drkite
Heliman
Location: Ulm/Germany
| More information foundHi,
I have been searching for a S-58 fuselage myself until I found the manufacturer ... in my hometown, Ulm/Germany. Drago (jvmodellbau@t-online.de), the owner of the shop and producer of the fuselage, told me that it was him who once supplied Vario with the fuselages himself. He has meanwhile changed the fuselage a bit, using more carbon strips in the tail, enforcing some other parts, etc. He is still selling the fuselage as a kit with many extra parts (however an instruction manual is not available!). This kit is definetely for the experienced builders only.
When searching through the internet for more information on the S-58, I found many valuable sources. The S-58 has apparently been in use in the vietnam war as H-34 and you can find pictures if you search Google with "H-34" and "Vietnam". Many navies (sp?) have used the S-58 as SAR (search and rescue) helicopter. Some of you might have seen another derivative of this helicopter (I guess it's a S-58T) in the american TV-series "Riptide" where it was painted in pink and called "Mimi". The S-58 is on display in several museums, at least at three places in Germany, one in Belgium and several in the US (best place to search for: www.arc.com, look for "walk around"). There is one book available in the US, dated 1998, available through Amazon, but out of stock at Barnes & Nobles.
Drago of JV Modellbau in Ulm has shipped a fuselage once to the US, but be aware that this costs at least 80$ extra and as Drago runs a very small shop, he would ask for cash in advance. Although Drago has sold over 150 S-58 fuselages so far, he has little to no experience with credit cards, which makes the whole operation even more difficult. The price for the complete kit is 1350 DM, which is around 700 Euro these days. I am not sure, that Drago has got pictures available; but I am sure, that if there is a serious request, he can organise them.
Hope this helps.
Bernhard
I have no affiliation with Drago, I am just a happy customer and will eventually buy this fuselage myself. |
