My great granddaughter, Abbie, who's 4 years old, fell in love with my cuckoo clocks. She was fascinated with the little bird that made noise every hour and half hour. So last year for Christmas I made her a cuckoo Whirligig. I made the bellows whistles extra large and drive them with a 6 lobe cam staggered so the high note sounds first. The cam is rotated with a worm gear I made from 1/8'' brazing rod that the propeller is fastened to. The worm turns a large gear made from a piece of thin flooring with the cams attached to both sides. I had trouble carving an original bird like in the clocks, so I got online and found a Disney character that was easier to duplicate. While the whistles are driven from the top, the birds tail and beak are driven off the bottom by the same cams. timed to open and close it's beak as it cuckoos. It took a while to dial in, but it works great. Had to add a tail to keep the prop in the wind. Still trying to post a video.
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