This chubby little 3D chopper is a must-have for any kids room with a transportation theme. And, with the free patterns and DIY instructions below, you can have your helicopter art finished and ready to hang in no time. Paint it in your choice of colors so that it’s a perfect match for your room decor.
If you’re thinking a set of 3D DIY transportation vehicles would be fun to have, you can find all the patterns and instructions to make a wood bus, car, airplane and other vehicles HERE.
supplies
- helicopter patterns DOWNLOAD HERE
- MDF (medium density fiberboard) or wood — 1/4 inch thick and 3/4 inch thick
- wood ball knob (3/4 inch)
- small wood dowel cap
- 3/4 inch diameter round dowel
- 3/4 inch diameter square dowel
- jigsaw or band saw
- strong glue like Gorilla Clear Epoxy
- sandpaper
- paint
- 14 inch x 14 inch square birch wood panel to use as a frame
step 1: download patterns
Download the helicopter patterns and print them out. Make sure that your printer is set to print at 100% scale so that the patterns print out at the correct size.
Cut out the pieces with scissors. Tape the two cloud patterns together to make one cloud pattern piece.
step 2: cut from wood
Trace the pattern pieces onto wood or MDF, noting the thickness needed for each piece. Use a jigsaw or band saw to cut the helicopter from a 3/4 inch thick board. Cut the clouds, propeller, and windows from 1/4 inch thick board.
To make supports for the skids and propeller, cut sections from a round wood dowel.
Cut a 5 inch section from the square wood dowel to go along with the sections that you just cut from the round wood dowel. These will be glued together to make a skid for the bottom of the helicopter.
Your project pieces will look like this after combining the pieces that you cut from wood along with a purchased 3/4 inch wood ball knob and dowel cap.
step 3: begin assembling pieces
To make a skid, glue the sections of the round dowel to the 5 inch section of the square dowel using wood glue or Gorilla clear epoxy.
To make the propeller, glue the wood ball knob to one side of the propeller and a small section from the round dowel to the opposite side.
For the tail propeller, glue the small wood dowel cap to the center.
step 4: prime & paint
Now you are ready for paint. To give the helicopter a pop of color, I used a bright orange paint (Behr Bonfire Night- P200-7) in a flat finish. Since Behr Premium Plus paint already has primer mixed in, I was able to go straight on with getting the color added. I had Home Depot mix the color as an 8 ounce Behr Premium Plus color sample, and the amount was more than enough to cover the entire helicopter. That is a budget-friendly way to get great colors (less than $4 each) and have the luxury of so many different shades to choose from. You can match the color scheme of any room.
If you are planning to use a paint that doesn’t have primer automatically added, it’s best to coat all the wood pieces with a water-based primer first. The primer helps to seal the wood and makes the paint adhere to the wood much better.
Use a couple of coats of paint to get good coverage. Sand in between coats with 320 grit sandpaper to get a smooth finish.
step 5: assemble the helicopter
Next, put everything together! Use a good adhesive like Gorilla Clear Epoxy to attach the windows, skid and propeller pieces to the body. This brand of epoxy is extremely strong and it dries in 5 minutes.
step 6: add clouds & attach to frame
You are now in the home stretch. To finish your 3D helicopter wall art, all you need to do is glue the helicopter and clouds to a square base.
I used a 14 inch x 14 inch square birch wood painting panel as my background. A wood panel gives the art added dimension and if you choose a good brand, you get a professional look. I also love that wood panels have an open back (like a tray). That makes it easy to hang the art on the wall by just slipping the back over the top of a well-placed nail.
As an alternative to using a birch wood panel, you can simply use some of your leftover MDF or wood scraps, and cut a 14 inch square to use as your base.
Add a couple of sawtooth hangers or D rings to the top back corners of the square, and you’re all set to hang on the wall.
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