The Shizuoka Hobby Fair is one of the two bi-annual hobby trade fair in Japan. This fair previews the latest products that will be released in the coming year. This particular fair spanned four whole days from 15th to 18th May, 2003. Especially this year due to the widespread of SARS in some countries, the organizer limits entrance of people from countries that are affected by SARS. As a result, I was not present in this year's Shizuoka Show. All the photos contained in this page are from the kind help of my friend Mr. Takahiro Kobayashi of Hirobo Limited. Everyday during the show I called Mr. Kobayashi to get the latest news of the show so that I could report to you. Due to the uncertainty of SARS' effect in economy, most manufacturers seems to slam on the brakes on introduction of new products, and the attendance of this year's show is at a record low.
Please note that all photos in this pages are the copyright of Hirobo Limited and Mr. Kobayashi and duplication of ANY photos contained here without their express consent is strictly prohibited.
Futaba once again joined forces with OS, but this time OS did not have anything new for us helicopter pilots.
Futaba released a new set of radio targeted to the entry level users, the six channels 6EXA. It is actually an FM airplane radio, but I guess a helicopter version should come very soon. Packaged with four S3003 servos, the list price of the 6EXA is at 29,800yen (Around US$260-).
There is also the CDR-5000 computer controlled battery charger/discharger, that first debut in 10/2002 Tokyo Show as a prototype. It is targeted to high end users that requires lots of battery charging/discharging functions. The CDR-5000 could discharge batteries at 40A max and could charge up to 36 Ni-Cd/Ni-Mh cells. The CDR-5000's list price of 60,000yen (Around US$510-).
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| Futaba 6EXA radio | Futaba 6EXA radio |
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| Futaba CDR-5000 Battery charger/discharger | New aluminum radio carrying case |
This time, Hirobo have a big surprise in their booth.
For Hirobo, the limelight is on the Sceadu Evolution, which is an update version of the very successful Sceadu that has been introduced for two years already. The Sceadu Evolution features the following new designs that is updated from the original Sceadu design:
All the above transcend the Sceadu into a more refined and precise helicopter. Actually I have been helping Hirobo as test pilot for the Sceadu Evolution, and based on my testing on the final version of prototype I could tell you now that the Sceadu Evolution 50 tops the performance of the current Sceadu, and even I could say its the best 50 helicopter available, period! Check back later for my review of the Sceadu Evolution. To further your rate of saliva dripping, here is a glimpse of the box of the Sceadu Evolution kit:
There are 8 different packages of the Sceadu Evolution. There are the HPM (Mechanical mix) versions that either comes with engine or not, semi-assembled or kit and the others that are SWM (ECCPM). The list price for the Sceadu 30 kit without engine, either HPM or SWM, is set at 49,800yen (US$420-), which is the same price as the current Sceadu 32 kit. The Sceadu Evolution 50 kit without engine, either HPM or SWM, is now priced at 62,800yen (About US$530-), which is a little bit more the list price of the current Sceadu 50, but comes with more standard features. That means with the Sceadu Evolution you pay almost the same and get much more! Great job for Hirobo and good news for consumers!
Also on display is the new SZ-V rotor head, which is the metal version of the Sceadu Evolution's FZ-IV rotor head. See my report later for more detail of this rotor head too.
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Sceadu Evolution |
Different versions of Sceadu Evolution |
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Sceadu Evolution 50 |
Sceadu Evolution 50 |
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Sceadu Evolution main frame |
Sceadu Evolution main frame |
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SZ-V rotor head |
SZ-V rotor head |
On another corner there is the Nova 4 fuselage, which is designed for Hirobo Freya mechanics. The Nova 4 is for contest FAI pattern flying in mind. Mr. Rudiger Feil would be using this fuselage for the upcoming World Championship in Noto, Japan. The list price for the Nova 4 fuselage is 64,800yen. (About US$550-)
As usual, on display are Hirobo's extensive line of scale helicopters and their very successful mini XRB. As with the past show, Hirobo have a little demonstration area for the XRB, and that area has been visitors' magnet.
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Scale City! |
XRB display |
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XRB demonstration |
Hirobo's boss try out the XRB |
Hirobo also showed two pieces of what they called "Executive Line" of products, both prototypes that showed what Hirobo could do. There is a Big Bell 430 the size of their Big Lama, and uses a 50cc gas engine for power. Also shown is a r/c boat that features outboard drive unit that has a patent pending drive system. Both are on-order basis, and come with a very big sticker price.
