Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Obtain a small fiberglass or plastic board thin enough that you can drill. Cut the board approximately to the dimensions two by six inches. Insert a plastic tube through the board with a bearing inserted at each end of the tube. Insert the bearings into the tube first before inserting it into the board piece.
Attach two gears to the board with axles so they can spin. Connect one gear to the tube. Mesh the second gear with the first. Install a solid state motor close enough on the board to power the second gear.
Adhere the tail of the helicopter to the body with glue, small screws and nuts. Use a small drill to make two holes on each side of the central board. Connect hanger wire to the four corners to make the arms of your helicopter's landing skids. Use wire cutters to trim the arms to correct length. Connect the ends of the arms to a long strip of balsa wood on each side.
Insert a long rod six inches long through the bearings in the center tube. Allow for three inches of the rod to stick out of the top. Place a cap on top of this rod on which to attach the rotor base in Step 5.
Fabricate a rotor base out of the same plastic or fiberglass board material used in Step 1. Cut the piece so that it fits onto the cap-piece on the rotor axle but also has space for the rotor fins. Run a thinner long rod through this piece perpendicular to the rotor axle. Glue the rotor fins to the horizontal thin rod to make the helicopter fins.
Attach a block of balsa wood to the end of the tail structure. Insert a rod through the same balsa block. Attach a tail rotor motor to the tail end block. Glue a small rod to this motor's gear after attaching tail fins to the rod to make the tail fan. Glue everything in place.
Glue a receiver to the bottom of the helicopter central body or board. Run the wiring from the receiver to both motors - the main engine and tail engine - to connect them. Tape at least four AAA size batteries together and attach to the helicopter body to provide a power source. Attach the batteries to the wiring so that the receiver is the cutoff and only allows energy to the engines when the receiver gets the signal to do so.
Configure the receiver to the radio signal of a hand control unit. Test the receiver with the batteries hooked up to see that it responds accordingly when the controller signals for the system to connect. Test fly your homemade helicopter.