helicopter updates

While completing the helicopter tear down I found the turbo's under the seat.

Whew! I thought they were lost! They were also there with a mighty huge mouse house. Full of dirt and poop and stink. Those boards will need replacing.


Today I spent the morning buying new parts and using my new (craigslist) table saw to make the back, top, and bottom pieces. I had to borrow my neighbors jigsaw to make the round cuts for the sides. I tried using the router for the windows in the back wall and they turned out terrible and I had to recut the back wall. A jigsaw was my only option. The sides don't match perfectly, but neither did the originals.


Tomorrow I plan on assembling the cabin and maybe build the skids.

Oh, and the only thing I was able to keep was the pvc. Plastic lasts forever, plywood doesn't. I thought I might be able to keep the steps, but I realized that even those are rotted out.

And thanks Mandy for the paint theme idea! I'll go with the bumblebee colors. I'm going to try and commission the neighbor lady to paint a tough looking bumblebee on the sides.

the story of a boy and his helicopter

When I was a mere boy, my grandpa built me a helicopter. It was made out of pvc pipes, plywood, 2x4s and had a cb. It didn't fly, but it was really cool. So now, years gone by, the helicopter was passed to my cousins and now it has been passed to Xander and Josie. Being that it is made of plywood and is more than 25 years old it needs some rework.

Here is a picture before I started the rework. That's the plexiglass window in the cockpit. The rod across the front is a support.


Here is an interesting fact about my grandpa, he only bought green and yellow paint. I swear. And my uncle kept with that same theme when he repainted it for my cousins, but just a different shade.

Here is a picture of the propeller, it's going to be replaced. Can't fly rescue missions with a bum whirlybird.




After Xander got up from his nap he helped me take the rear rudder and the roof off.



The rear rudder is broken in the middle and needs to be replaced. The part where it is broken is where the rear roof fastened to the rear tail.


Here are the cockpit controls. No wonder it never flew, no fuel or oil. I'll have to add some more switches and buttons. Another 10 or so just might send Xander into toddler ecstasy. That boy loves switches.



I got all the parts with it except for the turbo pipes. Those were just 5" diameter pvc pipes mounted on the rear roof.

Any suggestions on color?

gross

I was helping my brother in law move last night and boy do I have stories for you!

I was holding one end of a loveseat, we turned it upside down to set it in the back of the truck and as we did a fingernail clipping fell out onto my arm. How disgusting is that?

In his defense this is a hand-me-down couch and who has done what on it. Still, someone chewed on their fingernail and either spit/dropped/threw/lost it in the loveseat.

The fingernail was in addition to all the crumbs other clods of dirt that fell out of it when we turned it over. The fingernail just happened to land on my arm and not bounce off.