- Balsa Wood Airplane
These lightweight wooden planes soared through backyards and parks, captivating kids with their simple promise of flight. Easy to assemble and endlessly entertaining, they inspired dreams of soaring through the skies.
Easy to assemble
The author doesn't know shit from Shinola here. These were far from easy. In fact these were some of this most difficult models of any kind to properly assemble. The fact their photo doesn't show completed models with the doped tissue paper covering the frames tells you all you need to know. Back in the day, I was the only kid in my grade that built these. I even built Guillow's Fokker DR-1 triplane. With help from my father, we made all the control surfaces moveable by inserting thin aluminum strips in their edges after separating the flap areas from the main parts of the wings and airframe. Not an easy task at any age, and I think I was 10 at the time. It was a labor of love.
The Spirograph was some cool shit too!