taoist flyer

I hope you enjoy this custom apache canopy

I have seen some wonderful homemade canopies for the picoo z and micro gear helis. I would like to see more of them, if you have a custom canopy for your micro heli post a picture and tell us how to make it.

I found a paper scale apache on paper toys dot com I downloaded it and repainted the entire thing. Then I modified it so it could fit on a micro helicopter, This body was designed to fit the micro Schweitzer frame of the micro gear or syma fairy, but it can be modified to fit a picoo z. Here is the video of it and a few instructions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW4bR3UTAwQ

I also have a coast guard body that I will post soon.


I would like to do a more realistic paint job, if anyone has any good close up pictures of military helicopter paint jobs let me know.


This site sells custom canopies as well, it's in German but it's got some cool canopies on it.
http://www.ultraleichtpilot.de/bau.htm

thestratcat

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that's pretty cool man...

what kind of scissors are those, one cut and all the scrap fell off, WOW!!!

taoist flyer

I'm glad that I got a laugh out of that shot, nothing like magic scissors,

I found out about how much the custom canopies are on that german site, Gustav, the guy who makes them said the md 500 is about $31 plus shipping. he dos have some nice scale canopies. I might be getting some from him.

noobrider

I watched your youtube videos with great interest and thought...mmm from my days of minature indoor rubber band modelling I may have a technique that I can apply to these helicopters

Using dense insulating styrofoam you can carve super scale bodies that are ultra light...lighter than paper and even lighter than the original. So Armed with a block of styrofoam roof insulation I thought I would give it a go. T

The technique is fairly easy to get good results straight off and should be well within the reach of an average modeller. Find a decent 3 view of the model you wish to make. Roughly cut the shape out of the block then use fine sand paper to get a decent shape. final sanding can be done with your finger for a really smooth finish. Once you have a solid 3d model. carefully cut it down the middle and hollow out both side. The more you hollow out the lighter it will be. Finally coat with PVA (lightly) to seal then you can paint it and glue onto the helicopter chassis. I've made a start on my all time favourite chopper the infamous Huey. I've attached a few pictures. This is the result of just 30 minutes work. As I progress I'll post more pictures and then finally upload a video to youtube. I'm afraid the pics were taken with my phone camera but they are a reasonable quality.

taoist flyer

Dude that is looking sweet, I've seen a lot of guys use foam, I've never dun it before but you have inspired me, I can sculpt anything from clay, now it's time to try a new medium.
Their was another pilot who made a foam Huey, and it looked really sweet,
my personal favorite so far is the Chinook, but both of its rotors turn in the same direction
It would be nice if someone made a picoo z or a clone with a rotor that turns in the opposite direction.

I'm looking forward to seeing your Huey when it's dun.

The_Shark

hmm, you can take out the main frame, snipp the wires cross them and it will turn the opposite direction. the only problem is that i dont know if those blades will still work.[&:]

taoist flyer

Thats actually what I was wondering, if a set of blades could be made that are the negative of the normal blades, so that both blades could spin in opposites directions canceling out the torque. I don't know if all the picoo z rotors out their turn the same direction, their may be a company making a clone that turns in the opposite direction.


This is the desert paint job for the apache, The texture was from a tank and modified, it's ok but I'll try to do a better one.

noobrider

The props definately wouldn't work in reverse however it wouldn't be too much trouble making a new prop from a yoghurt carton. The curvature is correct and it just needs a template angled at about 60degrees to get the correct thrust. It would need to be a two piece prop prop though and some work around a hub and how to attch it is needed. Another thing to come out of my indoor rubber powered plane days.

Unfortunately the rear prop of my little fairy 300 has stopped working so I've order a couple of new helicopters. I'll now use the original as a working template for future scale bodies. Might have a bash at the tail section of the Huey tonight

taoist flyer

I have seen a guy using a homemade rotor on his picoo z, and I remember the videos of the first picoo z that was totally homemade, I think he used cf sheets for his rotor, but I know my skills aren't up to that challenge yet. Then again I may be selling myself short.

I finished my coast guard rescue paper body, it looks better then it flies.

I think I'm going to try an md 500 next but i need to get some Styrofoam roof insulation because paper just wouldn't cut it.

