Dec 27th Gliders
From Chuck Darling
I built all of these,
and they all flew.
None of them
took more than
20 minutes to build...
Madelaine Card Glider
This little guy flew really well!
Christmas Flyer
I bet you have
lots of Christmas Packaging
to recycle ...
You can cut wing and body
panels, and store them
in a gift box for warmer weather.
Label it "Glider Materials"
on all sides...
so your family doesn't throw
it away !
Shiny Cardboard Food Boxes
work too... but the Cardboard
is rather heavy,
so wing size
and shape
(dihedral and
airfoil curves)
are more difficult to
arrange.
Kids would need help...
or they won't fly well .
The plane should balance
level when propped under
the wings ...
You can extend the wings
if the cardboard was too
narrow, but that
adds weight, too...
Foam boxes are best.
The cleaner they are,
the better the tape
or glue will adhere.
***
Here are some classic
Balsa Gliders.
I could buy a Strato
for five cents, from
a dollar allowance.
Today, with rare exception,
Balsa Gliders start at $15,
and go WAY higher...
making them impractical
for kids...
Look:
The North Pacific Extruded Plastic
Wing clip was the best wing mount.
It allowed moving the wings forward
for dips, or back for dives...
If planes collided with each other,
or a tree... a wing would pop off
and flutter to the ground, without
shattering the balsa.
The "Guillows-type" slotted bodies
would gradually eat into the wings,
each time they hit the ground.
There were some Giant "Jet-Fighter"
planes, Guillow Slotted body type,
with 20" wingspans that
would fly in a giant loop...
That was fun for "dogfighting" !
Biplane models had
similar looping flights,
requiring the "pilot"
to jump out of the way
to avoid the diving plane.
The biplanes were
visually impressive,
but the wings would
rapidly get waterlogged
on a humid day...
I imagine that foam wings
would be immune to this
design flaw ...
Happy Flying !
Chuck
*****
[Beans Thurs, 12-26-2023 Time : 7:02p]
[ This page built with JPICedar v. j102123a Thurs, 12-14-2023 Time : 10:35a ]