Our Price: £19.00

Kamov KA50 fuselage for 220 size Helicopter

For north America Customers, if this fuselage is available at our US logistics at

the time of ordering it will be shipped from there via USPS. Please email us at

sales@high-torque.biz we will let you know the availablity

This fuselage is suitable for most small Coaxial  helicopters, including :

Bell 47G, Graupner: Blade CX, E-Flight:Blade CX2, E-Flight:BMI:Lama 5.1, Reely;Lama V2, Esky;Lama V3, Esky:Lama V4, Esky:MD500, Century :Quark SRB, Hirobo :SRB Quark, Hirobo :SRP Quark :Twister Bell 47G :Twister Medevac :Vortex Dynam :Flitework Bo 105 :Lama Koaxial :

Check our listings of Helicopter Fuselages by Model to see if we have one listed for your model helicopter.

The kit is supplied unpainted, all of the parts of the kit are shown in the picture.

Material: 0.5mm Pet-g

Because of the weight reduction, a standard motor together with lithium-polymer cells can provide in excess of 15min flying times.

The nose is made removable for battery changes etc.. As shown in this photograph of the Kamov KA58.

Recommended paint is Acrylic spray, do not use sprays containing solvents, they do not give the best finish, and take a long time to dry, undercoat/primer should be white.

Assembly instructions in English
Bauanleitung in deutsche
Instrucciones de asamblea en español
Instructions d'Assemblée en français
Istruzioni dell'Assemblea in italiano

The Original

The Ka-50 was designed to be small, fast, and agile to improve survivability and lethality. For minimal weight and size (thus maximal speed and agility) it was -- uniquely among gunships -- to be operated by a single pilot only. Kamov concluded after thorough research of helicopter combat in Afghanistan and other war zones that the typical attack mission phases of low-level approach, pop-up target acquisition, and weapon launch don't simultaneously demand navigation, maneuvering, and weapons operation of the pilot; and thus with well-designed support automation a single pilot can indeed carry out the entire mission alone. However, it is still an unanswered question whether in practice the rank and file of Black Shark pilots would nevertheless suffer from excess fatigue from this combined workload.

Like other Kamov's helicopters, it features Kamov's characteristic contra-rotating co-axial rotor system, which removes the need for the entire tail-rotor assembly and improves the aircraft's aerobatic qualities -- it can perform loops, rolls, and “the funnel” (circle-strafing) where the aircraft maintains a line-of-sight to target while flying circles of varying altitude, elevation, and airspeed around it. Using two rotors means that a smaller rotor with slower moving rotor tips can be used compared to a single rotor design. Since the speed of the advancing rotor tip is a primary limitation to the maximum speed of a helicopter, this allows a faster maximum speed than helicopters such as the AH-64. The elimination of the tail rotor is a qualitative advantage because the torque-countering tail rotor can waste up to 30% of engine power. Furthermore, the vulnerable boom and rear gearbox are fairly common causes of helicopter losses in combat (as proven in Vietnam); the Black Shark's entire transmission presents a comparatively small target to ground fire. Kamov maintains that the co-axial drive assembly is built to survive hits from 23mm ammunition like the other vital parts of the helicopter. The zero native torque also allows the aircraft to be fairly immune to wind strength and direction, and to have an unsurpassed turn rate in all travel speed envelopes.

As the single seat configuration was considered too revolutionary to be discovered by NATO, false windows were painted on the first two prototypes. The "windows" evidently worked as the first western reports of the aircraft were wildly inaccurate. According to the Air Force Magazine Soviet Aerospace Almanac 1989, the "DoD states that this helicopter has not been observed carrying antitank guided weapons. Instead, it is thought to have a primary air-to-air role (an assessment that is not universally accepted)... Like other combat helicopters, 'hokum' has a crew of two, in tandem, with an elevated rear seat."

The Ka-50 was the first helicopter fitted with a NPP Zvezda K-37-800 ejection seat for improved pilot survivability; this was also seen as a psychological factor enhancing the pilot's combat courage. Before the rocket in the ejection seat kicks in, rotor blades are blown away by explosive charges in the rotor disc and the canopy is similarly jettisoned.

The first Ka-50 prototype was nicknamed "Werewolf," however Kamov's official name for the type is "Black Shark." As the Soviet Union's collapse vastly reduced military spending before Ka-50 could go into full-scale production, a relatively small number of these aircraft have been built. Reportedly Ka-50's development took place in record time, as Kamov had the forethought of placing liaison engineers at major component suppliers and systems subcontractors.

The Ka-50 and its modifications have been chosen as the special forces support helicopter while Mi-28 has become main army's gunship. The production of Ka-50 was recommenced in 2006.

Weapons

The aircraft carries a substantial load of weapons in four external hardpoints under the stub wings plus two on the wingtips, a total of some 2,300 kg depending on the mix.

The main armament are the twelve laser-guided Vikhr anti-tank missiles with a maximum range of some 10 km. The laser guidance is reported to be virtually jam-proof and the system features automatic guidance to target enabling evasive movement immediately after missile launch. The fire control system automatically shares all target information among the four Black Sharks of a typical flight in real time, allowing one helicopter to engage a target spotted by another, and the system also can input target information from ground-based forward scouts with man-portable target designation gear. The integrated 30mm cannon is semi-rigidly fixed on the helicopter's side, movable only slightly in elevation and azimuth. The aircraft's agility allows the weapon control system to turn (the entire helicopter and) the cannon at the target acquired in the pilot's helmet sight about as fast as the cannon turret of the Apache or the Mi-28 turns. The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount.

Operational history

In January 2001, the Ka-50 saw its first combat operation, as it fired on enemy positions in Chechnya. Later, it would undertake several missions inside that war zone, although not as much as the more numerous Mil Mi-24 which is perhaps better suited to the more anti-guerrilla-type operations undertaken there.

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