Century Bell 47 scale build

That is really cool DD. I had a couple of those 47's that I picked up at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. I was going to try and make a display to take to career days. (I ran the Navy exhibit center for L A). Then I retired and turned them over to El Toro Marine base For their air museum. Anyway they are the definitive helo! Decals are not very hard to make. The hardest part is getting your art work the right size. Then you just print them off on your ink jet printer. Testors model paint co. sells the film for about $9 bucks for 6 sheets and you need a couple of liquid products to fix and apply them. (you might remember the decals on my Bee). I wonder if you could modify a main frame from an E-Smart for the '47? Just a thought.

Hey Chief!!!! How you doin!!!!! Long time hearing from you!!!! I'm ready to build up that 480 whenever your ready!! No more problem with gettin the main shafts, I now can make them!!!! It was a peice of cake too!!! I'm gonna make some "E" mains next and see how thats turns out!!!! Set up the uni-mat and just turned down a 1/4 in. rod, the thing is smoother that the stock ones!!!! So the screamer is in the air once again.. So when your ready for the CP you just let me know!!!!

chiefqm wrote:

That is really cool DD. I had a couple of those 47's that I picked up at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. I was going to try and make a display to take to career days. (I ran the Navy exhibit center for L A). Then I retired and turned them over to El Toro Marine base For their air museum. Anyway they are the definitive helo! Decals are not very hard to make. The hardest part is getting your art work the right size. Then you just print them off on your ink jet printer. Testors model paint co. sells the film for about $9 bucks for 6 sheets and you need a couple of liquid products to fix and apply them. (you might remember the decals on my Bee). I wonder if you could modify a main frame from an E-Smart for the '47? Just a thought.

Yeah Chief, first thing I thought of when I started thinking about decals for my Bell 47 build was that great job you did on that canopy. I started to ask if you would make the decals for me, but I found some decal copy paper at Micro Mark and I think I'll be able to do it myself. Might need some advice from you when I get ready to do them though. I'm gonna build the kit and get it ready to fly, then I'll do most of the scale detailing.

As far as converting to E-Smart to a 47, the Century kit I'm using is a 50 size heli, just a bit bigger than the E. About the same size as a TRex 600. But I don't think that would be a problem, but the Century kit uses a shaft drive for the tail rotor. Not sure what changing from a belt drive to a shaft drive would involve.

By the way, great to hear from you again. Sure hope you can make it to the Funfly next year. Maybe I'll have the Bell ready by then.

Donnie D

Oh yeah, I'm gonna try to post some more pics tomorrow.

Yeah, after I wrote that, it occurred to me that it might be a shaft drive. Maybe a combination of the two chassis would be the answer. It appears in the photos that you have to remove some excess drive items, like the centrifugal clutch and starter mechanism. and possibly replace the main gear with one suitable for the electric motor. Unless you luck out and can do the compensation with the pinion gear. I would look at both the possibility of converting the tail to belt drive and trying to keep the shaft and see which is more trouble. You might only be able to tell that it's belt by looking at the very end of the tail if you do it right.
If you want some help with the decals just let me know.

I think I'll be able to just substitute the cas motor for an electric one. My main concern is the mount, but I'll get to it.

This is the one I'm going by mechanics wise. Mine will look quite a bit differant though. I'm not doing the Mash version.
http://runryder.com/helicopter/t136562p1/?highlight=bell+47g






Donnie D

Assembled and mounted canopy:
No scale detail work has been done yet. Basicly you can just follow the manuel. Whenever there is an exception to this, I'll explain.
With the canopy bubble the manuel says to bend the edges of the bubble with wide pliers inward where the bubble fits around the door frame. Just be carefull and bend just slightly and keep trying the fit and continue bending more until you get a snap in fit.
Also the manuel says to use heavy shears to cut the door hinges and other small parts from the plastic sheets they were formed on. I used a dremel tool with a cut off disc as it puts less pressure on the parts. I then used a fine grit sanding drum on my dremel set a low speed to sand/file away the excess plastic from the parts.

By D148521 at 2009-09-07

By D148521 at 2009-09-07

Fuel Tanks:
Just follow the manuel.

By d148521 at 2009-09-07

Skids:
Just follow the manuel.

By d148521 at 2009-09-07

By d148521 at 2009-09-07

Tail Truss, Drive Shaft Housing and Guides:
Follow the manuel, but the fit of the drive shaft housing thru the guides is very tight, which is good once you get it installed. Just be careful and take your time with this as you could easily damage the housing if you use too much force.

By d148521 at 2009-09-07

By d148521 at 2009-09-07
By D148521 at 2009-09-07

Bell 47 so far:
Tail rotor assembly and tail drive shaft,tail wire skid,horizontal and vertical fins,tail beacon. Beacon was supposed to be installed at same time as tail shaft housing, but I'm gonna install a ramping beacon light in it , so it will be installed later.
More Later.

By d148521 at 2009-09-07

Donnie D

That thing is lookin very COOL my friend!!! You are doin a great job!!!

Great job DD And nice photos Can't wait to see how it flies

Earlier this week I ordered a set of navigation lights from Ready Heli, a ramping tail beacon from Micro Mark, and my servos, gyro and Spektrum AR6200 receiver from Heli Direct. All of it should be here by the first of the week.

Donnie D

A bit more progress:

By d148521 at 2009-09-19

By d148521 at 2009-09-19

By d148521 at 2009-09-19

By d148521 at 2009-09-19

By d148521 at 2009-09-19

By d148521 at 2009-09-19
Servo mounting and nav lights are next.
Donnie D

Nice pics! The tail looks heavy......Any concern about getting your CG setup?

