Welcome

Just in time for Jetpower 2024 on September 13-15, 2024 in Breitscheid / Germany, we present the film “That's Vario” here. The video will also be shown at the Vario stand on the days of the trade fair. We look forward to welcoming all visitors there. If you can't come by, you can watch the video from the comfort of your own home:

Vario Helicopter celebrates its 50th anniversary

On May 11, we at Vario Helicopter celebrated our 50th anniversary with a special Vario event. The day was a complete success, characterized by wonderful moments and many highlights.
We would like to thank all the visitors who made this day so special. Your presence and support mean a great deal to us. A special thank you goes to Simone Zunterer and Robert Engel, who recorded fantastic videos capturing the best moments of the celebration:

Most beautiful after-work flyer in the world

The Baby Lama (Ord.No. 3600) is a 600 size model designed for beginners or for model pilots who want to build a scale heli in an uncomplicated and fast way. The model is handy and flies with one 6S or alternatively two 3S LiPo batteries. At the same time, the Baby Lama is a very special scale gem with quality, sustainable spare parts supply and local product support. A must-have for all Lama lovers!

The kit includes all the material and basic scale equipment needed for flight. Electronics, cockpit and other scale details are optional. You can find all items related to the Baby Lama on the Baby Lama website under "Accessories".

Easy to assemble:

• Many cutouts in the GRP (windows, doors, etc.) are already done and the window panes are already cut to size
• Scale skid landing gear
• Tail tube and tail linkage already adapted
• 4 fixing points for mounting the mechanics in the fuselage
• Mechanics with low number of parts, stable and well thought out, easy to assemble
• For beginners in the hobby or model pilots who want quick assembly
• The version Ord.No. 3601 has in addition to the basic version Ord.No. 3600:
  - white powder coating of the grid fuselage, the dome plate and the side panels
  - Decal sheet HB-XND / Air Zermatt

A pleasure to fly:

• Low power consumption, long flight times, 1x 6S LiPo flight battery (alternatively 2x3S), 5000 mAh
• Batteries elegantly housed
• New tail rotor with large gearbox, easy to assemble/control/maintain and silent

>> Link to fuselage kit

The preparations for this year's Vario Event on Saturday, May 20 from 10 am to 4 pm are in full swing.

Also this year you can expect a wonderful flight program, an exhibitor mile and of course the physical well-being is provided. As a special highlight we will present the Baby Lama and the Big Chinook.

The event will take place as usual on our premises:
Seewiesenstraße 7
97782 Gräfendorf, Germany
(map)

More details about the program will follow soon. We are looking forward to seeing you!
 

Our Showcase your build campaign, launched in February, is going very well. Many thanks to all for the great contributions we have received so far! The best build report submissions can already be found here: www.vario-wiki.com.

There is another website that we would like to fill with interesting, technical content: www.scalehelipilot.com.
This site is not a traditional format like Facebook & Co. It offers some much more interesting features:

• no registration necessary to view content
• optimal search possibility for posts - posts do not disappear in a timeline
• everything that Scale helicopter fans are really interested in - without private content like on Facebook
• offered are a marketplace section, planning tools for clubs and much more
• soon the site will be available in German and French as well

Here is a video of the launch of the collaboration with Michael Kranitz (Vario Pilot in the USA). We are very happy that he has created a site by modelers for modelers. This will bring networking between people with this hobby to a new level.

The platform has launched - now we would like to invite you all to join the Vario Team Pilots, dealers and us to fill the site with life.

From team pilot to VARIO importer: Kenneth Wangensteen, Norway

Kenneth has been demoflying Vario models on Norvegian flying fields over the past years. He helped his friend Roy Martinsen – Vario importer as of yet – to support other Vario pilots and to promote the brand.

Now Roy Martinsen decided to pass the responsibility over to his friend Kenneth. We thank Roy very much for the appropriate way to represent Vario.

