Flying Wooden Aeroplanes! Great Fun.
By Mark Dudds
I am sure almost all of you played with balsa wood gliders at some time in your youth, just as I did. Whether it was a toy that your mum or dad bought you for being good a party favour or something you spent your allowance on in order to have some fun with friends on sunny, summers day.
We just opened the packages slid the wings and tails into the slots and we were ready to go flying. Few of us even bothered to read the assembly instructions. We all knew what aeroplanes looked like. Assembly was simple and easy almost intuitive.
Some of the gliders, we merely tossed into the air. Some we shot skyward with rubber band catapults. Others had rubber-band motors that we wound furiously and released to fly off under their own power.
Many youngsters loved to fly toy aeroplanes, but like me lacked the building skills necessary to assemble those marvellously complicated balsa wood stick & tissue kits. So these ready-to-fly (RTF) balsa wood toys provided an easy way for us to enter the realm of flight.
We soon discovered that we could alter the way the gliders flew by moving the wings forward and back or by adding weight to the nose or by changing the shape of the wings and tail with a piece of sandpaper or even by winding more and more knots into the rubber-band motors.
Unknowingly, we were actually learning about the basics of flight in almost the same way Wilber & Orville Wright did … experimentation. (As the legend goes, it was the gift of a rubber-band powered helicopter toy that first piqued the Wrights interest in flying.)
Many, many times, our best flights ended with the aeroplanes landing on a neighbours rooftop, or in a tree or disappearing totally from sight. But a quick trip to the store could easily replenish our air force. They seemed to be available everywhere, with lots of company choices. There were company names like America Junior Classics, North Pacific, Guillow, Comet, Testors, Champion and Top Flite. And many others I cant remember.
Ready-to-Fly Balsa Wood Toys:
Fond memories indeed. And for me, the start of what turned out to be a 35 year career in aviation.
Although hand-made airoplane-like (or bird-like) flying toys appeared in the 1800s, its unclear exactly when company-made RTF toy aeroplanes first became available. Some model aeroplane kits reportedly appeared as early as 1910. 1911 issues of Aircraft magazine (about real aeroplanes) had numerous ads from several manufacturers for model aeroplanes in kit and RTF form. Most of these were expensive to buy. In a time when $20-25 per week was a really good, working-class salary, the Ideal Model Aeroplane Co. (which became the Ideal Toy Co.) advertised aeroplane kits for $4-6. RTF versions sold for as much as $20. Most of the Ideal RTF aeroplanes were factory built examples of their kit aircraft.
From 1914-20, Ideal offered wood and fibre board RTF gliders for 45 cents. Though not inexpensive by any means, these can probably be considered some of the fore-runners of our toy aeroplanes
In the 1920s and 30s, balsa wood became more readily available and the number of simple RTF toy gliders increased. Certainly the Charles Lindbergh phenomenon also boosted sales of toy and model aeroplanes of all types. However, most were still only available from hobby shops, finer toy stores or through mail order. Many of the companies that would become household names in the toy and model aeroplane world American Junior aircraft, the Paul K Guillow Co., the Cleveland Model & Supply Co., the Testor Corporation and Comet Model Aeroplane & Supply Co. all had their beginnings in this period.
During World War 2, balsa wood was considered to be a strategic material, so toy aeroplane production was reduced dramatically. However, AJ aircraft founder Jim Walker cleverly developed a launching platform for his folding wing balsa gliders. This provided the Army with a quick and effective system for gunnery practice. As a result, AJ aircraft received significant supplies of balsa and over 120,000 Walker gliders met their doom for the war effort.
After the war, balsa once again became plentiful. As the post-war economy and family production boomed, dozens of companies now competed in the toy aeroplane market. The number and variety of toy aeroplanes was truly dazzling. New and important entrants into the RTF glider market included North Pacific Products, Pactra Chemical Co. and Top Flite.
I have been making Wooden Toys for a long time and it’s still the best thing when you see thier faces light up after giving them a wooden toy to play with.
Let’s Go Flying!
