A hand-turned Sankyo musical movement was placed within a cheap radio and electronics box. The box could be open and closed by simple screws.
A rod was attached to a circular cam which was fitted to musical movement. The rod extended through a small hole on top of the box. When the musical movement was turned, the rod moved from side to side.
The figure was constructed from some discarded plastic figure parts. The legs were fixed to the base. The torso and left arm holding a violin were fixed together. The torso was allowed to freely rotate but was pegged to prevent it from slipping off the hips. Two wires, one to the right hand and the other to the back of the head, were linked to this single rod.
Some leeway is created by allowing a degree of limited movement and rotation between the rod and the wires. The movement was limited by sticking blobs of epoxy putty on the rod to limit the vertical movement of the wires along the rod. Thus the swinging rod moves the wires which, in turn, move the violinist in a most life-like manner. The loose joints allow for some degree of unpredictability in the automaton.
The swinging rod was decorated with a toy bird to simulate aerial flight. The other animals were all cheap toys.
This was surprisingly quite easy to construct. The external rod and visible wires made for easier manipulation to correct the mechanism. Finally the loose joints helped in ensuring that this automaton would work well.
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