue. It was quite
windy this day and as I hovered it side on to Later on I got some air under the
the wind I head a scraping noise and the tail let skids – no trouble seeing this one!
go, I caught it but soon landed! I found that the
tail gearbox had shifted slightly in its housing
allowing the Fenestron blades to touch the
tunnel!
In the garage I found the gearbox would not
seat fully into the housing possibly because the
tail drive shaft was slightly too long. I made some
adjustments, checked everything and next flights
were more successful. It was then time for the
Southwest Heli Fest where I had a brief flight with
it, but again the tail wasn’t as it should be so I
didn’t do much with it.
One thing I’ve found with any model and
particually with big scale models is that you need
to be confident with it, and I wasn’t! I decided to
replace the S9206 servo with a BLS132, which
is certainly powerful and obviously much quicker
and accurate. I had fitted a very short arm Was it worth it, of course
it was! Or soon will be…
thinking to maximise the power, but experience
of the tail suggested this was too short, so I fitted Spec
a longer arm, which hopefully will increase the
gyro, and hence tail performance. Time will tell… PRODUCT Gazelle SA 341/342
I’ll get it flying as it should  MHW MARKETPLACE Serious scale model builder
MANUFACTURER VARIO HelicopterGmbH & Co. KG
Seewiesenstr. 7, Grafendorf, D-97782 Germany
We Used UK IMPORTER Vario Helicopter UK Sales
JR 12 DSX transmitter, HeliCommand 6 Astbury Close, Lowton St Marys, Cheshire WA3 1ED
HC3-Xtreme (Bavarian Demon) gyro system, Tel: 01924 273888 www.vario-helicopter.co.uk
Spektrum AR9100X PowerSafe Rx, 2 MAIN ROTOR DIAMETER 2320 mm
Spektrum VR6007 Voltage Regulators with OVERALL LENGTH 2400 mm
2 5-cell 2700 NiMH Rx packs, Futaba ALL UP WEIGHT (Take-off without fuel) 18,099 g (39 lb 4 oz)
S9206 eCCPM servos, Futaba BLS342 tail CONTROL REQUIREMENTS 7 servo heli radio (4 servo eCCPM) and gyro
servo, Jakadofsky Pro 5000 Turbine POWER REQUIREMENT Jakadofsky Pro Turbine

26

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