Mark Smith
Expert builder and pilot, Mark Smith, brings your helicopter imagination to life.
My interest in things that fly began when I was around 10 years old. I had seen multiple model aircraft in different magazines in school and I was intrigued by them. I found myself attracted to anything mechanical and anything that involved a lot of parts. I taught myself how to fix bicycles and make wooden go-carts out of 2x4’s and wooden milk crates. Then, things got interesting. At age 12, I met a guy flying U control and I soon purchased my first model plane and flew fixed wing for 15 years. Fast forward to the mid eighties when I met a guy who took me to an all-helicopter hobby shop. I was hooked! The following week I came in and bought my first helicopter; a Schluter Heli Star. I built it on my own, purchased a set of training gear, and taught myself how to hover. After several years of building and flying pod-and-boom helicopters I found my true calling — scale helicopters. Over the past decade alone, I’ve have built and flown 45 different scale models and finished 1st-3rd in multiple scale competitions. I am also a Vario Helicopter Team Pilot and beginning in July 2021 a US Vario distributor with the product knowledge and build support you need.
Building a good helicopter requires patience, dedication and discipline to a process. Helicopters are complex machines that refuse to stay airborne unless everything is just right. Pilots that entrust me to build for them do so because they know me and how I operate. As a 5th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate, the lessons I learned in the dojo apply directly to my craft as a scale model builder. As a sensei and member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame, I also know what it means to patiently and effectively teach my craft. When you work with me, you get all of that.
Whether you enlist me to create your dream helicopter or simply rely on me to order the right combination of components, I’ll give you the best I can give every time.
Bottom line:
I like to help others succeed and I enjoy giving back to a hobby that has given me so very much.