Let’s Go Scale: Pics, Tips, Video, and My Story of Building up a Bell 222

Read of my experience in building a 50-sized Bell 222 Scale helicopter, with tons of pics and a video at the end!

RC Helis have always intrigued me. When I was finally able to buy one and fly it, I was instantly hooked for life. After being in the hobby for about 5 years or so I got the itch to try out a facet in the hobby that had previously seemed too “difficult”: Building a scale bird. I am fascinated by scale helicopters. I love the detail that pilots put into building them, and the precision flying that a seasoned scale pilot demonstrates. When I finally decided to try one out for myself in 2008, I had no idea what I was in for!! I am going to discuss a few of the steps and tips along the way, and luckily I snapped a few pics during the process. (Look at the bottom af the article for photos)

Tip 1: Deciding what to build. This may seem like an easy one, but once you start looking at what scale choices there are – you quickly realize that there is a great variety to choose from. For me the first choice was always a Bell 222. As a kid I watched Airwolf and fell in love with the smooth lines and aggressive look the 222 has. But, having seen so many Airwolf models over the years I decided to go with a real-to-life 222 instead, just to be different

Tip 2: Once you have decided what you are going to build and you buy the equipment, the first step is to take the regular model that will go inside the scale fuselage and build it up and fly it first. In my case I used a Hirobo Sceadu Evo 50. I built the pod and boom model and flew it for a few weeks, getting everything perfect, before I began the scale build. This way any bugs are taken care of before everything is crammed in the fuselage.

Tip 3: Take your time with the build. Though I chose a pre-painted model (which cut the build time down dramatically) you should still plan on putting a good amount of time into your scale build. I decided I wanted working retracts in my Bell 222 and I must admit that setting them up took more time than the rest of the build combined. But the reward of seeing smooth retracting gear during a flight is worth it!

Tip 4: When you need to “Dremel” or cut something from the fuselage, do it slow and make many test fittings along the way. Take your time whenever you remove material from the fuse, as its much easier to cut a little more than to add material back

Tip 5: Test fit the mechanics as many times as needed to feel comfortable. As you are working with the fuse, feel free to put the mechanics inside often, it really helps to see exactly where you will need to add spacers, stiffeners, make cuts, etc.

Tip 6: Get used to making your own jigs and “creative” methods of problem solving. I had to make a number of clamp devices during my build. Ranging from simply using tape and clothes-pins to hold windows in while they dried, up to making a “Velcro/rubberband” clamp to hold the horizontal fin in the right place as it dried. I must admit, I enjoyed thinking of different ways to make things work!!

Tip 7: Triple check everything and take it easy the first few flights. Though a scale bird is little more than a regular heli pushed into a new “skin”, the combo of the two introduces new areas of concern and failure points. You now have resonant frequency areas to look at, more weight, inability to see your fuel tank (if going nitro), etc. As you do your test hops, look for vibration anywhere on the fuse. If you see it, find out the source and fix it. Often the fix is simply reinforcing the connection points between the fuselage and airframe or adding braces to remove flex. If you are using a fuel based engine, do not forget to set a timer on your radio as the fuel tank will be hidden out of sight

Tip 8: Have fun!! I cannot describe the feeling of those first flights on a scale bird after you have put the hours into getting it ready. Its a pure joy to fly a scale bird and it really helps you work on your precision flying skills that are often forgotten in our “mad 3D” world. If you have any interest in flying a scale bird, go for it!!

As promised, here are pics from the process, as well as a video which has my scale 222 in a local news spot about our FunFly (the 222 shows up near the 1:30 mark in the vid)