what heli is this??
10-18-2005, 10:50 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
i have the same rotor in my hands now...i flew the heliboy for years....the head i have had to be modified as metal fatque was comon back then....i have photos of the ols beast...its from 1979
10-18-2005, 10:59 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
sorry its the heli baby ..the smaller one....its pretty scary ...it loses its pitch settings.the larger heliboy was heaver so it was worse. im xcell123 if you could email more pics i would like that [email protected]
10-29-2005, 12:33 AM
#9
RE: what heli is this??
I was just surfing this site a bit and came across this. American R/C Helicopters operated by John Simone Jr. & Sr. introduced their line of fixed pitch helicopters in competition to the Schluter HeliBaby in around 1977 / 78. They first introduced the Revolution .40 which was a knock off of the helibaby but was offered in red anodizied frames, block " self aligning " boom and flat pitch adjustment plates for the main blades. The helicopter noted in the pictures are of the Revolution .60 based on the more elongated upper blue tinted canopy and fibreglass lower deck. The Revolution .60 was introduced in around 1978. My father paid Lowell Draper an employee of American R/C to come up to teach us how to fly helis that summer. He was the first person I had ever seen hover nose in ( he also flew the tail rather than the nose ). With the introduction of the Schluter SuperBaby late in 1979 American R/C Helicopters quickly copied that and called their heli the Revolution Commander. It featured the collective pitch version similar to what is shown in the picture. The helicopter did not last long and I think the Mantis flowed shortly thereafter. The last time I visited American R/C was in May 1980 in Mission Viejo Calif. They were pretty well on their last legs at the time with John Simone Sr. out of the picture and John Jr. was doing more movie work ( Blue Thunder ). Anyway, I lost tract of the them that summer of 1980 as the Schluter Heliboy had become all the rage. I often wonder what ever happened to John Simone. Hmmm this was fun...brought back some memories....now back to my JetCat HP5 Vario TOW Cobra ( how helis have changed since 1976 )
Best Regards
Dean Wichmann
Best Regards
Dean Wichmann
09-16-2007, 10:14 AM
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RE: what heli is this??
[img][/img]Apparently this an American Revolution heli. I put in new electronics, washed out the fuel tank and cleaned up the engine. While running the belt used to start it got tangled up with the main gear. The belt broke and I lost some teeth on the gear. Where the heck am I going to find these parts.
09-17-2007, 05:30 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
pjenjen
I have some gears here that came from a revolution 40 or a Mantis.They are 24 pitch 60 tooth gears, with 3 mounting holes around the center hole. The outside diameter is 2.560". The Inside diameter of the center hole is .755". Maybe you can measure the one you have there & if it's the same you are welcome to the ones I have here.
Ralph
I have some gears here that came from a revolution 40 or a Mantis.They are 24 pitch 60 tooth gears, with 3 mounting holes around the center hole. The outside diameter is 2.560". The Inside diameter of the center hole is .755". Maybe you can measure the one you have there & if it's the same you are welcome to the ones I have here.
Ralph
01-13-2008, 11:35 AM
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RE: what heli is this??
It is the mantis 40 with the collective head, I have the fixed pitch and collective machines in my basement along with thousands of 1980 dollars in parts!! Learned to fly with the fixed pitch mantis no gyro never did like the collective head. Then went to the Graupner helimax with kraft gyro, like night and day to the mantis. American RC did introduce a 60 size collective, not sure if it ever made to market before the accident and the end of the company. John Simone used to put on some great displays out behind the Holiday Inn at the Toledo RC show in the early eighties. He made me buy a heli, guys in the club said it would never fly they were wrong and yes it did go into forward flight not just hovering! Now all we need are some pictures of the dubro sharks!! Gary jump in! Now I do feel old!
01-08-2009, 01:06 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
Pretty interesting. I thought I might have been the only person that EVER bought a Mantis! HA!
I bought it toward the end of my RC days back in the early eighties. Only fired it up once ... with croquet wickets strapped loosly over the skids. (I thought that was pretty creative!) Sure was wicked looking running near full-throttle to a guy that had only flown airplanes! With no one to even get advice from locally, I never started it again. Still packed away in the garage attic.
After 25+ years, I am getting the RC "bug" again. "Santa" brought me a Blade CX2 which has been a blast so far. I am looking forward to moving up to a bigger heli this spring and also getting back into some fixed wing flyers.