We are pleased that Lee and VARIO have found each other. If you don't know Lee Cheesman yet, you can get to know him a little with the video series below. He will be flying the Vario flag in England together with Mike Pattison and Tony Long. Lee has been building models since he was a child and flying RC aircraft from the age of 14 years old. He hovered his first helicopter at around 16 years old which was a Kyosho Concept 30, but then flew numerous small fixed wing aircraft on and off for a while before returning to helicopters in his early 20's. Starting back with an EP Concept that he put into a scale Jet Ranger body, a few ECO 8's and a Mikado Logo. The building bug never left Lee and he carried on making and flying various helicopters including Align T-Rex models and putting them in scale bodies. Lee found Vario around 15 years ago, building his first EC135 and was making scale parts before 3D printing became more available.

Recently Lee and Tony took part in a static display at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford organised by the Large Model Association, England. The helicopters were very popular with the public. Pictures from the event can be found here.

Lee is an ethusiast. After seeing his posts, you will confirm that:
Winch for the EC135
Schweizer 1:4 twilight flying
EC135 cockpit with seats that Lee covered and made 1 / 2
Lama on board video
Heli-fest with Tony und Nigel

Some people wonder if there will be a Vario Event this year as announced on the website. After long deliberations we have considered that we would rather not prepare our event for the moment. We simply cannot cope with the additional tasks to make it a safe and enjoyable event for all of us. Also, there is a little uncertainty of what the political and pandemic situation will be at the end of May. Still, we are there for our customers - please get in touch by e-mail or phone or stroll around on the Vario Website!
Have you checked out our new Vario Wiki yet? It is about to get born. Experience it and if you like, even contribute by sending RC content to us by e-mail.

The Vario models from our Belgian team pilot Francis Paduwat (Facebook) find favor with many scale helicopter fans. Francis is a skilled painter and has realized all his paint jobs himself. Meanwhile he has also embellished models of other modelers with rivets, scale details and paint jobs. He has provided us with a few pictures which we are happy to share here for your inspiration.

Create a build report for our new Vario Wiki and get a chance to win a Baby Robinson R22!
The following should be included:

• Photo(s) of the kit contents
• Photo(s) of GRP steps incl. positioning of woodwork, photo(s) of cutouts, assembly of landing gear and windows
• Photo of built mechanics, different perspectives
• Photo of rotor head
• possibly photos of scale assembly
• Photo of finished model (not a must)
• important steps, especially for this model
• small texts as explanation

Send us your build report e.g. via wetransfer.com to info@vario-helicopter.de.

Please let us know if we may publish it on our wiki (www.vario-wiki.com) and if we should mention your name. In the middle of the year 2023 we will select a winner of the best build report who will receive a fuselage kit of our Baby Robinson R22. Three other winners will be drawn and will each receive a Vario Fan Set.

The first in the S-series at Vario Helicopter was the Baby Robinson. New now is the Baby Kamov with 530 mm blade length. Vario has thus taken after Fenestron, Notar, Tandem and tail rotor the 5th dimension of torque compensation in the program.

There are 2 complete kits (everything except the electronics) to choose from. They are both identical in terms of coaxial mechanics, rotor head components, rotor blades, scale landing gear and 3D scale parts.  

Ord.No. 3200 is the version with unpainted fuselage without cutouts, which allows individual painting.
Ord.No. 3210 is already red colored and cut out. A decal sheet is included. This takes all the dusty and tedious work off the (workshop) table.

Optional accessories add to the beauty of the model - notably the free-swinging wheel-insertion protection, the pitot tube and the Kamov lights.

The drive recommendation comes again from Kontronik and is Pyro 600-11 and Kolibri 90 LVi. This combination is tuned for 6S LiPo.

The Kamov KA-32 is due to its coaxial mechanics especially suitable for technically experienced Vario fans who are looking for a new challenge.

Rcpilot.com, a brand new website, brings an entirely new approach to radio control online. The site has interesting content for RC hobby pilots and a special filtering system that lets users find exactly the content they want in a couple of clicks. In the video linked here, the site's creator, Michael Kranitz (he is a Vario pilot), explains the new club section along with a feature that lets you know when and where your friends are planning to fly. You can also find manufacturer support pages, building reports, articles, events and RC equipment to buy or sell..

