Fuel Cell Car and Experiment Kit

This is one of the coolest mechanical toy kits I have ever seen.

During any sunny period, photovoltaic cells perform electrolysis on water, dividing it into its constituent elements -- oxygen and hydrogen. At some later time, you can feed these gases into the fuel cell to get electricity to do work (like power the motor on this little car). The byproduct of all this wizardry is just a bit of water!

Now you can have a fuel cell of your own with which to experiment. This is a big deal. Fuel cells are one of the most promising forms of environmentally-friendly energy on the horizon. Learn more about fuel cells from this article on Fuel Cell Basics.

Go for it, check out The Fuel Cell Car and Experiment Kit

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Cubical Warfare Goes Medieval/Mechanical

ThinkGeek is selling these working scale replica kits of Medieval siege engines. Seen here (clockwise from the right) are a Trebuchet, Catapult, and Bastilla.

From ThinkGeek.com:
"These kits let you bring back all the fun of flinging. Each one can assemble in just a few hours, and provides a fantastic scale model of an actual war weapon of yore. The catapult is perfect for chucking balls of paper and other small objects over cubicle walls. The trebuchet is better for long range targets (like the water cooler or networked printer). And, all you need to put them together are some strong fingers (or pliers), a cutting tool, and glue (not included). All three kits are perfect for showing your love of retro weaponry."

Sounds like fun to me!

Visit ThinkGeek cube warfare toys section to see all of these awesome wooden kits.

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Automaton of Leonardo's Mechanical Hammer

Here's a nice looking model from the folks at PaperPino. This is a paper model made up of 44 parts that can be assembled without glue. A system of removable interlocking pins holds the model together.

From the PaperPino Site:
This is one of the simplest machines designed by Leonardo in order to improve the human performance. A lever connected to the hammer is moved by means of an eccentric cam. At each turn of the handle, the hammer gives a stroke. As a matter of fact, the real hammer is supposed to be powered by a water paddle-wheel. An implementation with a paddle-wheel powered by sand is planned for the next future.

Check out Leonardo's Mechanical Hammer paper model.

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