Whirligigs

My buddy Rob is cleaning out his stash of stuff at the hardware store and gave me a book titled Whirligigs: Design and Construction. I've always loved these things and even though my shop is 20°F, I managed to make a batch of Carduelis tristis, the American Goldfinch.

Here is the prototype goldfinch. It is made out of pine and brass hardware.

Using the book as a guide, it was not obvious how to construct a propeller. The first treatment on propellers spoke in terms of cutting the propeller out of a blank. Much later in the book, a three-piece approach to propeller fabrication (i.e., left blade, center hub, and right blade) was presented. The dead-ends below were all carved or sawn. All the wings/propellers on my first flock of finches used the three-piece construction method.

If at first you don't succeed...

The birds move in response to wind from a PC cooling fan. Funny thing about PC cooling fans: you can use wire grills to keep fingers out of the fan blades. I added them after the fan drew blood.

A coat of paint brightens the birds.

Here is a close-up view of one of the birds.

Here is a detailed photo of the goldfinch in profile. Length of body is about 5-1/4". Length of wing is about 5-1/2".

American Goldfinch in Profile.