From Sept. 09-11, 2021, this year's Helicopter Scale Masters were held at the Woodland Aeromodelers flying club with 22 registered pilots. Thanks to many volunteers a wonderful event could be set up, which VARIO Helicopter supported as a sponsor.

With hot temperatures, there was a lot of flying, sharing and laughing both during the day, with fantastic sunsets, and also at night. In addition, an excellent fundraising result was again achieved for Autism Speaks.

Vario congratulates this year's winners and thanks Gonzalo Martinez for his review of this year's Helicopter Scale Masters. The publication of the photos is with his kind permission.

• Outstanding Support: Keith Young
• Best Fire/Rescue Helicopter Flight Demonstration: Daniel Lowry, Calfire UH-1H (Graupner prize)
• Best Military Flight Demonstration: Gonzalo Martinez, CH-47 Chinook
• Engineering Excellence: Taylor Drain, MD 520 Notar Turbine
• Best Scale Flight:  Jim Davey, Airbus EC 120 (Aeropanda prize)
• People Choice: Mike O’Kane, MD Explorer Notar
• Al Wert Excellence: Rusty & Scott Zumwalt, UH-1C
• Joe Howard Excellence: Thanh Cung, Robinson R22 (Heliworkshop prize)
• Best Crash: Tyler Gray, H125 (Vario Germany prize)
• Best of Show: Woodland Aeromodelers Club

Nigel Brackley Steps Down as the Vario UK Dealer
Vario would like to express our thanks to Nigel Brackley for his work as a representative and dealer for Vario in the UK since 2016. His assistance and knowledge of Vario products will be greatly missed.

Vario will work with our UK customers directly from Germany to guarantee full service and continuous spare parts supply. UK customers should feel free to contact us for technical support through the email: info@vario-helicopter.de

Orders should be placed through the German online website: www.vario-helicopter.biz/de
You will need to register as a new customer as accounts from the UK shop cannot be transferred at this time. After you place your order online, please wait until you have received an order confirmation from one of the Vario staff confirming actual VAT and/or shipping costs before you send your payment. Currently, the confirmation is generated automatically from the shop and may not have the correct calculations for VAT and/or shipping costs.
We thank you in advance for your understanding during this transition.

Model rotor heads with the look, feel and technical details of the big ones

The Rotor Titans Ord.No. 703/12, 704/12 & 705/12 are the next generation of rotor heads from Vario. They are not only sleek in appearance, but also wonderfully stable in hover and in flight.

This is especially apparent in windy conditions that often prevent many scale model helicopter pilots from having the confidence to fly their conventional ridged or standard dampened rotor head models. Give this new rotor head a try, you will not be disappointed!

The Rotor Titans conceal their secret in the central piece, which holds your rotor blades precisely on one level and ensures absolutely smooth running: The heart is a central, damped connecting element that connects the rotor blades directly with each other. This results in the right balance between damping and directness of control. Your control input is implemented more directly and precisely in the helicopter than with any other all-metal rotor head on the market.

The range of use of the Rotor Titans is identical to that of the plastic heads Ord.No. 703/30, etc.
Together with the existing/recommended rotor blades, the rotor diameter increases by 2 cm.

• for rotor diameters from 1.50 to 2.00 m
• max. take-off weight: 18 kg
• for 10 / 12 mm main rotor shaft
• 14 mm blade grips with 2-holes
• 3 mm rotor head screw
• For operation of models over 15 kg and 12 mm rotor shaft, a 4 mm rotor head screw (Ord.No. 061) must be used. For this purpose, the cross hole on the lower part of the rotor head must be drilled out.

Nick Maxwell flying a Vario Bell 429 at the Vario Power Hour on IRCHA 2021
 

Welcome Mark!
We are pleased to welcome a new member to the team as the new VARIO representative for the USA.
Mark Smith from Heliworkshop is a true Vario man and has been a Vario team pilot since 2014. He will be running the US1 online store www.vario-helicopter.biz/us1 from now on. Mark offers a building service for Vario models as well as expert technical support. We are looking forward to a good and trustful cooperation!