As for tail rotors I've killed a few tails myself, my last one to die was on a 6 channel, it died just as I said to my brother " I wounder what would happen if my tail rotor died" i guess you shouldn't tempt fate while flying.

noobrider

gotta just promote this site http://www.indoorflyer.co.uk/index.asp there are loads of great bits for tiny chopper flyers. check out the carbon fibre and ball race upgrade kit. I'll order one and do a report.

started on the tail tonight but snapped the first version.gave up for the evening as i was a bit too tired to concentrate, spent most of the evening researching different bodies i could make

taoist flyer

This is another great one
http://www.piccoztoolbox.no-ip.com/
under plans they have 2 sections of custom models with 30 or so different custom body designs pre-packaged, most of them are them are for the picoo z.

noobrider

that site never lets me connect, it always times out...even the cached google version

taoist flyer

that sucks, I don't know what the problem could be, it is a pretty nice site, but it is someones home made site so it doesn't surprise me that it is twitchy, i'll see if i can fiend the same info posted some wear else.

mrasmm

most of that info is also posted on the piccoZ thread in RCU, I think there is 3 or 4 of them now, so it's a ton of info to read. I've got a few mods on that http://www.piccoztoolbox.no-ip.com/ website =)

noobrider

finally managed to get on the toolbox site by using a proxy host. Looks like I'm kinda digging up some old ground here that people have already done. Not to worry though, hopefully we can revive the interest in making these little beauties even better. Love the seaking one even found a video of it on youtube http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4hwxEhwpB0s

taoist flyer

That is so nicely built, and it flies like a champ, I'm gonna go to keepvid and download that video from youtube,
I hope we can spark more interest in this, i expect some day company's like airhogs will make interchangeable bodys, but i have a fealing they won't look as cool as these homemade ones.

So hows the Huey coming along, How do you plan on painting it.

noobrider

coming along bit by bit

noobrider

Not sure whether to do an Army green or a coast gaurd look. My new blades came today and they are superb quality much better than the Syam ones. The fly bar is a steel rod with two small brass weights and all the linkages are are very sharply moulded. The blades themselves are lighter and more flexible. I got 5 sets for 99p and £3.49 p&p from ebay. I have 2 more hughes style choppers on the way so looking forward to them 2 for £23.00 including p & P again from ebay.

I also placed an order for the ball race and CF rod kit from indoor flyer along with some foam blocks for carving and a new tail motor and battery. Fancy making a seaking along with a puma nd a lynx. Might even have a bash at a gazelle.

Photo of new blades below. and one of a body I just carved up...no particular model but loosely huey ish

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

Can you blow this up to fit an AXE CP?

noobrider

there is no reason why you can't use the foam carving method for any size aircraft. I used to make a lot foam airplanes with a very similar method only with white foam

taoist flyer

I sent that guy a message and asked him to post his plans for that see king hear, he says it flies better then the stock picoo z, it dos look really nice in the air.

noobrider

got my order from indoor flyer today, 2 ball race and cf kits new battery and rear motor. motor isnt the right one though i ordered the wrong one. the shaft is too small. anyway i'll wait for my 2 new choppers and upgrade them they should be here in the next few days

also got some blue foam so will carefully consider what scale choppers i want to make.

having some serious flying withdrawl symptoms. nearly bought a couple of copters off ebay to satisfy

taoist flyer

oh man heli withdrawal sucks, I have been their so many times, I have 3 or 4 rc vehicles around the house that I purchased strictly because I couldn't fly my helis.

noobrider

At last...just received an email at work from my wife letting me know my Helicopters have arrived in todays post...the rest of the working day will seem like a very long one. Will also have to buy some paint and a brush to finish off the Huey.

noobrider

well 2 new copters recieved packing was very poor and one of the rotors was badly bent, however after a few hours at room temperature it has returned more or less to normal.

The rotors are the same as the replacements I received earlier and the whole model is identical to the fairy hughes bar an additional tail rudder attached to the boom. Both fly very weel with one of them flying slightly better than the other as the control seems a little smoother. They both feature a nice cut off switch that kicks in if the rotors get stuck under power. You have to turn the Heli off and back on to reactivate.

The coolest feature is the trim switch which is a rotating dial on the transmitter. It seems that once set they retain their trim. Looks like either the receiver or transmitter chips have had some additional programming. Very impressed for the price although deliver and packaging was poor. £23 GBP for 2 is a good price and I am impressed. at least I can now get some flying in. I'll post some pictures once I take the grin off my face and run down a set of batteries