Model of a local Bell 407 Medevac Helicopter

[droomangroup]

Hey all,

I live in Moab UT which has more than its share of back country accidents and injuries and we have one of the busiest SAR teams in the country. I wanted to make a replica of our local helicopter but was a bit dismayed at first when i saw it's very elaborate paint job. At first i was going to do the graphics with decals, but i'm happy that i tried it with bricks as i think it came out great and provided some fun challenges to figure out. 

The windscreen is a old helicopter windscreen from like the 90's that's a bit taller than the similar one that's more recent. it's a shame it only came in trans clear though as a tinted one would have looked better. You can see i added some yellow stripes to it in order to break it up into the front split window and the side windows. All other decals are made by me on a vinyl cutter.

This is one of the first really complex builds i've made in Studio (after finally ditching LLD) and I'm really happy with the result. there was only a few things studio tricked me into thinking would work, but actually didn't. thankfully i figured out some workarounds. 

record player for scale :)

nose detail

a view of the interior and some inner workings of the tail boom, i used 6L bar running thru 1x1 4 sided snot bricks to give it some stiffness 

here's two little tricks i did, first i used some round plates through an axle so i could position the 1x2 modified plate with the bars on each side to just the right position to allow some clips on the side walls to clip into it. then my favorite little trick was making a way to mount the 1x1x2 snot brick in the center rear to hold up the tail detail at the bottom of the boom. i used a 3L bar thru some 1x1 round plates with holes and the 2x2 modified plates with roundy bits on the end to flip the stud direction and give me a way to mount that brick right where i needed it. the connection is very strong and works great!

here's a view of the base layer of snot bricks that allows me to get a nice curved bottom, i wasn't sure how this was gonna work out, but it worked great. 

finally here's a picture of the real thing...

 

 

[Sven J]

A great model with some clever building techniques!

To build that paint scheme must have been a nightmare...

Edited August 3, 2021 by Tenderlok
Typo

[Shiva]

Thumbs up to you! I do like what I see.

[droomangroup]

1 hour ago, Tenderlok said:

A great model with some clever buildig techniques!

To build that paint scheme must have been a nightmare...

thanks! the colors were daunting at first, but it made for a fun challenge and it makes the finished build way more exciting. As for technique, it's funny, with this build i realized the fun part of designing something on the computer is that it still leaves a bit of the unknown for you to experience when you build it. I did a few tricks in here that i wasn't sure if they were going to work out, so when they did it made the build out a lot more fun. I used a few weird tricks to make the tail boom as structurally sound as possible while keeping it slim and it was rewarding to see it all work out.

 

[Sven J]

1 hour ago, droomangroup said:

the fun part of designing something on the computer is that it still leaves a bit of the unknown for you to experience when you build it

As I always design my models with Stud.io before building them in reality, I know what you mean.

[Lasse D]

What a beautiful recreation! I'm especially impressed with how you have designed the rotor hub and the small details there. I know how devious of a design detail that can be to recreate.

[droomangroup]

4 hours ago, Lasse D said:

What a beautiful recreation! I'm especially impressed with how you have designed the rotor hub and the small details there. I know how devious of a design detail that can be to recreate.

thanks! and thanks for noticing the rotor hub :) i was very excited when figured that bit out. It looked too plain when it had nothing and really needed some details there. I used an older 80's style X shape rotor piece because the new style one only have studs on top, but nothing on the bottom. With the older style I could connect the blades on the bottom and use some modified plates to created some details on the top which worked out great. I had forgotten that the older style has a bigger hole and isn't that snug on the technics pin/axle, but it holds on well enough with some technics spacers and with the looser connection it spins very nicely.

 

[BrickWild]

In the 9th photo, I can see an Airstream trailer behind! Is that one of your models? ;-)

[droomangroup]

4 hours ago, BrickWild said:

In the 9th photo, I can see an Airstream trailer behind! Is that one of your models? ;-)

yup :) good eye. I'll post some pics of that soon. that was a fun build, though chromed bricks are expensive!

 

[BrickWild]

On 8/6/2021 at 1:49 AM, droomangroup said:

yup :) good eye. I'll post some pics of that soon. that was a fun build, though chromed bricks are expensive!

 

And so's the white pickup truck.

[buses n bikes]

@droomangroup Any updates on that Airstream? I have a Bambi and would love to see your Lego version!

Edited November 22, 2021 by buses n bikes