Flying swings in a bottle

 I had a spare 1 gallon bottle lying around and after months of thinking and planning, I finally came up with a solution to a “Flying swings” roundabout in the 1 gallon bottle.

The whole model, apart from the figures, was constructed from wooden tongue depressors, a cardboard tube and dowels.  The swing chairs were made with wood, glitter cord to simulate the chains, wire hangers and metal crimps, all from a bead shop.

THE BASE PLATFORM

After installing the first base design in the bottle, I was not happy with it. I went to buy another 1 gallon bottle, only to find that they were discontinued, so I managed to break the first base out and re-use the bottle.

I re-designed the base and was pleased with the result after successfully inserting it into the bottle.

I designed it to rotate on a centre bearing as I hope to eventually rotate it with a servo from an rc model, modified to run continuously.

The bearing carrier and its bearing were inserted in the bottle and glued to the base.

Resin was poured inside the bottle and rooibos tea leaves were sprinkled over the resin before it cured. This formed the “ground”.

The platform outriggers were then glue in place.

Finally, the planking was glued in place.

The centre column (cardboard tube), was now prepared to accept the primary canopy frames.

It was covered with 160gm card printed with a pattern.

The figures were now made from plastic toy soldiers, modified by cutting off all the army stuff and repositioning the arms and legs with superglue and bicarbonate of soda.

The figures were now painted with acrylic paint.

The seats were made from the tongue depressors and the “chains” were attached to the seats and crimped together to form loops at the top for mounting on the wire hangers.

The “passengers” were then glued to their seats.

CANOPY

The canopy primary and secondary frames were now made. The primary frames had the metal hangers attached.

The primary frames were each fitted with their swings and inserted into the bottle and glued into place.

When all eight primary frames were glued in place, the secondary frames were fitted.

The covering pieces for the canopy were printed on 160gm card, cut out, test fitted and then glued in place on the top of canopy frames.

The centre shaft was now extended with dowel and tube, covered with patterned paper and the top prepared for the motor.

I modified a servo to run continuously by removing the control circuit board and potentiometer, cutting off the travel stop on the final gear wheel and connecting a 1.5v battery directly to the motor. I made a housing for the servo and battery from some scrap plastic and wired it through 2 brass contacts which operate the motor when the housing is pressed together.