Hot Hobbies & Toys How-Tos « Hobbies & Toys

How To: Make a Balloon-Powered Paper Plate Racer

With a little spare time and and a few items you can find around the house, you can make your own balloon-powered paper car. This is a great and easy DIY project that's perfect for competitive kids. All you'll need to get started is:

How To: Turn a 5MW laser into a 100MW laser

Tired of that dinky little 5MW laser? Turn the power up and convert your 5MW laser into a 100MW laser? A small amount of modification can produce a significantly stronger light coming out of your laser. You will need a small screwdriver (such as a jeweler's screwdriver), needle nose pliers, a soldering iron and some bonding glue to do this properly. This video tutorial will show you exactly how to turn your 5MW laser into a 100MW laser.

How To: Change the Batteries in a Nerf Vulcan EBF-25 Blaster

Bottoms up Turn the Nerf Vulcan EBF-25 so the bottom side is facing up.

How To: Build a samurai katana sword out of cardboard

The katana (also known as the samurai sword) originated in Japan's Muromachi period (1392–1573). These curved blades are known worldwide for their elegance and craftsmanship. But if you can't afford your own antique model you can create your own reproduction using junk you've probably already got in your garage.

How To: Recreate Models of Christopher Columbus's Sailing Ships from 1492

Columbus Day celebrates Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492. In most of the New World, it's celebrated on the 12th of October, the day Columbus actually discovered the Bahamas. But in the United States, the holiday is observed on the second Monday in October.

How To: Prepare a RC helicopter body for paint

Radio Control Helicopter Magazine Editor Klaus Ronge shows how to get a helicopter body ready for paint. Paint will add a personalized touch to the remote control helicopter, but does take some prep work. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to get an RC helicopter body ready for paint.

How To: Turn a Cobra Crossbow into a larp safe crossbow

If you're only fighting with foam, you don't want a professional hunting weapon. But you can refit a commercial crossobw and make it larp safe. Starting with the Cobra crossbow, you can modify it to safely shoot foam tipped arrows at a boffer larp.

How To: Make a diorama waterfall

If your son or daughter is planning on making a diorama for a classroom project or just because, making a cool water feature can be a great idea. Using real water may be fine and all, but if you want to prevent any kind of mess from happening, you can build one using materials that give a water like feel. So in this tutorial, you'll be finding out how to make a diorama waterfall from scratch. It's great for dioramas and is sure to be a much better fit than actual water. So good luck and enjoy!

How To: Inflate a flat ball without a needle or pump

Well, you're all ready to play basketball, or dodgeball or football or kickball, but, your ball is flat. To make matters worse, you don't have a pump. To make matters even worse, you don't have the needle you'd normally use to inflate your flat ball. Well, this how to video shows you a simple life hack to get your balls up and bouncing again in no time. What you'll need is a can of compressed air, commonly used for cleaning keyboards, or other tech equipment. These cans come with plastic 'tub...

How To: Make bubbles for a miniature bathtub

In order to make bubbles for a miniature bathtub, you will need Amazing Casting Resin, Triple Thick, micro marbles/decorative beads, a dollhouse tub, and a miniature rubber ducky. You can purchase it in hobby stores: e.g. Hobby Lobby. Open it. Mix it well, according to the package. Poor it into the dollhouse tub. Allow the resin to set. It takes about 1 minute.

How To: Build a looping rolling marble machine with magnetic elevator

Wow! No longer do you have to buy those huge marble machine roller coaster toys — you can DIY one! This video covers the materials, tools and techniques used to make a homemade rolling ball marble machine. If you haven't seen this rolling ball marble machine toy in action yet, WATCH IT. It's a looping rolling marble machine made with wood, rebar tie wire and polyurethane tubing, featuring a magnetic elevator.

How To: Make a Homemade PVC Rocket

This homemade hairspray-powered PVC rocket takes less than an hour to construct and only costs about 20 dollars to make. Check out my video below for the step-by-step instructions on building your own backyard rocket, and follow the written guide below for reference.

How To: Make an easy no-sew voodoo doll

Caroline Dean show us how to make a voodoo doll in this tutorial. Start by grabbing two pieces of copy paper, and tear one sheet in half length wise. Next, roll one of the half sheets into a ball, this will become the head. After this, roll the other half of the paper into a tube shape, which will become the doll's arms. Next, place the ball into the center of the copy paper and then gather the corners of the paper around the doll, and roll it into a body shape. Now place a sharp object in th...

How To: Build an expert level Bermuda kite with your kids

In Bermuda, people celebrate holidays and special occasions by creating and flying colorful kites! Now you can join in the fun and learn how to build this traditional kite.

