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Vintage RC Helicopters - Hirobo helicopters

 

As a company it was originally established as 'Hiroshima Spinner Ltd' in October 1949.  Following this the company changed its name to 'Hiroshima Synthetic Fibre Spinners' and partnered with 'Nichibo Co Ltd'.  Then in 1970 the name was changed again to 'Hirobo Limited'; the name being a mix of the two company names.  In 1972 they started a 'plastics' division followed in April of 1973 by an electronics section with the separate company name of 'Hirobo Electrics Corporation'.  In July 1973 they began developing products for radio controlled models and in 1976 produced their first RC helicopter kit the Gazelle SA-341G.  For 1977 they finally closed down the manufacture of spun yarns and released five new helicopter models and thus began the most prolific range of models from any manufacturer of Radio Controlled Helicopters.

Because the range of Hirobo helicopters is so large, in order to keep the listing to a manageable size model types have been grouped together i.e. Lama - covers the complete range from the BIG scale model down to the contra-rotating small electric model.  Position in the listing is when the first version of that model was introduced.

Hirobo Timeline

Below is a list of introduction dates for Hirobo helicopters and 'major' upgrades; I have not included minor kit variations, change of body colours etc.

bullet1976 - Gazelle SA-341G (60)
bullet1977 - JetRanger (40) - Enstrom Shark 280-C (40) - Lama SA-315 (40) - Iroquois UH-1B (40 & 60) - Falcon (40)
bullet1978 - JetRanger (60)
bullet1979 - Falcon 2 (40) - Lama SA-315 (20G)
bullet1980 - Bell AH-1S Tow Cobra (60) - Falcon 505 (40) - Falcon 707 (50) - Falcon 808 (50) - Enstrom Shark 280-C (50) - Lama SA-315 (50)
bullet1981 - SST JetRanger (60) - Mini-Star 025 (20) - Falcon 505S - Falcon 808EX - Bell 47G-2 (20G)
bullet1982 - SST Corvette - Falcon 707S - Iroquois UH-1B (20G) - Schweizer 300
bullet1983 - Falcon 555 - Falcon 888 - DDF/SST Corvette - Mini-Star Hughes 300 
bullet1984 - DDF/SST JetRanger - DDF/SST - Agusta 109
bullet1985 - Shuttle ARF (28)
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1986 - BBC Stork (46) - DDF/SST Ecureuil

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1987 - Hughes 500 (30) - BBL Hawk (50) - SST Eagle - Bell 47G (25G) - Shuttle XX (32) - JetRanger (30) - Ecureuil (30) - Shuttle Supreme (30)

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1988 - SSW Machine (???) - Vertol KV-107 (32) - Industrial helicopter R-50

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1989 - Shuttle Z & ZX (32) - Eagle Champion - MH-10 & Bolkow BK-117 (MH-10) - BBZ Stork - SST Condor (60)

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1990 - Ecureuil (MH-10)

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1991 - Shuttle ZXi (34) - Lama SA-315B (30) - Bell 222 (30 & 60) - Tow Cobra AH-1S (60) - SST Eagle EX - Bell 47G-2 (Swiss)

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1992 - Iroquois UH-1B (32) - Shuttle ZX Gold (32)

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1993 - Tsurugi (60) - Shuttle Z, ZX, ZXX (32)

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1994 - Super Cobra AH-1W (60) - Tsurugi XX (60)

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1995 - SST Eagle 2 & EX (60) - Schweizer 300 (32) - Hovermate PF32 (32) - SST Eagle 2 Mechanics - Nova 2 & Jess

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1996 - GPH346 (46) - Lama SA-315B (BGX-1) - SST Eagle 2GS (24cc)

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1997 - GPH346 Belt (46) - Schweizer 300 3 Blade spec (30) - Lama 3 blade spec (30) - SST-Eagle2 WC - Shuttle RG (32) - Shuttle Z-TS (32)

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1998 - Shuttle Challenge (32) - SST-Eagle2 (98) shaft & belt (60) - SST-Eagle 2 EX98 shaft & belt

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1999 - Shuttle SXX, S-TS, RG-M (32) - Tiger (60) - Nova 3

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2000 - sst-eagle FREYA (60) - AS365 Dauphin 2 (60) - AS565 Panther (60) - GPH 50 (50) - LongRanger (30) - Airwolf (30)

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2001 - Sceadu (30 & 50) - Sceadu SWM E/G (30 & 50) - Freya EX - Freya EX-WC

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2002 - Shuttle plus (30) - Shuttle RG-EX (30) - New Cobra (60) - New Super Cobra (60) - Grey Zone body

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2003 - Freya (80-90) - Sceadu SWM (50) - Nova 4 - Eagle 3 WC (80-90)

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2004 - Vertol & Chinook ECCPM (50) - Freya R & Super - EC135 (60-91) - EC120B Colibri (70-90) - Bell 430 (GS40cc) - XRB-SR Lama (EP) - Bartle (??)

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2005 - Shuttle plus+2 (30) - Freya EVO (60-70 & 80-90) - XRB-V2 (EP) - Eagle 3 WC belt (80-90)

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2006 - Lepton EX (EP) - XRB-SR Shuttle (EP) - Sceadu Evo-EX (HPM/SWM) (50) - Eagle 3 SWM (80-90)

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2007 - XRB-SR Airwolf & Bell 222 (EP)

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2008

Hirobo used various prefixes for their helicopters and rotor heads as noted below.

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BBC - Best Basic

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BBL - Upgraded Best basic

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BBZ - Upgraded Best Basic

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DDF - Dual Damped Flapping head

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GPH - General Purpose helicopter

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SSR - See-Saw Rotor head

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SST - Super Stunt

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SSW -

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XRB -

 

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