450 Sources for scale fuselages for 450 sized helis

Rob Nuss

New Member
First a disclaimer. I've only been doing this for two years and the only helis I've owned are the Blade
230S and the Trex450L. Really enjoyed both but at 77 years old have no aspirations to do any acro, so looked into scale fuselage. First hurdle is to make the leap and send $250 bucks off to some village in China or Vietnam. Going through Microheli, Alibaba, Aliexpress and Amazon I haven't lost a cent. Supply chain during 2020 Covid was 8-10 weeks but much improved the last few months. Start with Amazon and look for any refetence to Belenbox. Belen box seems to be the source.
Microhelis 230S bodies have two styles. A straight tail boom requiring no modification and "Huey" style with a 45 degree kick up for the tail assembly. They supply the 45 degree fitting but you must splice in an extra inch for the three motor wires. The Huey style a!so incorporate s an access clamshell in the tailboom that makes it less stiff and strong compared to the straight tailboom models. Paint, fit, and finish are perfect. No Dremel work required.
The 450 size all require some Dremel work. The Bell 206 is the roomiest. The front sections clip on with magnets and the paint and seams are so perfect you can't tell the fuselage halves from the painted panel lines. You will have to drill 2 or 3 holes in the bellies to access the 2.5 m bolts to hold your helicopter to the plywood cradle. Use small washers with the bolts. You don't want the bolt heads screwing into the plywood. It's like building a ship in a bottle wearing a blindfold getting the bolts in, but it can be done. The fuselage come with mounting hardware for the landing skids but I didn't use them. I tossed the 450 sized skids and used 500 sized. Much more stable and more accurately scale. I Velcro ed mine to the belly as sort of a crash absorbing bumper. A crash with the supplied hardware might wreck the belly and plywood cradle.
All of the fuselages I bought were designed for the old, short tail booms. So if you have a newer "L" Trex you will have to replace tailboom, torque rod, and push rod with old shorter style. Some fuselage incorporate a tail cone, some do not, so new, long tail booms work just fine, not as scale looking.
Heckofa long post but this should get you started in finding a scale fuselage. My favorite is the red, black, and orange Sky News 9. Looks great in the air and on the bench.
 
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D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
:welcome1:to the site Mr.Nuss. Good luck on finding a 450 scale fuselage. I have a Coast guard 450 fuselage that got a tail strick because of my DFC head :thinking: So I learned how to fix it. As for scale helis and accessories I shop around here Roban RC Helicopters Again good luck and welcome to the forum :).
 
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