How To: Build a cool cardboard RC airplane

Model airplanes are cool and all, but making them out of your typical 8 1/2 X 11 printer paper isn't going to cut it for long, especially if any sort of rain or misplaced foot is involved. Make your awesome model airplanes even more awesome by crafting them out of sturdy cardboard instead.

How To: Make a rubber band powered car with CD wheels

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make a toy car with CD wheels. The materials required for this task are: 2 thread spools, long piece of thing wood, 4 CD's, 2 screws, 2 washers and 2 bolts. Begin by drilling a hole in the spools and 2 holes in the wood. Then place a washer on the screw. Now place the CD on the washer. Then add another washer and secure it by screwing on a bolt. Now put the wheel through the first board of wood. Then put it through the spool and other wood board. N...

How To: Remove money from the cash box in a slot machine

If you have a casino, or maybe just a single slot machine, chances are you're making money. But how do you actually get the money from the slot? All of that cash will sit in there for ages if you don't retrieve it, and it could cause a malfunction if not removed in a timely manner, because of getting too full. This video will show you how to remove money earned from the cash box in a casino slot machine. There's two ways to access the cash box in a IGT S+ model slot machine, so check them bot...

How To: Fill a hopper with coins in casino slot machines

Almost every coin handling device has a hopper inside. In a slot, it's usually in the bottom of the machine. Troubleshooting casino slot machines can be tricky, but if it's a mere coin dispensing issue, it might just mean you're running low on coins. This video will show you how to fill the slot machine hopper, and it's best to use about 200 coins— at least. It's just a basket that holds the tokens, so when someone wins, the machine will dispense them.

How To: Make a simple balloon parrot

In this video, learn how to make the perfect pirate costume accessory: A parrot out of balloons! Make this balloon animal and wear it on your shoulder to complete that Pirates of the Caribbean look you were hoping for. Your Balloon Man, Mr. Fudge, is full of balloon tricks! Be sure to find other balloon videos on WonderHowTo from Mr. Fudge teaching everything from animals to planes! In a few twists and a few ties, you'll be an expert balloon artist in no time!

How To: Solder wires to your rc car motor

In this tutorial, we learn how to solder wires to your rc car motor. First, you will put the flux on the out wires. Put a small amount on, but make sure it's evenly coated all around. After this, do the same process for the motor tabs. Then, tin the wire and then wipe off with a damp sponge. From here you will do the same thing for the motor tabs, taking the back off the motor tabs to make it easier to move around. After this, put the wire on top of the tab and pres with the iron. Now you sho...

How To: Build a working mini gatling gun out of Legos

Most of the guns that people make out of Legos or Knex are pistols. Small, easy to build, low maintenance. Those are all fine qualities. But if you want a powerful, destructive Lego gun that will blow all others out of the water, check this video out. It features step-by-step instructions for building a minigun out of Legos that will hold and shoot 120 rubber bands at a time! The second video is a firing demonstration. Those Legos never knew what hit them!

How To: Make a voodoo doll out of almost anything

Do you have frustrations to take out that can only be helped with magic? If you are in need of the power of a voodoo doll but don't know how to obtain one, check out this helpful tutorial from Planet Voodoo.

How To: Do a 360 flip on a tech deck fingerboard

This video shows us the method to do a 360 flip on a tech deck fingerboard. In a 360 flip the board rotates and exactly flips once before landing. Put your middle finger slightly of the side at the tip of the tail of the tech deck. Put your index finger between the tech deck logo and the front bolts in the normal position. Practice 360 flip on the side of your leg on to the top of it. You should apply pressure on your middle finger. As the board reaches 90 degrees point of spin, extend the in...

How To: Deal with a flooded Nitro engine on an RC vehicle

Alishan Mao describes how to fix a flooded Nitro Engine on an RC car, remove the excess fuel, and start the engine. Flooding of the engine can occur when priming the engine. If you prime the engine too much, the engine can get flooded, making it difficult to pull the pull start. A simple way to fix this is to remove the glow plug. Cover the top of the engine with cloth or rag and hold it there so that the fuel does not splash all over the place. Pull the pull start several times. The fuel wil...

How To: Add headlights and a horn to a Power Wheels vehicle

So, your children have the same old boring Fisher-Price Power Wheels that all the other kids on the block have. Do you really want your child to be like all of the rest? No, I didn't think so. Turn those miniature Power Wheels, Dumar or Peg Perego vehicles into a little bit of realism, if you can handle it. All it takes is a little modification and you'll be wishing you were five again. With a few simple hacks, your son and daughter will be burning rubber, jumping curbs and burying those othe...

How To: Create solid water for miniature dioramas and models

You can paint your plaster blue and coat it with a gloss, but there are easier ways to make artificial water for miniature dioramas, architectural models and war game terrain. Easy Water is a product made up of small plastic pellets that need to be melted and poured onto the model. You cannot use this on styrofoam, obviously. This instructional video provides some alternative methods for creating water effects on miniature dioramas.

