THE HELICOPTER

This helicopter is probably the most famous of all of Leonardo’s flying machines—but also one of the most impractical. It appears in only one sketch, but that sketch shows such a completely thought out and finished design, that it is hard to believe he just suddenly dreamed it up. It has a fundamental flaw that makes a human-powered version impossible. When the pilot or pilots pushed the handles to turn the wing, their feet would push the base in the other direction, so that neither would turn very fast. With more power, it might rotate fast enough to fly. Some people think Leonardo may have made a spring-powered model, and if he did, it might have hopped about a bit. This model won’t hop or fly, I’m afraid, but what it will do is look very nice on your desk!

1 Wrap the Core Part (1) tightly around a pencil, and glue the outside edge into place. Remove the pencil.

2 Here’s how it will look. The top circle should just touch the seam.

3 Fold up the triangular glue tabs on Wing Part (2) and Reinforcement (3). Turn both parts bottom up, and glue the Reinforcement to the Wing. Make sure the openings line up.

4 Glue together Wing Part (4) and Reinforcement (5) in the same way.

5 Turn both pieces right side up, and glue them together as shown.

6 Slip the Core through the hole in the center. Glue the triangular tabs to the core, so that the Wing fits right over the dotted line. The edges of the Wing should just touch the circles at each end of the dotted line.

7 Here’s how it will look.

8 Bend and glue Part (6) into a ring, and glue Parts (7) and (8) to the top and bottom, with the shaded sides facing out.

9 Pass the Core through the two holes. Push the Ring up until the top touches the dotted line and glue it into place.

10 Assemble Parts (9) – (11) as in step 8 to make the Handle.

11 Pass the Core through the Handle, but don’t glue it yet.

12 Glue the Core to the center of the Base (12). The dotted circle on the Base will show where that is.

13 Glue Supports (13) – (16) to the Base and the Core as shown. Dotted lines on the Base show where they go. Slide the Handle down on top of them and glue it into place.

14 Glue Struts (17) – (20) to the tabs on the Base and the upper Ring as shown.

15 All done!