By Damian Hatt
I am sure almost all of you played with balsa wood gliders at some time in your youth, just as I did. Whether it was a toy that your mom or dad bought you for being good a party favor or something you spent your allowance on in order to have some fun with friends on sunny, summers day.
We just opened the packages slid the wings and tails into the slots and we were ready to go flying. Few of us even bothered to read the assembly instructions. We all knew what airplanes looked like. Assembly was simple and easy almost intuitive.
Some of the gliders, we merely tossed into the air. Some we shot skyward with rubber band catapults. Others had rubber-band motors that we wound furiously and released to fly off under their own power.
Many youngsters loved to fly toy airplanes, but like me lacked the building skills necessary to assemble those marvelously complicated balsa wood stick & tissue kits. So these ready-to-fly (RTF) balsa wood toys provided an easy way for us to enter the realm of flight.
We soon discovered that we could alter the way the gliders flew by moving the wings forward and back or by adding weight to the nose or by changing the shape of the wings and tail with a piece of sandpaper or even by winding more and more knots into the rubber-band motors.
Unknowingly, we were actually learning about the basics of flight in almost the same way Wilber & Orville Wright did … experimentation. (As the legend goes, it was the gift of a rubber-band powered helicopter toy that first piqued the Wrights interest in flying.)
Many, many times, our best flights ended with the airplanes landing on a neighbors rooftop, or in a tree or disappearing totally from sight. But a quick trip to the store could easily replenish our air force. They seemed to be available everywhere, with lots of company choices. There were company names like America Junior Classics, North Pacific, Guillow, Comet, Testors, Champion and Top Flite. And many others I cant remember.
Ready-to-Fly Balsa Wood Toys:
Fond memories indeed. And for me, the start of what turned out to be a 35 year career in aviation.
Although hand-made airplane-like (or bird-like) flying toys appeared in the 1800s, its unclear exactly when company-made RTF toy airplanes first became available. Some model airplane kits reportedly appeared as early as 1910. 1911 issues of Aircraft magazine (about real airplanes) had numerous ads from several manufacturers for model airplanes in kit and RTF form. Most of these were expensive to buy. In a time when $20-25 per week was a really good, working-class salary, the Ideal Model Aeroplane Co. (which became the Ideal Toy Co.) advertised airplane kits for $4-6. RTF versions sold for as much as $20. Most of the Ideal RTF airplanes were factory built examples of their kit aircraft.
From 1914-20, Ideal offered wood and fiber board RTF gliders for 45 cents. Though not inexpensive by any means, these can probably be considered some of the fore-runners of our toy airplanes.
In the 1920s and 30s, balsa wood became more readily available and the number of simple RTF toy gliders increased. Certainly the Charles Lindbergh phenomenon also boosted sales of toy and model airplanes of all types. However, most were still only available from hobby shops, finer toy stores or through mail order. Many of the companies that would become household names in the toy and model airplane world American Junior aircraft, the Paul K Guillow Co., the Cleveland Model & Supply Co., the Testor Corporation and Comet Model Airplane & Supply Co. all had their beginnings in this period.
During World War 2, balsa wood was considered to be a strategic material, so toy airplane production was reduced dramatically. However, AJ aircraft founder Jim Walker cleverly developed a launching platform for his folding wing balsa gliders. This provided the Army with a quick and effective system for gunnery practice. As a result, AJ aircraft received significant supplies of balsa and over 120,000 Walker gliders met their doom for the war effort.
After the war, balsa once again became plentiful. As the post-war economy and family production boomed, dozens of companies now competed in the toy airplane market. The number and variety of toy airplanes was truly dazzling. New and important entrants into the RTF glider market included North Pacific Products, Pactra Chemical Co. and Top Flite.
Written by: Dave Pecota.
I have been making Wooden Toys for a long time and it’s still the best thing when you see thier faces light up after giving them a wooden toy to play with.
Education For A Nine Month Old Baby.
By Saen Ansellt
The world of exploration opens up to your 9-month-old as they begin to accomplish many exciting new things. And, of course, they are getting closer and closer to walking. Many new parents begin to feel a great deal of anticipation for the big day to happen.
