A STEM Project: A World War I Airplane Carousel With a Zeppelin, Red Baron, SPAD and Sopwith Camel Aircraft

A World War I Airplane Carousel With a Zeppelin, Red Baron, SPAD and Sopwith Camel Aircraft

Here is a video of the WWI airplane carousel rotating by moving the gear.

 This World War I Airplane carousel moves manually when a gear is turned.  There are four aircraft represented in this design. They are a German Fokker, aka Red Baron, a Zeppelin, a British Sopwith Camel and a French SPAD. They are embellished with three dogs in their cockpits, a German shepherd, a British bulldog and a French poodle. The dogs represent the term dog fights. Dog fights was a term used to describe the aerial fights between two or more planes. 

The carousel represents the circus.  The German flight team was known as "The Flying Circus" due to the unit's brightly coloured aircraft and its mobility, including the use of tents, trains, and caravans to maintain the planes.

To make the carousel, use the file and directions in this blog posting. This will make a 5 inch canopy. If you would like to make a 6 inch canopy as shown in the last photo in this blog entry.  Use the canopy design from the World War II blog entry. (The World War I planes have shorter wingspans and I like the smaller carousel design. However, if you are making them to be displayed side-by-side, I recommend making the 6 inch carousel for both of them.)

https://papercraftetc.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-stem-project-making-airplane-carousel.html

I used 65 lb. foil cardstock in iridescent, blue, red, aluminum, light green and gold from Michaels to make the airplanes and carousel. I used Cricut acetate for the center column of the carousel. I recommend using Aleene's Tacky glue and tweezers for the adhering the small tabs. I used mini brads from Michaels to attach the propeller to the engine so that the propeller could rotate.

Here is the PDF.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ozWPg-JSIUHfH1vBAq7tWRuTM2Bit7jI/view?usp=sharing

Here is the .Studio file.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tli_PotD_HTVeoDDSrv1yE46n8ADS4QS/view?usp=sharing

Here is the SVG.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oePYs6Y_dK2tI-5qsSrJpBjCadBmEK5_/view?usp=sharing

All of the airplanes have the same construction.  I will show how to put together the Sopwith Camel. Follow these same instructions for the other two airplanes.  Please note, the Red Baron plane has a third set of wings which follow the same construction. The Red Baron's tail is a little different too.  It gets glued together after one tail is slide in from the backside and the other tail is slide from the frontside.

Cut out and arrange all of the pieces of the airplane.

Glue on the embellishments to the tail and top wing of the plane.

Bend the hanger in half, insert it into the hole near the engine(center of photo), splay the tabs and glue to the underside of the fuselage.

Splay the tabs of the tail upward and glue the undersides (nonmetallic side) together. Set this piece aside

Splay the crossbeams of the top wing upward at a right angle. Insert the outer crossbeams into the bottom wings slots. Make sure the wing is facing the correct direction before gluing down the tabs of the crossbeam.  The two center crossbeams will be attached to the fuselage later.

I like to use tweezers to make sure that the glued tabs adhere correctly.

Splay the wheel beams on the bottom wing at a right angle.  (Two tires have been glued in this photo.) Glue all four tires to the wheels. 

Glue a tire assembly at the bottom of the wheel beams...one on each side. 

Apply glue to the bottom wing and attach the wing with the wheels.

Glue the embellished top wing to the top wing.

Completed wing assembly.

Glue the two pieces of the propeller together.

Splay the bottom edge where the dog will be glued to the fuselage. Glue the two sides of the bulldog together and glue on the collar on each side of the dog. 

Crease the fuselage as shown.

Apply glue as shown and adhere to make the airplane shape.

I used two tweezer to adhere the glue.

Slide the tail onto the back of the plane.  Apply glue to the tabs and adhere with tweezers.

Bend the center engine piece backwards and glue the four sides of the engine compartment, one at a time. Use tweezers and let the glue dry before continuing with the next engine tab.

Cut the prongs of a mini brad.The one on the left is the original size.  The one on the right is the correct size which will fit in the engine compartment.

Attach the mini brad to the engine compartment by threading it through the propeller and engine compartment.

Apply glue to the three tabs of the engine compartment and close it to adhere.

Insert the British bulldog by gluing it to the interior of the cockpit.

Attach the wings by sliding it over the fuselage and gluing it underneath the fuselage as shown.

 SPAD with a British bulldog

Red Baron with a German Shepherd

Sopwith Camel with a French Poodle

The Zepplelin is constructed by gluing each tab and allowing it to dry before continuing to the next tab. The rudders are glued to the end of the airship.  The gondola is glued to the center bottom of the craft.

To make a WWII version (red canopy above) refer to my next blog posting (also if you would like to make a 6 inch canopy) https://papercraftetc.blogspot.com/2021/05/a-stem-project-world-war-ii-airplane.html