I didn't know they still made these

[guitar man]

I don't know how many summer days I spent with dime store balsa rubber powered planes, and the gliders too. Back then, they were .30 for the gliders and .35 for the rubber powered ones. So today when I went to the hobby store with my wife to pick up some fabric, I was pleasantly surprised to see them hanging there on the rack. The price had gone up to $2.79 each, but there they were just the same. I grabbed two of them and we took them home. I put them together, wound up the rubber band on one and launched it just like I did when I was a kid. When my daughter saw it fly across the yard she jumped and squealed with delight.

She immediately wanted to fly one so I sat down and showed her which way to wind it up and how to launch it. With a little patience and practice, she caught on and that's how we spent the late afternoon and evening, winding them up and flying them over and over again. No video games, no electronic gizmos, no tv, just her and I doing something delightfully simple that I did as a child 40 years ago.

[Gold Metal Flake]

1. Yup. I turned my kid onto them as well.

Guillow's has a website!

http://www.guillow.com/

[guitar man]

3. Cool!

Thanks :hi:

I think I may just have to order up some next payday.

[Kali]

2. oh yeah

we get those every couple of years for stocking stuffers

usually have them at the counter in the hardware store along with the keychain flashlights and spare paring knives

[guitar man]

10. I remember

Businesses could get them personalized with their name in them like you would a matchbook or something. I can remember bugging mom to go to the bank all the time because I knew I'd score a plane :D

[ChoralScholar]

4. I've seen them at Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby

near the model cars.

[guitar man]

5. They took all that out of the Walmart near me

All the plastic models, model rockets, rc models, all gone.

I found these at Hobby Lobby today. They didn't have my favorite though, the Sleek Streek. Guillow didn't make that one, I can't remember the manufacturer but I think it's out of production :(

[carlyhippy]

6. Those were awesome

I always had a hard time with the wings breaking, I was hard on them.

[guitar man]

7. Yeah they never lasted long

A tree or fence would usually eat them and after while they just got to heavy and out of balance with scotch tape all ove them to fly anymore :rofl:

the props, rubber bands and other good parts left over always wound up in a shoe box in case I needed them. I constructed a few "frankenplanes " from leftover parts, some wouldn't fly at all and some were amazing

[MiddleFingerMom]

8. What a cool father-daughter day you must have had!!!!

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And O-H-H-H-H-H-H!!!!
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Can I ever see launching those anonymously on a call center floor!!!!!
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:rofl:
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[guitar man]

9. Yeah it was sure fun

Doesn't take much to make a 4 year old happy, just spending time with her daddy is cool with her.

And I may have to take a couple to the office too :evilgrin:

[alphafemale]

13. "Can I ever see launching those anonymously on a call center floor!!!!!"

I was just having that exact same thought


:evilgrin:

[Roon]

11. sweet!!

I remember those! They are just as much fun as the army parachute men.

[guitar man]

18. I remember those

We used to drop them off the roof of the barn :hi:

[MicaelS]

12. Oh man, I used to have such fun with those

When I was a kid. My favorite thing was exchanging the wings and horizontal stabilizer so I had a canard airplane. They flew pretty well like that too.

[guitar man]

19. Sometimes better

If you moved the weight and got the balance just right, they would fly really well as a canard :)

[Redstone]

14. We were poor, so when we got one, we would

tape it together again every time it broke that it would end up being too heavy to fly by the end.

May I also add my thanks that you brought back such a memory...one of the greatest pleasures I've found as a father has been introducing each of my sons to those fragile gliders. How great is it, to be able to go out in the street and throw airplanes around, and not look like an idiot because you're doing it with a kid?

Thank you SO much for the remembrances.

Redstone

[guitar man]

20. You're welcome

I know what you mean about taping them back together. We weren't poor but my parents grew up in the depression so they didn't just throw money at us, we had to earn it and mom was a taskmaster , she would work us hard all day for a quarter! :rofl:

And I know what you mean about having a kid, we get to play with toys again without looking silly! :)

[guitar man]

21. Delete

Dupe

[HopeHoops]

15. I've still got a bunch of them. They make great stocking stuffers, too.

Stock up whenever you can find them for a buck or less. They still make the big styrofoam ones, too.

[guitar man]

22. Cool

It looks like I better stock up as much as she loves flying them.

I'm still looking online trying to find my favorite one but I don't think they make it anymore.

[Maine-ah]

16. I haven't seen those in ages!

my little girl is 3, and would love it. I'll have to go check out our hobby store to see if they have them :)

[guitar man]

23. I found them at Hobby Lobby

I don't know if they have HL in your area but they had a rack full of them :)

[hippywife]

17. You're a really cool dad, L!

Making memories she'll carry with her as long as she lives. That's what it's all about. :hug:

[guitar man]

25. Thanks HW

:hi: :hug:

[bikebloke]

24. I used to run after those planes in flight.

The ones with landing gear never took off and flew as high as when launched by hand. Though we tried. And then winding the rubber bands into knots, and double knots, and maybe triple knots to make longer flights.

A long time ago I saw somewhere that they dumped balsa wood for styrofoam. I'm glad they're still out there in balsa.

[guitar man]

26. Me too

If you could chase it down and catch it that was the best. And getting the wing adjusted just right on the glider where it would loop right bak to you was cool.

My favorite with landing gear was the Sleek Streek, that was the one with the wings that slid into the clip on top of the fuselage. They were more fragile than the others but they were the best flyers, they had a big prop and a hefty rubber band and were lighter. I wish I could find them but so far my web search has come up empty, I think they are out of production :(

[guitar man]

27. And as soon as she got up this morning

It was the first thing she wanted to do :)

[bikebloke]

28. A sneaky way to get kids to run around outside.

;)

When Frisbees first came out (mine was printed to look like a UFO), we would fly them like balsa gliders, rather than play catch.

[Doeed]

29. I must have had a hundred of those things.

Spend 5 minutes winding it up, for a 20 second flight :rofl:

[guitar man]

30. Exactly

:rofl:

[struggle4progress]

31. Oooh. I remember those! I bought them regularly as a kid. I especially liked some

rubberband-powered ones with wheels that would actually roll down the driveway and then take off

[guitar man]

33. Me too

I used our big concrete slab front porch as a runway so they were about 3 feet high when they took off and went over the edge.

My favorite was called the "Sleek Streek". That was the one that had the wings that slid into the little red clip on top of the fuselage stick. Really thin balsa, the most fragile of all the ones I flew, but the light weight is what made them the best flyers.

[struggle4progress]

34. I remember the ones I liked best were pretty fragile: one wrong landing and - kaput!

[guitar man]

35. Indeed

I got pretty good with Elmer 's glue and a q-tip :D

[applegrove]

32. Reminds me of the paddle boats we used to make out of wood trim, 6 nails and an elastic.

[texanwitch]

36. The planes were fun.

Also flying kites.

We could buy a paper kite kit, don't remember the cost.

Hours of fun.

[guitar man]

37. Loved them

I remember paper kites for .25, loads of fun :)