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Hirobo yacht with coaxial out drive unit |
Coaxial out drive unit |
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Big Bell 430 |
Airplane corner |
JR officially released the Sylphide 50. the little brother of JR's flagship Sylphide 90. The Sylphide 50 features the same radical main frame design, where three pieces of machined alloy parts (One for upper part, one lower part with engine mount, and one part in the front to enclose the clutch) would encase the engine and drive train, and make the whole unit become a module by itself. Gone are the individual parts like engine mount, bearing blocks and cross members as separate parts, which greatly reduce parts count and also makes the module very strong. Six pieces of carbon frames would be mounted onto the module as servo tray and additional tail boom support. Under this design, all alignment problems on building stacked frames were gone, and the massive module would take up all the stress from the high output of the engine, and from stress during aerobatics. The whole module is very strong, while light, and also this design makes maintenance and repairs very simple. Power is transferred through the engine to the main rotor by a main gear with slant gear mesh, while a split gear also with slant gear mesh on top of the main gear would transfer power to the tail by belt and also make the tail fully driven during auto-rotation. The rotor head of the Sylphide 50, interestingly, is a low flybar type rotor head which looks very similar to the metal rotor head of Venture 50. Control is through 120 degree 3 servo ECCPM. The Sylphide 50 is "pod and boom" version, but an optional Gracy 50 fuselage (Hughes 500 look alike) is available as option for 45,800yen (About US$390-). Needless to say, the Sylphide 50 is design to fit the megabucks JR IMZ 50 engine at 44,800yen a pop (About US$380-), but engine mount for the "less noble" OS 50 SXH is also available. The Sylphide 50 is priced at 120,000yen (About US$1,020-), which is in league with a mid-range 91 class helicopter kit. I wonder how many of these could JR sell at times like this now.....
Also of interest is the JR IMZ RV90 engine on display, still a "price-less gem" because there is still no set price for this engine, but looking at the price of the JR IMZ 50 engine, the IMZ 90 should fetch at least 2 times the price of a 91 engine made by other manufacturers.
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| JR Sylphide 50 | JR Sylphide 50 |
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| JR Sylphide 50 main frame | Gracy 50 fuselage |
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| JR IMZ RV90 engine | ¡@ |
After much hoopla, JR Radio Division finally get the PCM9X to the market. The PCM9X features:
At the moment of writing this page, the JR PCM9X is already selling in Japanese market. There are three packages of the PCM9X, and each priced and configured as follows:
With 4 X ES539 servos (Latest economical line servo) List price at 70,000yen (Around US$600-)
With 4X DS811 servos List price at 80,000yen (Around US$680-)
With 4X DS8301 servos List price at 98,000yen (Around US$830-)
JR also released several new servos as follows:
ES519 (Non-digital economical servo) Torque: 3.3kg/cm, Speed: 0.23seconds/60 degrees, List price: 3,000yen (About US$25-)
ES539 (Non-digital economical servo) Torque: 4.8kg/cm, Speed: 0.23seconds/60 degrees, List price: 4,000yen (About US$34-)
DS8321 (Digital FET servo) Torque: 9kg/cm, Speed: 0.21seconds/60 degrees, List price: 14,000yen (About US$119-)
DS8511 (Digital FET servo) Torque: 15kg/cm, Speed: 0.19seconds/60 degrees, List price: 16,000yen (About US$135-)
Finally JR released an upgrade version to replace their short-lived G480T gyro, which only been on the market for a little more than half a year. The G490T is said to have better tail holding control than the G480T it replaced, and priced 9% less the the G480T at 20,000yen(About US$170-)
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| PCM9X | New JR servos |
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| G490T gyro | ¡@ |
Kyosho
Kyosho did not have any new helicopter models. The "so called" new models are three FT versions of Caliber 90 that comes with either OS 91 C-Spec or YS91 engines, with main blades, carbon flybar paddles and tuned pipe made by Funtech. One of the version comes with Funtech's Staysee fuselage and landing gear.
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| Caliber 90 FT with Staysee fuselage | Caliber 90 FT |
K&S displayed their planes and some upgrade parts for JR line of helicopters.