Make a Balloon Animal

Visit my gallery page to find instructions for all balloons previously posted.

Charles Dolbel's

2 Balloon Helicopter


Charles Dolbel designed this quick but impressive helicopter and sent me the instructions. My version is only slightly different from his original, and is a little more cartoon-like.

Charles is a professional entertainer based in Auckland, New Zealand. In addition to balloons, he has several other skills, including fire performing, juggling, and unicycling. You can contact him here by email.

Rotors

A 160 is best for the main rotors, but a 260 works well too. Inflate it almost all the way, leaving about 3 inches uninflated. Make a 1/2-inch pinch twist in the knot end followed by three large loop twists for the blades, leaving about 3 inches of balloon left at the end.
Arrange the loop twists like the spokes of a wheel with the pinch twist on one side and the short end on the other. Make a 2-inch bubble in the short end, followed by a 1-inch pinch twist. Deflate and remove any remaining balloon.

Body

Using a 260 with a 3-inch tail, make a 2-inch pinch twist hiding the knot in the middle. Make a 6-inch bubble, 1-inch, 3-inch, 1-inch and 6-inch. Twist the end of the 6-inch with the 2-inch ear twist to make a triangle.
Pinch twist the two 1-inches; they are the wheels and the triangle is part of the body and undercarriage. With the remaining balloon, bend it a little and push the end through the triangle. Adjust the length and shape of the bend so that from the side it looks like the cockpit.
Bend the remaining 'tail' to point upwards a little. Then leaving at least half, make a 1-inch ear twist and then a 2-inch ear twist.
Put the 2-inch underneath with the 1-inch on top, making the rest of the balloon point upwards more sharply than before.
Use the rest of the balloon to make a motorbike tire. (A soft loop with a small round bubble tucked inside it). This is the tail rotor.
Twist the ear twist at the top of the helicopter and the ear twist after the 2-inch bubble on the rotors around each other a few times. Arrange them so that the rotors stick up and away from the main body.

Charles Dolbel




 

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