His colleague Chuck Birt from Peak Aircraft of Vario "US2" www.vario-helicopter.biz/us2 also congratulates Mark on the new job. Both have already worked together for Vario in the past. The next opportunity is IRCHA, from 04.08. to 08.08.2021 in Muncie, where you can meet both and get the chance for "RC helicopter deep talk".

We miss you, Joe!

(Picture: Mark Ryder)

Joe Howard from East Coast Scale Helis in the US is stepping back from his activities as a Vario representative from 1st of April 2021.

Joe has helped so many customers with his excellent technical support, building service and supply of parts during the last 32 years.

The Vario team is very thankful for this great time of collaboration.
We wish Joe all the best for his future and we are very sad to lose East Coast Scale Helicopters as a distributor for the United States. He always was an duly representative for our brand.

Dear Joe,
THANK you for having been this reliable and skilled partner.
THANK YOU for all the customer service you have supplied for decades!
Until we have set the new direction, we would like to ask the US Scale heli comunity to place their orders through the US 2 shop, run by Peak Aircraft.

The Chinook is a star among the Vario Helicopter models. In the USA alone, 3 out of 4 Vario team pilots have Chinooks and love them! Our two California team pilots Gonzalo Martinez and Daniel Lowry and Sandy Jaffe, team pilot from Florida, are absolutely happy with their tandems. Gonzalo sent pictures and a video. The pictures were taken at his club site of the Woodland Aeromodellers. Exactly there, in California, the HSM (Helicopter Scale Masters) will take place again from 9-11.09.2021. We are especially looking forward to it! A silver lining on the horizon for everyone who loves airshows as much as we do at the Vario team.

More here: https://vimeo.com/531309550 + https://vimeo.com/531310636

• Kit already includes all relevant cut-outs
• Scale landing gear, no cutting to length necessary from your side, just sticking/gluing
• Panel lines for a detailed surface
• Tail tube and tail linkage already adapted
• Easy to install bulkhead, 6 mounting points to fix the mechanics in the fuselage
• Mechanics with low number of parts, rock solid and well thought out, easy to assemble
• Made for beginners in the hobby or model pilots who want a quick assembly

• Low power consumption, long flight times, 1x 6S LiPo flight battery
• Battery compartment with integrated front lights: Batteries elegantly and invisibly housed
• New tail rotor with large size gearbox, easy to assemble/control/maintain and silent
• 2 RPMs. We recommend the higher speed - Low RPM for chilling on warm summer evenings

• Sustainable spare parts supply, for decades
• Building instructions are available online, created in 3D, detailed and colored. Please think of the environment before you print.
• Plastic - reduced packaging
• Choose between blue or red decal sheet and apply it easily with our video instructions. At any later time, you could also paint the Baby Robinson.
• We guarantee our product support. Call +49 9357 9099669 or write an email to info(at)vario-helicopter.de or contact one of the friendly Vario dealers in your country.

Dear Vario pilots

we hope you were able to use our 10% event discount for your building projects.
This year we did not have the chance to meet and talk to you personally at the VARIO event. Therefore we contact you now on our own behalf:
In order to improve our service continuously, we from the VARIO team would like to know what products and services you are missing in our shop.
Do you have any concrete wishes, suggestions or criticism?
Thank you very much for your suggestions. We are looking forward to your feedback to info@vario-helicopter.de!

Your Vario Team

Dear Vario pilots,

the Vario-Team will be there for you again by phone from Monday, 18.05.2020. At the same time we will open the doors of our showroom again for customer visits. We kindly ask you to make an appointment by phone and to put on your mouthguard in case you visit us and to keep a distance of 1,50 m to other persons. We are looking forward to your visit!