No, I think it will be fine. Most of the electronics and the motor (which I think is gonna be about the size of a can of soup) will mount in front of the main shaft. I'm not sure where the battery/batterys are gonna go yet. I'll get everything else mounted first and then see what my options are. Ain't it purty though?

Donnie D

Yes it is! That will be a great day when you lift off for the first time and
fly it around the feild for everyone to see..........................

So it sounds like the motor will be large and have some weight to it?
I asked because from looking at the pictures I cant tell how far up you
can put batteries without ruining the scale look of the cockpit. If the tail
is heavy it would be tricky, but I see most of the tail weight looks to be
towards the main shaft anyway.........

Great build...........

Right now my plan is to get the heli built and flying and do the scale detailing on the fusalage, and after that I'm gonna see what I can do about the cockpit. The 47G had a bench seat, and I'm thinking about the possability of stowing the batt where the seat would go. even if it means using two 3s batts in two differant locations instead of one 6s batt. The heli is just a bit larger than the E-Smart. 53" main rotor and 9 1/2" tail rotor. About the same size as a TRex 600 I think. I'll be able to tell more about on the cockpit I get the other stuff done. I was just kidding about the motor, although it is gonna be pretty good sized. Fatdaddy, thankfully is helping me with that part. Good thing. I'm lost when it comes to that, and FD is pretty sharp on it.

Donnie D

Hey DD, can you figure out what that frame is from. Looks like it was designed for a tail boom.

You are right,Chief. It is the Century 50 size mechanics with the Bell 47 fuse. You get 2 manuels, one for the mechanics and one for the scale fuse. The mechanics in my kit are the same that you would use for one of their 50 size pod and boom helis with the extra stuff you need to build the Bell 47. Also would work the same if you ordered a Hughes 300, Bell 222 or what ever scale heli of theirs you choose to build. It is a pretty nice kit. Fatdaddy is workin on helping me find the correct size electric motor for it and how to adapt my clutch and fan assembly to it and get it all mounted up.

Here is the link to their scale kits.
http://www.centuryheli.com/products/helikits/scale.htm?currentid=96

Donnie D

Servo mounting:

By d148521 at 2009-09-26

By d148521 at 2009-09-26

Tail Beacon and Navigation Lights

By d148521 at 2009-09-26

By d148521 at 2009-09-26

By d148521 at 2009-09-26

By d148521 at 2009-09-26
More later
Thanks for looking
Donnie D

COOL, COOL, COOL, FANTASTIC!!!!!
Those navigations lights are really looks cool, and fits nice on your bell

Man that thing is just AWESOME, so cool You must be proud of what you have done. Are you keeping track of your hours? I bet your enjoying every minute of it. I love the shaft drive tail. Not everybody can do that kind of work, it's all about the detail and your doing GREAT! That helicopter is going to kick butt.

Thanks guys, for the compliments. I am enjoying the build as it is my first scale heli, and only my second build at all. Well, my third if you count a Kalt Baron I built about 25 years ago. So long ago I don't remember much about it. I never learned to fly it and only got back into RC again last November, and thanks to Nutcaze I can actually fly these things a bit. Can't wait to get this thing into the air. If it weren't for Fatdaddy's help I don't know what I'd do. He is helping me with the motor selection and the conversion from glow to electric process. I'm pretty clueless about that part. He's built so many heli's I guess this stuff is just second nature to him.

Anyway she will fly before too long. I really like scale, and I hope this thread will spark some interest in some of the other members and we will have a good scale heli forum here at My RC Guides. That would be neat.

Donnie D

Thanks for setting up the scale forum Marc.

Donnie D

DonnieD, The lights are really cool, This build is sparking me to get started on my Hirobo Just trying to find a good scale fuse that will not
cost me big bucks. Iam going to stay with nitro on mine

sdjb

sdjb wrote:

DonnieD, The lights are really cool, This build is sparking me to get started on my Hirobo Just trying to find a good scale fuse that will not
cost me big bucks. Iam going to stay with nitro on mine

sdjb

Sounds interesting. What size heli is would that be?

Donnie D

Its a 50 size DonnieD

sdjb

That is the same size as my Century Bell 47. About the same size as a TRex 600. Uses 600mm main blades for a main rotor diameter of about 53" and a tail rotor diameter of about 9 1/2". Fuselage length about 50".

That about right?

Donnie D

Well, thanks to Fatdaddys help with selection, I ordered my motor, ESC and BEC tonight.

Motor: Scorpion 4035 series 630

ESC: Hobbywing 80 A, Hi Voltage Pentium

Also did a little scale work, a few rivets, and fuel tank caps. I hope to get the servos centered, rest of linkages and servo horns made and installed, program ESC and transmitter and get all the electronics in, more scale work like decals, some painting and dirtying it up a bit in the next couple of weeks.

After that I'll get some more pics posted.

Boy this scale stuff is fun.

Donnie D

Scorpion 4035 series 630 motor

By d148521 at 2009-10-08
Shown with HBFP for scale

By d148521 at 2009-10-08
Hobbywing 80A Hi Voltage Pentium ESC

By d148521 at 2009-10-08

By d148521 at 2009-10-08
BEC and Servos

By d148521 at 2009-10-08
Telebee Gyro (new version) and Spektrum AR6200 Rec

By d148521 at 2009-10-08
Sorry about the pictures. I changed the image size on my camera, and I like it better the other way.
More later.

Thanks for looking
Donnie D

man thats a sweet heli dude, im thinkin bout getting a scale heli with my taxes this yr

Sounds good. Join the fun.

Donnie D

ive seen a couple scales at the fun flys i went to this yr the one was sick it was a big lama with duel fuel tanks on it.unfortunatly the owener crashed it the day i was there