A Sky Mobile From Scrap

Rick Wheaton’s clever scrap mobile build features some bandsaw and fretsaw work, steaming and bending, a bit of lathe work and some nifty balancing at the very end.

I recently took delivery of a shiny new bandsaw, and once the excitement had died down, I had to do something with the pallet it came on. Normally they’re destined for the wood stove, but the chunks of 100 × 50mm were straight grained and far too nice to burn. Some recycling was in order.

Turning the fuselage & making the wings

Also that week I spent a day with my great-nephew Harvey, who gets very excited when he sees things in the sky. Planes, birds, clouds – he points and laughs at all of them. Fortunately he’s allowed to, he’s only 14 months old, and as he’s about to move into his own bedroom, a toy plane to hang over his cot seemed like a nice thing to make. 

I cut out a 50 × 50mm baulk, and turned it into a fuselage on the lathe; cut some strips for the wings and propellers (that bandsaw was lovely!) and with the help of some BBQ skewers for struts, the little plane quickly took shape. I love making biplanes; the two strutted wings look quite authentic, and they’re easy to make. Lay one wing over the fuselage to see where the struts go, mark these with a pencil, and lay this wing exactly over the other on the bench. Now drill eight holes (the same diameter as your skewers or dowels) and drill through both wings.

Before you separate them, mark each wing so you know which way is up and forward! Now cut eight struts to exactly the same length, sandpaper a tiny point on the end of each strut (like a pencil) and push a strut into each hole on the lower wing – pointed end up. Each hole has a dab of glue in it (stop the glue running through with strips of tape), and now put a dab on the top of each strut. It’s a bit awkward to push each strut through the matching hole on the top wing – this is where you’ll like those pointed ends.