Leading up to walking
Regardless, at this age, they can manage thier way around quite well. they are probably creeping or crawling up stairs and cruising around furniture. They may have even attempted to take a small number of steps with support. At this stage she will be developing and strengthening the muscles in thier lower body, as well as establishing thier sense of balance. she needs to be involved in activities that keep them on the move such as standing, crawling, climbing, exploring, walking, squatting, rolling and kicking a ball.
The world of exploration opens up to your 9-month-old as she begins to accomplish many exciting new things. she will discover ways to bend thier knees and to sit after standing, which is actually quite a complex task to accomplish. One way to help them strengthen thier legs is to kneel or stand in front of them, hold out your arms, reaching your hands encouragingly toward them, and grasp both thier hands and walk them toward you.
There are many push toys that they can hold onto and push, which enable them to develop not only thier muscles but additionally thier confidence. Should you opt to buy one of these toys, be sure that it has a wide base for support.
One crucial factor to consider at this stage of thier life is safety. If you havent childproofed your house, you should definitely consider putting safety latches on the doors of off-limit cabinets where you store cleaning solutions and medicines. Curiosity almost ensures they will make a beeline for the very place you keep such things.
Shoes
As she starts to cruise the furniture and spend more time upright than crawling, many parents begin to consider whether or not shoes are necessary. Apparently almost everyone you talk to has a definite opinion in regards to the subject. But according to Penelope Leach, in Your Baby and Child, most of the experts believe that they are not going to need shoes until they are walking around outdoors on a regular basis.
In fact, by allowing them to go barefoot, you will be enabling them to accomplish two significant factors needed in walking. First, they will be strengthening thier arches and leg muscles, and second, they can balance much easier when thier feet are bare because they can feel the varied textures of what she is walking on.
Hands-on play
Though you will be concentrating a lot of time on developing thier large motor skills, it is also imperative that you continue developing the fine motor skills through hands-on play, they ought to be quite good at manipulating toys and other objects such as a bottle or cup. Stacking and shape-sorter toys are great because they are three-dimensional and encourage them to pick up, stack, release and remove objects. But you do not have to rush out and buy a sorting or stacking kind of toy. You can simply give them a plastic bucket with colourful blocks or toys which have moving parts, like plastic or wooden cars with doors that open and shut and wheels that roll. For stacking you can use blocks, cardboard books or merely plastic food containers from your kitchen. Just remember to check the size of the objects, ensuring they will not be small enough for them to swallow.
Changing emotions
Thier emotional development changes significantly as they becme quite adept at asserting therselves, making thier wants and desires known. You might have noticed that they now respond to your gestures with thier own intentional gestures. For example, when you reach out to them they will reach out to you in response. She will also initiate social interactions with those close to them. You notice how they reach for your hair or Dad’s nose and raises thier arms up, signaling that they wishes to be picked up. She expresses her excitement and pleasure by smiling and placing fingers in your mouth, then thier own, and finally, she|they} can protest or show anger by pushing away objects, screaming when you take away toys or they slide food off of the high chair tray.
Fears and anxieties
Other emotions that they demonstrate are fear and anxiety. Stranger anxiety usually begins around 9 months old, although it can appear earlier or later. But because this is the stage when separation anxiety is at its peak, it would be perfectly normal for them to become upset when they are unable to see you. Your 9-month-old does not understand that when something is out of sight it is only temporarily gone. When you apply this to something or someone of a greater significance such as Mummy or Daddy, they may experience separation anxiety and form an extreme attachment to you, thus causing them to demonstrate fear toward everyone else. This can be most difficult for grandparents, carers and family members to understand. There are ways that you can help them deal with anxiety. You can play object permanence games such as peek-a-boo, which helps them to understand that just because she is unable to see you for a moment does not mean that you are gone for good.
I have been making Wooden Toys for a long time and it’s still the best thing when you see thier faces light up after giving them a wooden toy to play with.