How To: Model railroad scenery using extruded foam

Are your hobbies building model trains? Well, I hope you are building your own model sets the way you want to, but if you're stumped in the model railroading process, check out this nine-part video tutorial to see how to model railroad scenery using extruded foam. If you aren't into miniature rail transport systems, you will be now. Your landscape has to look good for your trains, doesn't it?

How To: Paint rock faces using flexible rubber molds

This video tutorial demonstrates how to make realistic rock faces on hills and mountains using flexible rubber molds and plaster. The process is easy and hopefully inspires other toy model train layout.

How To: Make a realistic looking landscape diorama

Watch this video series to learn how to make the base shell, terrain, trees, bushes, tufts of grass, and cast plaster rocks for a fantasy landscape diorama.

How To: Do an ollie on a Tech Deck

Learn how to do an ollie on a Tech Deck minature, toy skateboard.

How To: Make a Bridge Out of Popsicle Sticks

Do you have free time? Then build your own bridge out of Popsicle sticks. Bre Pettis goes over the basics of building bridges. As a bonus, you get to watch other people stand on their own bridges and break them.

How To: Build a simple mouse trap car

In this tutorial, we learn how to build a simple mouse trap car. To do this, you will need: a ruler, two records, a thin metal rod, and a mousetrap. First, you will lay the ruler down to measure out where you are going to place the records. Next, you will hold these into place by using the metal rod in between the two of them. If it's not secure, use washers and glue to keep it in the proper place. Then, attach the mousetrap to the middle of the rod in between the records. This is it! Now you...

How To: Detect an air leak in a Nitro RC engine

In this tutorial, we learn how to detect an air leak in a Nitro RC engine. Air leaks damage your engine which will take your tuning and completely void it. Now, take some soapy water and apply it to your engine and anything that is connected in between. Block off one end of the host where you aren't going to blow into. Find where you think the leak is, then make sure you don't have a cracked tank. Next, make sure everything is sealed and apply soapy water. Blow in the other end of the valve a...

How To: Rust a model car to make it look old and beat-up

If you like making miniature models for their own sake or for use in playing Warhammer and other table top games, there may come a time when you want a shiny new model to look like an old rusty model. If you're working with plastic, you've come to the right place, because this video will show you how to give plastic models a rusty look that will blend them into your post-apocalyptic or just plain derelict scene.

How To: Make custom Lego weapons for Clone Trooper minifigures

The Clone Army, one of the most dangerous forces ever to threaten the Galactic Republic in the Star Wars series, carried many different types of weapons in to battle. This video will teach you how to make replicas of a number of these weapons yourself out of Legos, at a scale that makes them usable for your Lego minifigures. None of them are very complicated to make, so watch this video and get to work on your Lego gunsmithing!

How To: Make a mini croissant out of polymer clay

To make a mini croissant out of polymer clay, you will need the following: polymer clay (tan), pastels, a paintbrush, and oil paint. Roll the clay into a ball. Next, roll it out into a log. Twist the ends. Next, shape the clay into a crescent moon shape. Use a paintbrush to dust yellow pastel onto your croissant. Start with a muddy yellow color pastels. You may need to layer the colors to get the best shade.

How To: Make a mini polymer clay apple pie for a dollhouse

You roll out some light brown clay, cut out two small circles and place one in a mini pie plate. The mini pie plate is similar to a plate you would find in a doll house. You take the extra clay and place it in a garlic press, which makes the clay come out in little strings. You take two of the string clay pieces and twist them together, making it look similar to a braid that will go around the pie later on. To make the apples, you take some rolled white clay, and any color chalk you want. You...

How To: Easily make a rocket out of trash

Hacker Daily teaches you to how to make a rocket "outta trash". They take a bunch of everyday materials (paper towel roll, body spray cap, paper cup glue gun, scrap cardboard and a model rocket engine) and create a rocket, by first cutting cross hairs in the bottom of the cup and gluing the rocket engine inside. The video than tells you to insert the paper towel roll trough the bottom of the cup. Than they tell us to glue the body spray cup on top of the "rocket". After adding fins the rocket...

How To: Build a 2/5th scale M60 tank

This instructional video series is on how to build any type of 2/5th (40%) scale, fully functional tank. The specific model demonstrated is the M60 Patton. An MBT. A destructive force. If you have any questions about your backyard tank build, please address them to "Dave's Tank Foundry" at Scaled Tanks.

How To: Build a sugar rocket motor

Did you know that you can make a rocket out of stuff you might already have around the house? In this tutorial, you'll see how to make a candy rocket using PVC pipes, sorbitol (a sugar substitute) and other fairly common household objects. With just a little work, your sugar rocket will be ready to blast off into space. Sweet!