Hey Guys,
Can anyone give me some ideas how to make a hovering helicopter look like its rotors are spining? I am in the process of creating BHD dio and I thought if I sand apaper the edges of the rotors it swill look blur and in turn look like tis spining. Any ideas would be greatfull. I am new to dios.

thanks
mrc

Two ideas
1. A large clear disk to replace the rotors. You can etch, with fine grit sand paper, some motion lines in the direction of rotation.

2. You can scratch build rotors with 'feathers' to show motion. here is a really rough scetch to give you an idea of what I'm talking about

Either of the above will work, but in 1/35 scale, they will just look like what they are. For large scales, the best bet is to just leave them alone. If you look at pic, you will see that some pics (higher speed films) freeze the rotors and you can see each blade.

depending on the helo concerned could you fit one of Tamiyas little motors

I don't know, me personaly I would leave them as is. Like Gino said, if you take a pic of a chopper, you can freeze the blades in place.

I would have to agree with Gino and Mike, leaving it alone may be the best bet, and the easiest way. Blades will freeze in a picture if its a fast enough camera. It also lets you see all the work you did on the model, and wont take away from the diorama.

Although Darren is also on an interesting path. Fitting a motor to it would give it a spin, and more dynamic look. And as long as it was constant and slower, you would get used to it quickly, meaning that while it draws instant attention, you wont ignore the rest of the diorama for too long.

May also want to keep the spin slow so that the rotor assembly and the blades don't fly apart. :-)

Guys, thanks so much for the advice. I will take on board all the advice. But I think leaving the rotors alone sound like the best and cheaper option. I am also a perfectionist and sometimes it bothers me when I can't do something I really want. Once finished I will have some pics. I am starting with a 1:144 scale as a test.

Mrc

Ya, leave them as is, just make sure they are very straight and stiff, as they straighten out because of the pull when they are going full speed, the blades on helo are acutaly very bendable, but when in motion they are very straight. good luck!!

The blades actually "cone" up when they are in flight and the rotor disk tilts forward for forward flight. The UH-60 has a 3 degree forward tilt built into the transmission and a 1.5 degree tilt to the left to counter act the translating tendency of the helicopter. The UH-60 also has a pre cone built into the rotor hub so there is less stress in the elastomeric bearings when the acft is in flight. Addittionally the Stability Augmentation Sysytem (SAS) causes eratic tip path movments to help in short term dampening or flexing.
If I knew how to attach a pic I would that displays a good example of all the above.
So the decision to leave them alone would probably be the best bet.
-Dan

I saw a picture somewhere where the modeller used a clear plastic cd-disk and painted the 'rotating' ..... on

a bit odd, but i did this once on a 1/48 spitfire.

i put a small battery run motor inside. and hid the switch underneath.
ans it was awesome! (well i was around 12 lol)

Maybe you could try plexi cut to the shape of rotating wings and delicately paint them with airbrush.

Andrzej

Its really is a matter of taste- but personally I have yet to find a truely reastic way other than, well, not adding them at all. My recomendation to you is to lop off the blases- the imagination of the viewer will add the blur.

i would try a clear piece of plexi ,fixed to the kit to represent the rotors in motion but what i would also do is paint very lightly on the plexi the direction of the rotors. now this can be done by fixing the plexi to a power drill and the spinning it , meaning the tips of the rotors where it is painted . you would get the proper shadowing effect along with capturing the motion within the paint job thus solving your problem. now as for the rotors themselves, very lightly trace a rotor on the plexi and paint it as a shadow , remembering that they are moving, so your not physically seeing the rotor, dont forget the equalizer on the top of the rotor like a huey has if thats what your modeling,
good luck i hope this was helpful

Ewan, what kind of helo are you doing anyway? just wondering? and the thing i would think about the plexi is would it be a little to heavy? i know that you would use very thin plexi but you got to consider the weight of the plexi. i would think anyway. and then would it cover a lot of your dio? i mean i know you can see through it but would it cover something that you are trying to show. like a MEDEVAC? if the guys are loading you would take away from that, or soing a speed ball or what ever. not to give away your idea or anything.

Hmmm. Since the thread is about 3 years old and the original poster had 7 posts, I don't think he is here any longer. I'm willing to bet he finished or gave up on the idea a long time ago as well. Its a good idea to check on the age of a post before blindly replying to a revived, long-dead post. Especially when those who replied gave the same ideas that were given 3 years ago.

AAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............good point!! didn't even post look at the date..

Just make sure that if you use a motor, use a small RPM motor. I did this one time with a 15k RPM RC motor, and it was so fast, it spun the blades clean off.

They are very inexpensive motors, and make your helo look really good if you can suspend it (or make it look like it's getting ready to take off).

The hardest part is hiding the wires.

I gotta say thanks for all the great ideas , as I am working on a Huey and might want to depict it with in flight blades spinning.........Al

Indeed, the cat's long gone (checked his profile: Last visit to forums 13th September 2006).

I've never built a helo (although I have a Dragon 1/35 Huey in the stash), but I'd also be inclined to leave the rotors as is.

Why? Because a dio represents a snapshot in time, much like a photo. So to have a rotor spinning when everything else is stationary just looks, well, wrong (sorry Darren - no motor!).

More than the rotor, my main concern in depicting a hovering helo would be how to make the hover look convincing - without visible support struts sticking out of the ground, that kind of thing.

- Steve

lol, I don't think this thread could have resurfaced at more of a coincidental time. My mind is coming back to modelling as Thanksgiving break approaches and I'll have to time to work on my diorama, so I go looking here for inspiriations and well, I see this...

I'm doing something similar-ish to this, and actually have pictures to prove it...

If you venture on the diorama sections of the ARC or FSM, chances are, you've probably seen it. I'm not planning on making the rotors appears as if they are spinning because there will be one or two soldiers fast roping down. Now, it's 1/72 but, still, it is atleast possible for one scale to support a helicopter with a somewhat realistic looking fast rope.





Then a picture of the roof

Take care,
Austin