Vintage RC Helicopters

Vintage RC Helicopters - Hirobo helicopters

As a company it was 0riginally 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 once these were brought in production in 1977 they finally closed down the manufacture of spun yarns.

Longest running of the Major manufacturers of RC Helicopters and as of 2010, still very active.

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.

	1976 - Gazelle SA-341G (60)
	1977 - Iroquois UH-1B (40 & 60) - JetRanger (40) - Lama SA-315 (40) - Enstrom Shark 280-C (40) - Falcon (40)
	1978 - JetRanger (60)
	1979 - Falcon 2 (40) - Lama SA-315 (20G)
	1980 - Tow Cobra (60) - Falcon 505 (40) - Falcon 707 (50) - Falcon 808 (50) - Enstrom Shark 280-C (50) - Lama SA-315 (50)
	1981 - SST JetRanger (60) - Mini-Star 025 (20) - Falcon 505S - Falcon 808EX - Bell 47G-2 (20G)
	1982 - SST Corvette - Falcon 707S - Iroquois UH-1B (20G) - Schweizer 300
	1983 - Falcon 555 - Falcon 888
	1984 - DDF/SST JetRanger - DDF/SST Corvette - DDF/SST - Agusta 109
	1985 - Shuttle ARF (28)
	1986 - BBC Stork (46) - DDF/SST Ecureuil - DDF/SST Mechanics
	1987 - Hughes 500 (30) - BBL Hawk (60) - SST Eagle - Bell 47G (25G) - Shuttle XX (32) - JetRanger (30) - Ecureuil (30) - Shuttle Supreme (30)
	1988 - SSW Machine (???) - Vertol KV-107 (32) - Industrial helicopter R-50
	1989 - Shuttle Z & ZX (32) - Eagle Champion - MH-10 & Bolkow BK-117 (MH-10) - BBZ Stork - SST Condor (60)
	1990 - Ecureuil (MH-10)
	1991 - Shuttle ZXi (34) - Lama SA-315B (30) - Bell 222 (30 & 60) - Tow Cobra AH-1S (60) - SST Eagle EX - Bell 47G-2 (Swiss)
	1992 - Iroquois UH-1B (32) - Shuttle ZX Gold (32)
	1993 - Tsurugi (60) - Shuttle Z, ZX, ZXX (32)
	1994 - Super Cobra AH-1W (60) - Tsurugi XX (60)
	1995 - SST Eagle 2 & EX (60) - Schweizer 300 (32) - Hovermate PF32 (32) - SST Eagle 2 Mechanics - Nova 2 & Jess - JetRanger (Shuttle mechanics)
	1996 - GPH346 (46) - Large Lama SA-315B - SST Eagle 2GS (24cc)
	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)
	1998 - Shuttle Challenge (32) - SST-Eagle2 (98) shaft & belt (60) - SST-Eagle 2 EX98 shaft & belt
	1999 - Shuttle SXX, S-TS, RG-M (32) - Tiger (60) - Nova 3
	2000 - Eagle FREYA (60) - AS365 Dauphin 2 (60) - AS565 Panther (60) - GPH 50 (50) - LongRanger - Airwolf (30)
	2001 - Sceadu (30 & 50) - Sceadu SWM E/G (30 & 50) - Freya EX - Freya EX-WC
	2002 - Shuttle plus (30) - Shuttle RG-EX (30) - New Cobra (60) - New Super Cobra (60) - Grey Zone body
	2003 - Freya (80-90) - Sceadu SWM (50) - Nova 4 - Eagle 3 WC (80-90)
	2004 - Vertol & Chinook ECCPM (50) - Freya R & Super - EC135 (60-91) - EC120B Colibri (70-90) - Bell 430 (GS40cc) - XRB-SR Lama (EP) - Bartle (??)
	2005 - Shuttle plus+2 (30) - Freya EVO (60-70 & 80-90) - XRB-V2 (EP) - Eagle 3 WC belt (80-90)
	2006 - Lepton EX (EP) - XRB-SR Shuttle (EP) - Sceadu Evo-EX (HPM/SWM) (50) - Eagle 3 SWM (80-90)
	2007 - XRB-SR Airwolf & Bell 222 (EP)
	2008

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

	BBC - Best Basic (BBL & BBZ were upgrade versions)
	DDF - Dual Damped Flapping head
	GPH - General Purpose helicopter
	SSR - See-Saw Rotor head
	SST -
	SSW -
	XRB -

My Hirobo helicopters

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