Jon's EHelis Piccornet OH-58A Kiowa

Jon's EHeli Pages
Last Updated Saturday, January 15, 2005 22:27

Sorry about the quality of the Airframe (Again!).

OK, so I'm always in a hurry to get things finished! It seems that everything I build is "proof of concept" and then the actual concept never gets built :).

This is anothe one of my infamous 'rush jobs', It was built in less than 10 hours from bare materials to finshed product (and it shows!).

However I *do* intend to redo this one *properly* in the near future. Really, I promise :).

---------------------------

Click on the pictures to see them in full size.

--------------------------

Flying inside the hall.

Night take-off in the carpark at the hall.

Night flying in the hall carpark.

My Favourite piece of nose art :)

Side-on...

If you squint *really* hard, this one could *almost* look real :)

Another close up of the business end of the OH-58A

---------------------------

Photography Credits:

Many thanks to my good friends (and flying buddies) Andrew Harrison and Rob Ramsey for taking the time to take and prepare these photos for me.

--------------------------------

The Piccornet OH-58A
Kiowa:

The Original

My favourite pic :)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The Concept:

I had aquaired a part built JMD JetRanger body from a flying buddy and I wanted to build something semi-scale, but didn't want 'just another Bell JetRanger'. Luckily, I recalled that there is military version of the Bell JetRanger, and that the early models carried limited armament.

As I am also building a Piccolo-based OH-13 Souix, I wanted to run with something from the Vietnam era, as it would make it fesible for both aircraft to have served on active duty. So the search went out for an OH-58A Kiowa with M27 Armament system.

I finally manged to find a single pic of the 'right' bird (see above) and based my project on that. As to whether or not 16695 actually served in Vietnam? I don't honestly know.

What I have tried to do is capture the 'essence' of a Vietnam era OH-58A Kiowa armed scout. Did the bird really serve in the 1/9th? I doubt it, but I'm happy with the results and that's the main thing.

The 1/9 "Death Before Dishonor" noseart obviously doesn't 'belong' to this aircraft. The noseart was inspired by actual noseart that once adorrned a slick* of the 1st Squadron, 9th Regiment Air Cav. I adapted the design to fit the Kiowa Nose, and I think it gives the heli a distinctive look.

There is a fortunate co-incidence in choosing that particualar piece of nose art. I have since found a picture of an OH-13 Sioux bearing the very same 1/9 Crossed Sabre art on it's bubble cockpit. So when I finally finish the Sioux, it will be marked to belong to the same unit as my 'hypothetical' 1/9 Kiowa.

* Slick - Bell UH-1 "Huey" - better known to contemporary New Zealanders by it's official name - "Iraquois"

By the way, when you compare the model to the original, you will notice a strange disproportion in the fuselage. This is because the OH-58A is based on the Bell Jet Ranger airframe. The JMD body moulding however appears to be based the Bell Long Ranger, a much larger aircraft with a longer passenger/cargo compartment.

I did say "semi-scale" and "capture the essence" remember :)

Model Specifications:

240g Unladen 310g AUW
500mm LOA (670mm LOA inc. Rotor Disks)
500mm Rotor Dia.
3-cell ETech 1200 Hi Discharge Li-Poly power pack
8/96t Main Motor Gear Ratio
2200 RPM Main Rotor Headspeed
~20 Mins Flying Time per charge

Construction:

Modified Ikarus ECO Piccolo Main Frame
Modified Retrofit Landing Gear
Modified JMD JetRanger Fuselage
MS Hornet CCPM CP Assembly
Alu CP Connecting Rods
Alu Stabiliser Anti-rotation Arm
"Long-Arm" 120 Degree Alu Swashplate with ARS
Custom S/S mainshaft by Walt
2.5mm Low Profile dual setscrew mainshaft collar
96t Maingear with integrated one-way bearing
8t Hard Chrome Brass Pinion
H/P Symetrical CP Blades by Walt
Std. Ikarus ECO Piccolo Tail G/Box and Tail Rotor

Motors and Electronics:

Modified Ikarus Piccoboard Plus with H/H Module
(only used for Gyro & Mixing functions)
3 x GWS Pico Servos
Lightened Berg 5 DSP 5-channel 72Mhz Rx
Hacker B20-31S Brushless Motor
Phoenix 10 Brushless ESC
Std. Piccolo Tail Motor
Schulze Slim-105He Tail ESC
Polarised Micro Deans Connectors used throughout
Futaba 8UHPS Tx
3-cell ETech 1200mAh Li-Poly battery packs
Orbit Microlader 6 Charger

Click on the pictures to see them in full size.

------------------------

Here's a Picture of the actual C Troop/ 1st Squardron/ 9th Cavalry slick that inspired the nose art on my OH-58A

And here's a pic of a loach (OH-6A) from the same unit also displaying the distinctive 1/9 "Crossed Sabres" noseart. My next project maybe?

Both images above are courtesy of Bill Brooks, and John Conway of www.vhpamuseum.org.

Thanks guys!

---------------------------------------------

I like this shot - not so close that all the bodgie bits are really noticable :)

Close up showing the upper cable cutter, mini-gun, reg number, and my awful attempt at doing doors!

Another one of my favourites - once agian it's hard to see the rough bits :)

Close up showing lower cable cutter and radio antenna.

------------------------------------

Links/Credits:

While researching this project I found many useful and interesting websites to help me along my way. There are two in particular I strongly recommend you look at.

www.vhpamuseum.org

This site is the on-line Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association museum. It is full of imagery, and memorabilia, and is a facinating tribute to the men and machines that fought the Vietnam War.

http://tri.army.mil

This link will take you to a great site with extensive history and details of US Army Helicopters from the earliest days through to the present. Extensive text, pictures and drawings of both Helis and waepon systems are provided.

--------------------------------