Placeholder for a Generic Helicopter - Delayed indefinitely

[arijitdas]

I have been greatly inspired by the various interesting builds that my fellow Eurobricks members are coming up with as part of the TC15 contest. This has also motivated me to build by first MOC. Being new to Lego Technic and having started with it only a year back in November, 2017 (never owned any Lego set before), it is a little difficult for me to decide what to build and how to build. Nevertheless I shall give it a try and will put in my best to come up with something that is worth presenting. Now one thing is very clear that one must build something that would be able to fly for this contest. On my part, I have decided to build a generic helicopter for the TC15. I hope I am able to complete this build by the contest deadline. Since I would mostly be building over the weekends the updates would be coming rather slow. I am also looking forward for inputs and criticism from the community as I make progress and wish to thank everyone in advance for the same. Below is my plan to finish the project on time.

1. Decide, build and test/troubleshoot functions – 3 weekends (Dec 5 to Dec 23)
2. Build internal structural framework to hold the functional elements in place – 2 weekends (Dec 24 to Jan 6)
3. Build the outer bodywork and external control elements – 2 weekends (Jan 7 to Jan 20)
4. Photography/Videography – 1 weekend (Jan 21 to Jan 27)

Edited January 16, 2019 by arijitdas

[Jurss]

Again - yes it doesn't look like reserving idea, but ...

[arijitdas]

Build Day 1 - 

So finally I took the first step of building my very first moc. I may not be doing everything right as this the first time I am building something on my own. I realized that it is much harder to build something when there is no instructions at all. I would greatly appreciate if my fellow members find any issues with my build and help me rectify them. So there has been some very small progress as listed below:

1) 6 Blade Rotor - Most of the time of the day's build was spent on figuring out how to align six blades in a single plane as I do not have any lego piece that has a hexagonal shape. I do not even know if there is any hexagonal piece in Lego at all. I tried multiple ideas but most of them failed but then was finally able to make a hexagon. 

2) A very simple 2 speed gearbox - did not want to go for anything more complex like a 4 speed gearbox as it will not make a very huge difference to the play-ability as this is going to be a helicopter. Had it been a car then it would have made some difference in in investing more time to make a better gearbox.

 

[letsbuild54]

Looks good so far.  In case your blade solution doesn't end up working out, Artic Helicrane, 60034, is 6 bladed and uses a hexigonal piece for attaching the blades. I haven't looked to see if it will work with those blades though.

[arijitdas]

Thank you for your inputs. I did look up the set 60034 and it provides the below hexagonal plate. I am not sure if it will work with the blades I have used. This is useful for the blade used in upcoming 42092.

Also, for now the current solution seems to be working fine. I shall have a better idea once i do some testing with the power function tonight. 

[Thirdwigg]

Try this for your rotor. 

[arijitdas]

3 minutes ago, Thirdwigg said:

Try this for your rotor. 

Yes I believe the solution that I have used may be similar to it. 

[nerdsforprez]

If a large six-bladed rotor, you may want to consider changing the name or something.  Six bladed rotor would be something large like a Super Stallion or something.  Anything but generic. 

In fact, I may side more toward your build..... Sup Stallions are among my favorite 'copters out there....

[arijitdas]

I have realized that I have a long long way to go before I can participate in a competition like this one. I am having a very hard time with integrating the gearboxes and various mechanisms and the body work. I think I need to start building simpler MOCs before aiming for contests likes TC15. I am very sorry that I could not present something this time. But I shall continue working on this project and shall update this thread as and when there is some meaningful update.