ly appropriate to begin this engaging little critter. Although nopper has evolved w bright ey c-action legs have ensured that it h floppy antennae and remained one of my most ular toys over the years. Kids just can't resist pickin fe grasshopper up and playing with it. Its a fairly simple toy to build, though you do have areful with the glu 0 that it doesn’t interfere with the free ovement of the legs and wheels.Parts Preparation Parts List®* Bopy 1. Curt the body block slightly oversize, an Finished Dimensions Material ne pattern on p. 23 the body ick by2 6d ‘ish has beet 1 thek by TA ional appearance (see 3. Cut the front ana back whi 13, Redhil the aw Drill the offset leg-peg hole in each back wheel using a Vig 20 Project 1mark the ave for co th. Disassemble ends with lve pocker: ion (see p. 12) a the ane, sip a washer over the axle and insert the ade into the body. Glue the other whet eign cther: whee! and the body 2. Assemble the inside and out with a feg peg and just a dab of glue in the stopped hole in the outside leg. Don't get any glue on the inside leg section. Secure the assembled leg to the body wit again being sure n leg. The peg between the two should face in. (Note that position of the inside and out is leg peg can face out: t gallery on p. 56 shows both design options.) 3. Glu the back axe with 1e peg hole facing out and lett dry. Then ins _ eax through the washer betweer drysfit the second wr photo n the 2 back whee! wheel and the bod, and (0 glue yet ana be sure the leg-peg hole is facing out). Insert the leg pegs in each wheel and rotate the u wheel so the pegs are aligned, ass Now remove the whee! and a wheel, apply glue. and slid leg pegs are stil aligned from the wheels, assemble side, add a droo of gl mavernent of the A. Using a sko-set s nstall the pull st sdebar at right 9 a5 discussed in the When dry-assembling the back wheels, make sure the leg pegs are aligned. Installing Pull Strings Pull srngscan be added to almost any toy with wheels Strings are often atached with smallscrew eyes, but don't like to use them because thy can Cause injury it a child fallson the or create a choking hazard if they come loose To avoid screw eyes, Luse a neat ite trick tht involves diling a couple of holes and puling apiece of rylon Sting through the holes with a hot paperclip. Fist the holes One hole (hein dia) bs dled from the font of the toy: the second hole Ow in a) Grilled trom the bottom af the toy to Intersect the frst hole. Now comes the tricky part. With the toy upside-down, inser the string into Using a heated paper clip allows you to pull the string through the body of the ‘grasshopper. the front hole. Then heat a straightened paper clip and insert it into the bottom hole (see the photo at left below). The hot paperclip will Fuse itself to the nylon string (it may take several attempts). Gently pull the string out of the bottom hole (see the photo at right below), tle an oversized knot and fuse it with a match to prevent unraveling. Then pull the string from the front while pushing the knot back into the bottom hole. broceed with caution, because hot nylon will stick to your skin and burn, When adding the handle to the end of the string, tie a large knot on both sides of the handle so that it won't slide down on the string. Fuse the outer knot. The hot clip fuses itself to the nylon string. Grasshopper 21Grasshopper 23