Also building a full-size 2-place Quad City Challenger which I hope to be test flying in March.
Maybe I'll dig out the Mantis this spring. If nothing else, it would be a good conversation piece to hang in the garage/airplane factory!
Thanks y'all,
Walt
I bought it toward the end of my RC days back in the early eighties. Only fired it up once ... with croquet wickets strapped loosly over the skids. (I thought that was pretty creative!) Sure was wicked looking running near full-throttle to a guy that had only flown airplanes! With no one to even get advice from locally, I never started it again. Still packed away in the garage attic.
After 25+ years, I am getting the RC "bug" again. "Santa" brought me a Blade CX2 which has been a blast so far. I am looking forward to moving up to a bigger heli this spring and also getting back into some fixed wing flyers.
Also building a full-size 2-place Quad City Challenger which I hope to be test flying in March.
Maybe I'll dig out the Mantis this spring. If nothing else, it would be a good conversation piece to hang in the garage/airplane factory!
Thanks y'all,
Walt
03-03-2009, 10:25 AM
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RE: what heli is this??
Hey guys,
I have aquired two of these helicopters from a friend of mine almost a year ago. I have the Mantis and the Super Mantis. The Mantis was a fixed pitched system and the Super Mantis had the collective pitch, If i am not mistaken.
This summer I wanted to get this up and running. My friend never flew these either. I am not sure why. Anyway They look in prestine condition. The engine moves freely, but needs to be cleaned out.
Do you guys have any recommendation on cleaning a motor out thats a few years old? I guess the best thing to do is put the motor on a bench or somthing to run it properly. Do you guys have any information and advice in what I need to do (preparation) to get these helicopters up and running?
Please let me know
Thanks in advance
GJ
I have aquired two of these helicopters from a friend of mine almost a year ago. I have the Mantis and the Super Mantis. The Mantis was a fixed pitched system and the Super Mantis had the collective pitch, If i am not mistaken.
This summer I wanted to get this up and running. My friend never flew these either. I am not sure why. Anyway They look in prestine condition. The engine moves freely, but needs to be cleaned out.
Do you guys have any recommendation on cleaning a motor out thats a few years old? I guess the best thing to do is put the motor on a bench or somthing to run it properly. Do you guys have any information and advice in what I need to do (preparation) to get these helicopters up and running?
Please let me know
Thanks in advance
GJ
03-03-2009, 11:14 AM
#21
RE: what heli is this??
You should break it down and inspect the bearings. There's things you can do depending on the condition and run time of the motor. For cleaning gunked up metal parts, old green cheap antifreeze in a crockpot on low works wonders but you have to be careful with animals and not to breathe the fumes and not to cook food again, I have a yard sale 5 dollar crock pot that works like a champ.
03-03-2009, 12:13 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
ORIGINAL: BarracudaHockey
You should break it down and inspect the bearings. There's things you can do depending on the condition and run time of the motor. For cleaning gunked up metal parts, old green cheap antifreeze in a crockpot on low works wonders but you have to be careful with animals and not to breathe the fumes and not to cook food again, I have a yard sale 5 dollar crock pot that works like a champ.
You should break it down and inspect the bearings. There's things you can do depending on the condition and run time of the motor. For cleaning gunked up metal parts, old green cheap antifreeze in a crockpot on low works wonders but you have to be careful with animals and not to breathe the fumes and not to cook food again, I have a yard sale 5 dollar crock pot that works like a champ.
03-03-2009, 02:47 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
Barracuda, there are two possibilities that I can think of. First, maybe it was the metal makeup of the Supertiger case. Secondly, I bought full strength Prestone from Wal-mart and maybe the formula has changed lately. My buddy said the same as you. "Wow, never heard of that before". Anyway, I was lucky it was just a Supertiger instead of my OS engines. Problem is, I was cleaning it up a bit to sell. Would like to hear what I did wrong.
Mark
Mark
03-27-2009, 07:27 PM
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RE: what heli is this??
there is a good possibility of getting those original parts for this heli. John is still around and does have some parts left that he wants to sell. contact him by e-mail. he does a lot of traveling for Northrop Grumman so you may have to be a little patient waiting for him to get back to you. his e-mail is [email protected]