Hello everyone
I would like to share with you a large scale scratch project that began few years ego and it is now finished and flying.
Some time ago, after completing several scale projects, helicopters and airplanes, I decided to scratch build a new helicopter. I wanted a large, fully detailed that include design and scratch build to 100% scale of the fuselage, landing gear, main and tail rotor.

As a helicopter mechanic in my profession I worked many years on CH-53s helicopters. So it was not so hard to decide that Im going to build an Israeli Air Force Sikorsky CH-53 YASUR 2000 from scratch.

The helicopter is 1:8 scale
Length - 2.80 meters nose to tail.
Main rotor diameter 2.5 meter
Tail rotor diameter 60 cm
Weight 27 kg.
It is electric powered
The Mechanic system including the main rotor and tail rotor are designed and built from scratch by my friend Eyal M. to be 100% scaled detailed. The fuselage is made of composite materials. Devinicell core material is being used to create strength and very low weight.
Tail section is all made of carbon fiber and include the spare mounted

Next I will describe the fuselage construction process:First stage I have to make a plug for the main part of the fuselage. I used white foam with P 30 density for the plug and wooden ribsTo draw and cut the ribs I used the helicopter original drawings that I scaled them to 1:8The foam shaped and sanded to form the exact shape of the fuselage and then I covered it with 200 grams per square meter fibreGlass fabric

Next is the tail fin plug

The tail cone and fin of the CH 53 is quite large. The model tail is about 60 cm. long.
It should be strong enough to carry the flex drive shaft, 90 degrees transmission ant a large four blades tail rotor. In addition, it will carry an elevator stabilizer.


Some pictures of the plug skeleton construction

Next step is the Building of the Sponsons

The Sponsons on the full size helicopter are located on both sides of the fuselage and used for two main things - Main landing gear are located on the back of the sponsons and folding forward. The front of the sponson (two-thirds the size) contain a large fuel tanks made of rubber
The sponsons on the model are about 66 cm in length.

The construction of the sponsons plug is made the same way as the fus. I built a wooden skeleton. The ribs are copied from drawings. I fill the gaps with foam. After sanding to the final shape, the plug is covered with fiberglass.

hello all
Now I began the process of building the engines nacelle plug
The propulsion unit of the CH53 is divided into three main parts. The T-64 engine, the particle separator of the air intake (EAPS) and the nose gear box. In addition, there is an engine oil cooling radiator and fan.
The pictures shows the skeleton and the beginning of construction of the right engine plug

Further I will describe the creation of the finishing and scale detailing of the plugs

Hello allThe work on the plug continue
Covering the fuse with aluminium sheet

The CH 53 fuselage structure includes ribs located every 20 inches along the helicopter (from. Longerons are installed a distance of six inches apart.
The skeleton is covered with dozens aluminium sheets riveted to the ribs and longerons.

To give the model that typical appearance, I am covering the plug using aluminium sheets (lithoplate) 0.1 mm thick.
This will give the panel lines and the surface characteristics.I am pasting the panels using contact adhesive. Each panel is cut and glued leaving an overlap to generate the characteristic panel lines
This work is done with the help of lot of pictures and drawings. In addition, we went to an Air Force Base where we received access to climb the CH 53. We took many pictures and measurements that enabled To be as accurate as possible

At this stage we will begin the riveting proses According to calculation, there will be approximately 40000 rivets around the fuselage and all other components like the sponsons, elevator, the hump and ext.. We are going to rivet them all !

We decided to use the VARIO scale rivets.
The rivet comes in bags containing 1200 rivets each. The pin diameter is 1 mm and the head diameter 1.5 mm
We made a jig that will help us to drill the rivets holes in straight lines and uniform intervals between the rivets holes
Next we marked the rivets lines on the fuselage accordance to drawings and pictures
Than we drilled 1 mm diameter holes using the drilling jig . Each hole is filled with glue to hold the rivet in place. It is very important for the molding process.
Finally the rivets are inserted one by one into the holes.
Well, we still have 39 500 rivets to go.....

More progress in preparing the fuselage plug and at this point is the cockpit area detailingAfter filing and sanding the whole area I painted it with coats of Premier.
Next, I marked the window frames. To keep everything straight and level, I used a level tool equip with laser pointer that project a horizontal or vertical red line.
It helps me to mark all the lines of window frames. Next, I made the frames from aluminum strips. I punched marks on the windows frames using a tool that I made to create the Phillips screws.
The area of the windows is painted with glossy paint. Later it will be used to vacuum forming the windows.
I added details like electronics bay doors and all the rivets

Absolutely outstanding heli , very well done, go Israel !
IDF the best in the world !!