I had a few odds and ends laying about, so, of course, I had to build something! Below is my completed wire helicopter project. Took about an hour. Very pleased with the result! The main rotor spins really well when I pick up the helicopter. My three year old son will love it!

Supplies:

Metal rods (Aluminum I believe)

Random assortment of gears (I didn't use all of them)

Paper clips

Rubber bands (x3)

Step 1: Creating the Main Rotor

Here we go! To start, I bent the first metal rod into a flat S curve. To help reinforce the shape and give a nice look, I then wound one rubber band on each propeller. To get the propeller to stay on the rod, I pushed on the smallest gear and interweaved a rubber band to get the rotor to stay on.

Step 2: Main Frame

Using three separate metal rods, I bent out the basic shape of a helicopter. I bent one rod to be a larger helicopter shape than the other two as this served as the middle of the helicopter. The next part was a little tricky, but I bent paperclips to hold the three metal rods in the exact shape I wanted. Once the paper clips were in place, the frame held well.

Step 3: Incorporating the Main Rotor and Rear Rotor

I used paper clips to hold the propeller metal rod against the middle body rod. Using the paper clips in this way allows the rotor to spin freely when I twist the bottom handle. Speaking of, once the propeller rod was held firmly in place, I bent the bottom to serve as a handle to twist, as well as to become a stand for the helicopter to rest on. It took some tweaking to get the balance just right, but I'm very happy with the resulting stability.

For the rear rotor, I simply added a gear to look like a spinning back propeller. To hold it in place, I used the my remaining paper clip.

And, voila! A fun, working helicopter out of office supply leftovers. Can't want to show my son!