Make Your Own Whirligig
A simple guidebook
Making your own whirligig can be a fun, hands-on project for the whole family. With a little bit of skill and a small amount of crafty prowess, we're sure you'll be an expert in no time!
Of course, the more you want the whirligig to do, the more complex it will be to make. Here's a set of instructions for a simple airplane whirligig.
You will need:
- 1/4-inch piece of sanded plywood
- A jigsaw
- Sawhorses
- A side-view picture of an airplane
- Some heavy plastic to make a propeller or a pinwheel
- Some long screws (approx. 2 inches long)
- A drill bit (larger than the size of the screw)
- A piece of half-inch dowel
- Some glass or plastic beads
Start by drawing a side picture of an airplane on the corner of the plywood. It won't have to be a perfect drawing. Then with your jigsaw, cut your line out, and you should have a close cut of the airplane.
Next, take your drill with the bit that is one size larger than the size of one of your 2-inch screws. If you drew the plane at 1 foot long, then you need to take a tape measure, and from the longest point to the next longest point, put a mark on the 6-inch mark. Then turning the plane upright, you can drill a hole at the 6-inch mark all the way through the plane.
Now take your plane and turn it up to the engine, and while holding it firmly, start another 2-inch screw into the front. After about five or six turns, back the screw completely out of the wood and insert it into one of the glass beads, and lay it aside.
Take your heavy plastic (that will bend), and begin to make a pinwheel by cutting the plastic into a square and then drawing a line from one corner to the opposite corner (right top-to left bottom), then do the other side, so that you will have an "x" in the center of your plastic. Now measure 1.5 inches from the center of the "x" and make a mark on all four lines. After doing this, you can cut the four corners to the 1.5-inch mark until you have cut all four lines. Now put a hole in each of the four corners and pull the holes to the center of the "x." After you have all the holes lined up, you take the screw with the glass bead already on it, and push it into the holes in the pinwheel, then screw that fixture to the front of the plane. Now that you have the propeller to the plane finished, there is only one thing left to do.
Take the 1 x 2 wooden strip or the half-inch dowel, and by putting the other 2-inch screw through the top of the plane, begin screwing it into the center of the wood strip. Do not screw it in too tightly, or it will not be able to turn with the wind.
If you would like to make your plane a little fancier, you could get some paint and a brush to paint your plane. You can even paint a pilot setting in the cockpit! There are hundreds of ways to personalize your airplane when you're finished to make it a one-of-a-kind family treasure.