Wednesday 8-5 Air Vehicle Puzzle

Air Vehicle Puzzle

I enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles so Larry thought I might like a different type of puzzle. ROKR builds a lot of different kits, some of them even have running parts. He bought me a Air Vehicle Puzzle, it came in a few weeks ago but I needed to finish my Winter Haven jigsaw puzzle before I started it.

I disassembled the Winter Haven puzzle so I could use the dining room table. The Air Vehicle kit has 229 wooden pieces plus a few other parts. The pieces were laser cut on six sheets of wood. The kit also had an assembly instruction book. Before assembling the kit we watched a YouTube video on assembling it.

Yesterday we started assembling the Air Vehicle. Larry and I worked on assembling the air vehicle for two hours and I worked on it for another hour and a half. We had to be careful when removing the pieces from the sheet of wood so you don't brake the pieces. As we assembled the pieces we had to build tools in order to put the inserts on the shafts. We made five different tools and each of the tools was a different depth. We used another tool to press the inserts on the shafts. After putting the top together we had to weave ten small wooden sticks through the balloon. By the end of the night we had assembled half of the air vehicle parts.

The instruction book and one of the wood sheet with pieces on it

The pieces used to assemble the air vehicle

The top of the air vehicle top

One of the sides of the bottom of the air vehicle

A set of wheels, a couple of gears and one of the bottom sides with wheels on it

Today we worked on the air vehicle for four and a half hours. During this time we installed the gears in the air vehicle. Once the gears were installed Larry tested it out to see if the gears were installed correctly. Then we installed the spring roll that controls the gears with a key. Next we assembled and installed the wheels. The last thing we did was put on the finishing touches: wings, anchors, life rings and sides. We installed the top to the bottom. The finishing product looks great.

The air vehicle with the main wheels on it

The tools we built to install the inserts and the tool used to press the inserts on

The finished product

The finished air vehicle actually works. Larry cranked the key that tightens the spring and the air vehicle took off across the floor, it is quite fast. It doesn't go too far but it was amazing. The air vehicle kit had a lot of detail and very very challenging. The kit is marked for people 14 and up but I am not sure how many 14 year olds would have the patience to put it together without breaking some of the pieces. I had a great time assembling the air vehicle.