This was the first project I really spent some time on (the rest was more practicing). I know it’s not nearly as great as other people can create with blender, but I think it’s quite nice.
It’s a bit dark, and there are no shadows, but other than that it looks nice.
I tried to make it look like it was evening, and I wanted shadows, but when I turn on ‘Ray Shado’, everything in the shadow will turn completely black, like on the moon.
Maybe you can use Ambient Occlusion then.
oh thanks, that’s about just what I need. But I won’t use it for the helicopter anymore, because that one’s finished. I’ll use it in my next project.
It was like the moon because that’s exactly the way you set it up - There’s nothing else lighting up the scene other than the sun. Maybe a Hemi light for the blue sky, and some lamps in the hangar would have made your raytraced shadows look much better.
Some outdoor lighting tutorials would help you out. Google is your friend. (I wonder how many times this sentence has been repeated…)
thanks for the tip, I will do some lighting tutorials 
I can hear it whispering: *master, give an area lamp with raytraced soft shadow … but turn it down to 0.1 or so so it won’t burn my face badly …"