🚁 Dhruv (India): step-by-step build

A nimble Indian helicopter in the red and white of the Sarang display team.

The HAL Dhruv is a helicopter designed and built in India. It carries people and supplies, rescues people from floods and mountains, and the Sarang display team flies it in red and white. This is a Technic-parts model inspired by it, not a real flying machine: red and white beams make the body, and the rotor spins freely on its mast.

• Level 2 of 5 (easy)
• About 35 minutes
• 20 steps, 60 parts
• Powered by: Push
• Series: Aircraft from 21 Countries

What you will learn

• Pins: Grippy or Smooth: Pins join beams together — some hold tight, some let things swing.
• Triangles Are Strong: A triangle cannot be squished — a square can.
• Axles: An axle is a cross-shaped rod — anything on it turns together.
• Axles & Wheels: A wheel on an axle turns dragging into rolling.

Parts you need

• 4 × Beam 13
• 4 × Blue long pin
• 27 × Black pin (grippy)
• 7 × L-beam 3×5
• 4 × Beam 3
• 1 × Beam 15
• 3 × Beam 5
• 1 × Beam 11
• 1 × Long pin-axle block
• 1 × Axle 4
• 2 × Bush
• 1 × Axle 6
• 3 × Train wheel
• 1 × Axle 3

Steps

1. Lay the cabin floor: take a white 13-hole beam, then push 1 black pin and 1 blue long pin in and press a white 13-hole beam onto them.
2. Add the corner posts and the landing-gear legs: push 2 black pins in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg up: a cabin corner post) onto them.
3. Add the corner posts and the landing-gear legs: push 1 black pin in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg up: a cabin corner post) onto them.
4. Add the corner posts and the landing-gear legs: push 2 black pins in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg up: a cabin corner post) onto them.
5. Add the corner posts and the landing-gear legs: push 2 black pins in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg down: the nose-wheel leg) onto them.
6. Add the corner posts and the landing-gear legs: push 2 black pins in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg down: a landing-gear leg) onto them.
7. Add the corner posts and the landing-gear legs: push 2 black pins in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg down: a landing-gear leg) onto them.
8. Build the tail boom and the cabin walls: push 1 blue long pin in and press a clear 3-hole beam (the back seat window) onto it, then push 1 black pin in and press a red 15-hole beam (the long tail boom) onto it.
9. Build the tail boom and the cabin walls: push 2 black pins in and press a clear 5-hole beam (the cockpit window) onto them.
10. Build the tail boom and the cabin walls: push 2 black pins in and press a red 5-hole beam onto them.
11. Build the tail boom and the cabin walls: push 1 black pin and 1 blue long pin in and press a white 3×5 L-beam (short leg up: the tail fin) onto them.
12. Put on the roof: push 1 black pin and 1 blue long pin in and press a red 11-hole beam onto them.
13. Put on the roof: push 2 black pins in and press a red 3-hole beam onto them.
14. Put on the roof: push 1 black pin in and press a red 5-hole beam onto them.
15. Fit the rotor mast and the rotor: push 2 black pins into the top beam and press the long pin-axle block onto them.
16. Fit the rotor mast and the rotor: stand an axle in the block, drop on the two black rotor beams crossways and cap it with a bush (the rotor spins freely on the mast).
17. Add the tailplanes: push 1 black pin in and press a red 3-hole beam onto them.
18. Add the tailplanes: push 2 black pins in and press a red 3-hole beam onto them.
19. Put on the wheels: push a 6-long axle through both legs and put a wheel on each end.
20. Put on the wheels: push a 3-long axle through the leg, with a wheel on one side and a bush on the other.

Play time

Flick the rotor to spin it, then hover the helicopter around the room in your hand!

Real-world inspiration

HAL Dhruv, the Indian twin-engine utility helicopter, in Sarang display team colours.

Credited demonstrations and component sources

• HAL Dhruv — Wikipedia: Public reference for the real aircraft's shape and colours; this is a Technic-parts model inspired by it, not a flying or tested replica.