funkey8

Feb 6, 2001
Not much happening to it this past week. Cleaned up the stripe mess by re-taping the lines and brushing on the black where needed. It actually came out okay, but not as perfect as I'd like it!

A friend cut the CHP letters from a vinyl cutter at his work. They came out perfect and applied nicely. He's working on the "N" numbers now, so I should have them by this weekend. The CHP star decal is still in the works. A couple of attempts produced okay results, but still not perfect. I'm gonna attempt to make them myself to relieve the original maker (thanks, Joe!) of the hassle of re-doing them over and over. I let you know how it goes when I get the supplies to do it. The CHP star you see in the pics is just a print of the .jpeg I'm using as a master for the decals. I stuck it on with masking tape just to check size and looks.

I made the antenna yesterday using a tip from Joe Howard. I used a piece of plastic coated wire from the LHS and stripped the plastic off the top half of it, then tapered the plastic to the bare wire. I then mixed up some Bondo, dropped a blob on a piece of waxed paper, stuck the wire in it, and held it there until the Bondo set. I then trimmed the blob until it was shaped like the base you see in the picture. A quick coat of white spray paint, and it's done! Very easy and quick!

The wire cutters are not the ones I posted a couple of pages back. Those turned out to be too small, so I re-made them a bit larger. The wires from the cutter are the same plastic coated wire I used for the antenna. BTW, the antenna and wire cutters are just sitting on the fuse, not permanantly secured yet. I still need to paint the cutters. I'll attach them after I clear the fuselage, so if they snap off, they won't take the paintjob with it!

Jan 9, 2001
I made the decals using MicroScale Trimfilm clear decal paper. I used the image I made (the one to the left is the file I made. If anyone needs it, there you go!) by taking a picture of a temporary tattoo a CHP friend of mine gave me. I cleaned it up and sized it to 2". I copied the image to a Word .doc (fit 8 of them on one sheet) and took the floppy and decal sheet to Kinko's. They printed a copy of the file using a color laser printer, then copied the sheet to the decal paper on a color copier. It turned out great! When I got home, I coated the decal sheet with 2 coats of MicroScale MicroSet, which seals the ink down so it doesn't run when you dip the decal in water. After letting it dry for a few hours, I cut the decals out and applied them. It went very easy and the decals laid down nicely. Overall, it was a great learning experience and it's nice to know I can make a decal of just about anything I can put on a floppy disk!! By the way, I got the decal stuff from the local model train hobby shop. I guess the train guys make decals all the time! All I have to do now is the "N" numbers and clear it and it'll be just about done!

Here's a couple of pics of the OS .50 in the Raptor. I bought the engine, mount, and fan from CyberHeli. It's a bolt-in deal, no crank cutting or frame trimming. Works great. The muffler is an Century 3033A. The engine runs great with it, and it'll fit in the fuse.

The fuel tank is a Sullivan 14oz #742 flex tank. It fits in there nicely. I uncrewed one frame leg from the landing gear and spread the frames enough to slide it in. I got the idea for the tank from one of the message boards. Thanks!

Put the red stripes on the SAB 600mm CF blades using Monokote trim sheet. Can't wait to see what they look like in the air! The full size CHP heli has the striped blades.

In case you're wondering, I attached the header tank on both my Raptors using velcro! I made a ply plate that's bolted to the side frames, and used sticky backed velcro tape to attach the two. It's held up perfectly through loops and rolls in my other Raptor, so I'm confident it'll work in this one, too!

Feb 11, 2001
Here's a couple of pics of the "N" numbers. They're vinyl stick-on letters my friend made for me. Like the CHP letters, they laid down nicely with only minor "tenting" over the rivets. I'll burnish them down again just prior to clearing the fuse.

Flew the Raptor 50 today. The blades look great in flight! It really makes them visible. On another note, the 14oz tank is chaffing on the frames. It seems to be moving around, even though I Gooped it in place. I may go back to the stock one...