A Rubber band helicopter is a toy that can be made using some wire, a drinking straw, some cotton, some paper and a 3-inch long rubber band. It is a great toy that utilizes the elastic property of rubber bands - of course, to make the helicopter you will need a good quality rubber band so that its elasticity can make the helicopter fly.
Why make a helicopter?
Making a helicopter out of rubber bands is a great project for children. Younger children may need a little bit of help from their parents - There is no greater feeling than seeing your helicopter fly with your child.
The project teaches some basic physics as well - and is a great learning about the mechanics of flight. Flying has always been mankind's dream - and it is most exciting if you yourself can actually build something with your hands that can be made to fly. The Wright brothers, in fact, used a model quite similar to this kind of toy helicopter to inspire their dreams of flying.
The materials you need
The first thing you will need to make this toy is an ordinary drinking straw. Also you will need a piece of wire or a flexible piece of bamboo that is about 25 inches in length, some cotton yarn, a paper clip, some cardboard and a 12 inch long piece of thick paper. Besides this you will need glue and tape for sticking everything together. The most important part of the toy - the material that will actually make it fly - is the rubber band. It has to be a good quality one- about three inches in length - with good elasticity that you should test by stretching the band a couple of times before actually putting it to use. The entire flying ability of the helicopter rests on the elasticity of this band - so you don't want to go using the wrong sort of rubber band to make your toy.
How to make the helicopter
Making the helicopter is fairly simple. The first thing you should do is to loop the wire into circular shape and hold the ends together with tape. Then the yarn should be tied - in two separate pieces - across this loop - one towards the top and one towards the bottom. The yarn helps keep the loop in shape when the helicopter flies.
The rubber band goes on next - looped around the middle of one side of the circle and attached with the paper clip to the other side so that it stretches across the circle in between and parallel to the yarn.
Now the paper has to be cut into strips of different lengths - two of 3X12 inches and two of 6X3 inches for the wings. The cardboard should be cut into a 3X3 inch butterfly shape for the rotor and two 1X3 inch tabs.
The rotor has to be attached to the middle of the straw and the 3X6 inch strips of paper go on either end of it at right angles to the straw and parallel to each other; these things should be glued on.
The 1X3 inch cardboard is taped on either side of the band and the 3X12 inch paper is glued on each tab such that it extends at an angle of 30 degrees from the rubber band.
Flying the helicopter
Hold the bottom of the circle and push the rotor in between the two rubber band strands and wind it up - then throw the helicopter in the air and watch it fly. Remember to buy good quality rubber bands for your helicopter.
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