Day: February 9, 2023

Brian “Chappy” V.’s Turbine Helicopters

In a search for Emcotec’s DPSI Ampere and magnetic switches, (since battery redundancy was a must for these helicopters) I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to chat with “Chappy” of Chappy’s Hobbies, and he was kind enough to share with us this photo of his beautiful Helicopters, including two giant turbine helicopters. According to Chappy, “These… are the only turbine helicopters in state of Iowa,” which is quite a neat fact to know – let alone be the one to have them!

The large blue helicopter on top is a Vario EC120, modeled after the Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) EC120 Colibri. The EC120 is a multi-purpose helicopter that runs a single engine and can seat up to five.¹ The EC120 by Vario Helicopters is a 1:4 scale model designed to run either electric mechanics or turbine.² Chappy’s runs a Jakadofsky Pro5000 Turbine Engine. With massive rotor blades (1050mm according to the manufacture), the EC120 has an eight foot rotor diameter, and weighs in at about forty-two pounds.

On the bottom and to the left, we see a XLV Benzin by Vario Helicopters. Another large helicopter, the XLV Benzin also has an eight foot rotor diameter. Its cabin is constructed of GRP (fiberglass) with a carbon glaze³, and the entire helicopter weighs about thirty-six pounds. For this helicopter, Chappy has chosen to run a Jakadofsky Pro5000 turbine engine as well.

The smaller orange and white helicopter (on the bottom to the right) is an Agusta A-109 running Align mechanics. It is modeled after the Agusta Westland AW109 – another multi-use helicopter developed in the late 1960’s as a commercial helicopter.⁴