Take good care of yourself!
Your VARIO Team

The first submissions to our call "Show us your current project" have reached us - thank you very much!
From top left to bottom right:

1. Daniel S. from Schöckingen: "Building on such a beautiful model simply puts you in a super good mood. And good mood strengthens the immune system. So I can warmly recommend it."
2. Team pilot Mathias Fischer currently has the BK 117 with the identification D-HARK on his desk. Currently, the fullsize is part of the expedition on the research vessel Polarstern. The Polarstern has just arrived in the Arctic and has attached itself to or frozen on an ice floe and is now drifting with the current for a year.
3. Stephan F.: "A long-standing project is coming to an end. Vario Benzin Acrobatic conversion to FBL."
4. Latest painting project by team pilot Francis Paduwat, Belgium
5. Team pilot Robin Adamschak, Pattensen: "Many greetings to all pilots and modellers, stay healthy!
6. Gerd v. R.: "My Vario X-Treme mechanics are ready for installation again after the repair of the resonance damage. I wish you a lot of fun with your projects, and stay healthy."
7. Here a greeting and a view into the workshop of team pilot Stefan Reusch:
 

Vario Event 2020

This year's Vario Event was planned for May 21. Unfortunately it will not be possible to take place on this date. Currently no events are allowed - as much as we would like to welcome you all from near and far with the same passion for the scalers!




 

Announcement for the delivery of the first R22 in 600 size

If we now perturb your Christmas, because the delivery date of our wonderful Robinson R22 is shifted to after Christmas, then the following saying still applies: There is something good in everything. Every day at Vario is used to make the R22 a little more perfect. Just now we have drawn panel lines and pictures for 3D printed parts, which are attached before the painting, in 3D. Tomorrow the negative mould can finally be milled in aluminium and production can begin. All other parts have been ordered, the building instructions will be created shortly, when all other components have been finished in 3D.

Only for Christmas, we are not finished yet. We would very much like to build the very first series fuselage again and put it into operation. At Vario, the product does not only ripen at the customer. The delivery date is the end of February. The kit costs 1970 Euro and has a lot of great features, for example described panel lines, shapes of pitot tube, rear ACL, position lights, etc, a well thought out mechanics. All further information can be found on the new product page of this R22 - order here today.

A model you can really look forward to. If you order before Christmas, you'll get a Christmas card and a little surprise for under and on the Christmas tree to make your waiting time more pleasant!

UPDATE: We still need a little time until the 600 R22 is available and therefore we ask for a little patience! It's worth waiting, because then a really great model will be on the market. At this point you will be informed as soon as it is available.

New video of our team pilot Laurent Gras of a Vario Bell 205 Turbine flight.

The Robinson R22 is the first model of the new 600 line at Vario – a cool concept for beginners and people who like it simple but want quality and sustainability with local product support and excellent spare part supply. For example also a project for school or to introduce modelling to your children.

• The R22 will be available before Christmas
• It is a 600 size Helicopter with a new 600 size mechanics
• The body length is 1.20 m, which gives a scale of 1/5
• It is prepainted in blue/white or red/white with ready installed windows. It is also available unpainted for your own painting scheme.
• It has working doors, which models of its size do not normally have, which give good and instant access to the mechanics.
• The landing gear is typical for R22
• A cockpit is also planned, however available after the product launch

Features of the 600 size electric mechanics:

• Simple 1-stage mechanics with not many parts
• Easy to assemble and maintain.
• Few and robust parts
• Stage of the mechanics: 1:7.5
• ø10 mm main rotor shaft
• Optimum center of gravity
• For motor Kontronik Pyro 650 6S

Other Features:

• New aluminum 600 size rotor head
• Easy to mount tail rotor

The Vario Event 2019 was awesome - thank you all for visiting! Pictures will follow soon.

It is probably the most beautiful terrain in the world for RC enthusiasts. The two videos by Gonzalo Martinez show impressions of an RC event in Chile at the beginning of April 2019. A feast for the eyes as Romano moves his Huey and Agustin his Bell 430 through the 3 dimensions. You want to go there immediately and soak up the atmosphere. Thanks to all actors!

Gonzalo's film of Romano with his Vario Huey
Gonzalo's film of Agustin with his Vario Bell 430

By the way, Romano had a real crash with his Cobra, as you can see on the pictures.

Passion doesn't know borders. Shortly after being done with the film shooting for his latest movie, Ajith Kumar took the plane to Gräfendorf to spend some days with us. Vario Helicopters are his passion, same as racing cars and being kind and full of attention to everybody he meets on his paths in life. We like the idea that he builds his Vario models even in an extra hotel room: it is a nice change for him in the evenings when he is working for a movie during daytime.