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HELIGATOR.COM
So how did this bizarre combination of helicopter and alligator come to be? Well, it all started back in 1997 when the family went to New Orleans for a 2 week vacation. We all went on one of those bayou tours. They fed chicken to the gators right off the side of the boat and we saw a BIG one! Afterwards, they had all different sizes of real gator heads for sale at the gift store, so I bought one of the smaller ones. Not having a good spot for it at home, it ended up in one of our vases. Last year, my wife says, "When are you going to get rid of that blasted gator head?" So being in full heli addiction mode then, the wheels started churning away. The size was just about perfect to stick it on the front of my raptor canopy. So I screwed it into a wood block through the canopy, but it ended up being too heavy. But the idea was born, and I found a rubber gator that was the perfect size at one of those Nature Stores. Next I got a new canopy and used some auto bondo to fill out the windshield area. Then I painted it and attached the head/tail/feet. For the feet, I removed the skids and the rubber stretched over the struts to hold them on.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Mostly I just like to show it off for the kids and turn some heads at a funfly.
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