Schluter Bell Huey Cobra: just bought one

[redbird300]

Someone in my neighborhood sells this heli for 350 euros, which is the normal selling price around here. He will show it to me tomorrow night. It looks to be in decent condition, just a bit dusty, and is very complete, even with the old motor (not flown in 20 years…), some spare parts and blades, the 2 boxes and the plans.

I know where to get some parts to restore it in perfect condition (like for example helioldie.de), and I’m very tempted to buy it. I simply love vintage helis, and this one is one of the very first RC helis. Sure, this is not one of the first 50 original handmade Schluter helis of course, but the mass production batch by Schuco-Hegi dating from 1973 to 76. Even then, it would make a nice show model, I think.









What do you think, worth the money or not ? I wouldn't mind spending a lot of time and effort next winter to make it look brand new again.

[redbird300]

I just bought the heli, this will make a nice winterproject, but needs some work. CU later.

[xeon1000]

It has an expert head on it. I would definitely buy it.

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by xeon1000

It has an expert head on it. I would definitely buy it.

Indeed, good observation !
And the nice thing is that the original head is also in the box, in good condition.

BTW, if user Ah Clem would read this: I tried to thank you yesterday for answering my PM, but your inbox was full. I will keep you informed about this project, I hope to start it next winter.

[redbird300]

It was raining a lot down here, so I started cleaning, grinding, polishing, greasing, replacing rusty nuts and bolts, etcetera... Everything was covered with a brownish, very old mixture of dust, fuel and some sort of varnish, it took me a lot of time.

These are the first pieces that are done: the skids, the original fixed pitch head, and the 750 mm asymmetric wooden main blades:

[redbird300]

And the swashplate:




The exhaust is very dirty, filthy nitros, lol...




A few minutes later ... only a part of it cleaned on this pic, the first layer is removed using a cupper brush on a dremel, not polished yet:

[redbird300]

And I took out the heart of the beast: a single plate with motor, clutch, gearbox and mainshaft (the gearbox is supposed to be filled with oil, but it's dry as Sahara sand). Cleaning this thoroughy will keep me busy for some time.

[Ah Clem]

I went and retrieved mine yesterday (I purchased it at a Hobby Shop on Monday, but could not fit it in my car, due to my car being filled with helicopters and support equipment from the Fun Fly). I had to drive 90 miles to get it.

I will try to post photographs later.

The head looks more like a larger Helibaby head (triangular side plates instead of the round, Delrin parts on the head. I looked at the transmission again (looking in from the bottom of the helicopter) and it does look like the case is metal. It has three rack type (linear servos) installed in the front, a Futaba receiver in a metal case, and an on board flight pack that appears to be a stack of button cells (have not seen those in decades). I have not identified the engine, but it is a rear intake, side exhaust model (I am hoping it is an OS Gold Head, as those ran well).

The tail blade grips are the same as the HeliBaby and are damaged, so I will need to find a new set or something that works.

I am not sure when I will be able to take this one apart. I really should do the Cricket first, now that I have an engine for that.

[tutelarRC]

Looking forward to an update and more pictures!

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by tutelarRC

Looking forward to an update and more pictures!

I will, promised, but it might take some time, I've been rather busy lately trying to beat a world record for example, lol:
https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=441132

[Ah Clem]

You did use the Cobra to set the record, right?

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by Ah Clem

You did use the Cobra to set the record, right?

Lol, no, I didn't, as it's not finished yet.

[redbird300]

The exhaust, "before" and "after", but you guessed that already.

[Ah Clem]

That looks better than it must have when new!

OUTSTANDING!

[redbird300]

Thanks. No special techniques, mostly grinding and polishing. It takes a lot of patience though.

Doing some bits and pieces every now and then, there's no hurry.
Here are the original tailblades and the main shaft (it's almost 35 cm long), all cleaned and using new bolts and nuts where necessary:

[redbird300]

There's no real plan for this project, I simply throw all the finished parts in a box for now, here's the actual situation:

[redbird300]

BTW, I took some more pics when I bought the heli about a month ago, but forgot to post them at that thime, here they are:







And there's also a plastic bag full of spare parts, like blades, and some parts of the original training gear with the wheels.

[sarpilot]

Great looking restoration so far

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

[Inverse]

I would LOVE a heli like this to work on, it's outstanding!

[Ah Clem]

redbird300,

Makes me want to ship mine to you for restoration!

Great job sir!