G-HIP: The Crate-Built Chibi Helicopter

G-HIP is a hand-drawn dieselpunk chibi helicopter built from a wooden packing crate, a riveted tin-can engine, a bicycle chain drive and a single yellow-tipped rotor blade: a flight of pure imagination that looks as though it taxied straight out of a tinkerer's workshop.

The fuselage is a humble crate with its registration stencilled across the side in faded service yellow. At the front a riveted metal nose cone gleams with an amber-tipped sheen, while a jaunty blue fin perches on top like an afterthought of aerodynamics.

The real charm lies in the engineering. Power supposedly comes from the tin-can engine crowned with a domed orange cap, feeding the rotor that sweeps overhead. Below, the machine reveals its secrets: a Pratt & Whitney pressure gauge frozen mid-reading, a chemical bottle plumbed in with copper piping, a tangle of red, blue and green wiring, and a cheerful OFF/ON toggle switch that surely decides everything. Bicycle chains loop over toothed sprockets to drive the whole improbable affair, all of it rolling on stout little wheels with bright red hubs.