does anyone have any suggestions on motorizing the main rotor on 1/72 scale helo models?i have been building model helos for a long time and want to add some action to them, i have been using grain of wheat lighting on them and now want to motorize them. any help would be appreciated.

I did it a few years ago on a 1/32 AH-1G Cobra. I used the motor and gears from an RC car. It was kind of large, about the size of a C cell battery. They have cheap pager motors you can get now. They are really small and would fit in a 1/72 fuselage w/no problems. You can also get micro gears at Radio Shack or a hobby shop for RC cars and planes. Run the wire out the bottom, or disguise it as a fuel hose or something and hide the batteries in a raised base. Add a clear disk for the tail rotor and you are set.

I also used LEDs to light up all the nav and position lights, and the cockpit on the Cobra as well.
Good luck.

You might even be able to use the guts from one of those RC micro-copters. They cost around $30 (AUD) and include rechargeable battery and the works. The motors are tiny. You would need to work out a way to reduce the speed though as they spin pretty quick.

Grubby.

yeah, go to walgreens and get their el-chepo rc micro copter, just be ready for micro wiring with it and to leave a USEABLE charging jack for the LiPo battery.