NTS&B Catastrophy narrowly averted

The local news helicopter was busily taking pictures of the work being done on the City Hall air conditioning unit, when it drifted too close to the work zone and got tangled up in the crane cables.  The weight of the helicopter almost caused the crane to topple over.  Fortunately the boom on the crane ended up resting on City hall and even though it was precariously balanced on only 2 wheels, the crane manged to hold the helicopter while rescue workers struggled under the highly dangerous  conditions.   Miraculously, no injuries were reported.

NTS&B New Helicopter Car

My trusty PicooZ Helicopter that my son got me years ago gave up the ghost, so I decided to create a new one this year.  This time, I started out with a $15 Propel Chrome Flyer from JC Penny's.  The helicopter runs way too fast, so I added some wait on the tail end.  Even with that, when I put in the front wheel stop like the previous flat car version, the helicopter wanted to stand on its nose during taking off instead of leaving the car.  I ended up putting stops in from of the wheels in the center section, which solved the problem.  I used carpenter glue on all of the stacked up 'ties', then hot glued them to the car. Here are some pictures of the old and new versions in case you want to build your own:

 Original version. Stops in front of helicopter.

New version. Stops in back of helicopter. Rest of design about the same as the original. The rubber band on tail is to keep the nose up a little to slow it down.  Still seems trickier to fly than original.

Front view

The 2 Helicopter cars together.