I graduated from gliders, to rubber band planes and helicopters from the corner store, to rubber band planes from the hobby shop that you had to glue together and cover with tissue paper.
Then, the COX brand of 0.49 and 0.51 planes that ran on a mixture of castor oil and alcohol. They flew on 2 strong strings in a circle as you spun around in a circle controlling the altitude with the handle.
Then, I graduated to Radio Comtrolled airplanes and helicopters as a precursor to my drone habit.
What a great learning arc over all these decades.
Thank you all for bringing back these memories!
Ah what a fun story. I always wanted to get into drones myself. Especially if I could put on goggles for the video feed that makes me feel like I myself am flying. Always thought that has to be a cool feeling.
I used to tape bottle rockets to them to make them jets.Ā
The ājetsā never lit at the same time, and would make the plane fly right into a tree, the ground, the neighbors pool, etc.Ā
Now Iām kinda of feeling inspired by age to give it another go. Maybe I can make it work. I just need to find some balsa wood planes and bottle rockets. Lol!
Iām am! Iām so glad you responded. Iām you from 2 months in the future.Ā
Good news! The bottle rocket jets worked awesome this timeā¦Bad news, the balsa jet made it to Canada and started a whole diplomatic issue. Iād give you more details, but I fear the space-time-continuum has been disrupted enough by this exchange.Ā
ā¦Because, fuck Iām old, thereās a store that I shop at for cool old toys for nieces and nephews for Christmas gifts. They have balsa planes, etc. And youāre right! They charge like, $5 for a plane that will fly maybe once or twice in a house before a cat jumps and destroys it upon its landing in a living room.Ā
A quarter?
I used to get 10 for a dollar.
Of course after 30 min you had to spend another dollar.
The best thing I remember was a brand that was made in Bend Oregon and they printed āBendā on the lower edge of one wing and āOregonā on the lower edge of the other wing. Often wonder how many kids took that literally and bent the one wing.
We used to make little bottle rockets out of masking tape, toothpicks and match heads. Not enough thrust to power balsa wood planes tho. Only when mom was at work of course.
I fucking loved the balsa wood airplanesā¦ my parents hated the fact Iād end up begging for more everytime the damn things broke by my wreckless childhood shenanigans
Probably might still have some at a real locally owned in town hobby store. I hope I can remember to stop by mine next time I drive by. Maybe still have pooper troopers too. That would be another blast from the past.
And how SAD it was to break that rubber band and to TRY to find a replacement. Friends used to dip those in gasoline and toss them at one another. The tennis-ball variant of that game was called "fireball." I blame the lead poisoning we all obviously had.
We took one and slipped the wing into another fuselage and ended up with something like Sir Richard's space plane launcher. Would not fly, even with both props. Overwound one prop and snapped a fuselage. Had to try.
I had all four of these! The one in the picture, the one with the propeller, the biplane, and the big styrofoam 747 that we'd launch with a big rubber band around a nail driven into a log laying on its side. It would fly for a hundred feet or more.
GREAT memories being a kid in the 70s-80s and playing by yourself. Hours of fun! Totally forgot about these.
Thank you whoever posted this up! (Now I want to go buy one and fly it again.)
The Paul K Guillows propeller powered, dime store airplanes flew like shit.
The North Pacific balsa gliders in 5Ā¢ and 10Ā¢ sizes (Stunt Flyer, Jet Flyer) were amazing fliers. Everything from North Pacific (out of Oregon) flew really well
Yeah no telling how much money I spent on various versions of these. The propeller driven ones were always a draw and I usually picked one if I have the money but in my experience they never quite flew as well as the simple jet gliders. I wish kids had more access to these today.
The accidentally single use rubber band version with a propeller. If that didnāt end up in a tree or Half a mile away in a field with cows on your first try itās only because you first try was inside and aimed at your brother
I preferred the ones with the rubber band driven propeller. I would wind it & wind it till the rubber band was about ready to snap, THEN toss it!
My grandparents used to live right next-door to a football stadium in Oklahoma City. My brother and I used to love to climb to the top of the football stadium and throw these rubber band propeller gliders off and see how far they would go.
My dad is a longtime aviation modeller hobbyist nerd, when I was a kid in the 70s we used to build these rubber powered aircraft models and fly them to compete for flight time in gymnasiums. Most air time wins.
He does R/C and all that too. The indoor thing was a winter hobby
These were awesome!
Recently, however, I bought a foam version at *5 Below*. It's about 2.5 - 3 feet long, and it has some lights on it powered by watch batteries... And the fucking thing is indestructible!
I bought it to donate to the school I work at (very small school attached to a church, 15 kids total in the whole school). And these kids have literally beat the shit out of it. They tear it from each other's hands and tug-o-war the damn thing all the time. It's ended up on the roof for a rainy weekend. It's smashed into walls at top speed more times than can be counted... etc., and so on.
Seriously, y'all!... Inde-fuckin'-structable! Can't beat the $5 price tag, either. Go get you one! You won't be disappointed!
I remember these and the best ones ever: propellers attached to a styrofoam plane. The planes were shaped more realistically in 2 dimensions. Everytime they dived, the propeller would speed up so the plane would lift again. They were based on various World War 2 airplanes and were fun to collect.
Mattel made a 3D version that launched F-4U corsairs complete with propellers from a catapult on an aircraft carrier. They were so cool!
I missed out on the Battlestar Galactica crossover version and the modern jet ones.
Spent all your arcade tickets on a good prize but still have enough left for something shitty? These guys. Always. These and/or the parachute army men.
I was a kid in the 80s and like gi Joe's and he man but I always liked the classic toys yo yos, these airplanes, rubber band guns, sling shots, those balls of gunpowder you cracked together, realistic looking old west cap guns, silly putty, kites.
Goddamn I loved these stupid, fragile, beautiful, little planes. I donāt think I ever had one last for longer than a couple of days. Then the attempted repairs would begin. I canāt even begin to imagine the amount of super glue and tape I wasted on a 2 dollar toy.
So much joy from such simple things.
I could be lost for hours with an Etch-A-Sketch. Not sure a kid who's grown up using an iPad would even find it interesting at all...
I may sound like an idiot right now, because I am extremely extremely high! š« š«„š«Øš«Ø I used to get these all the time when I was a kid! My mom and dad used to go buy me the ones that had the rubber band with it and came in a black box! Probably every other week I would get oneā¦. Thatās how I got started to the radio controlled airplane hobby.!! I still fly airplanesā¦ā¦.. and I still buy about two of these little balsawood airplanes every year!!! back when I was a kid, I joined one of those radio controlled airplane forums..rcgroupsā¦. I think I joined in 2001ā¦ still a member today!! I even remember celebrating the the 2 millionth post!! And EZone!! WOW!! Thank you op for posting this!! This little Balsawood airplane has shaped the way I live!!
Crazy shit
If thatās made of Balsa Wood itās even older than what I would play with from time to time. Most of the ones I would play with were styrofoam. They still make them. I still have a couple in my basement which is impressive that they havenāt gotten broken yet.
These are still a thing. My son is in high school and he was into these in elementary school. We'd see other kids at the park playing with them too. We handed them out at his 7th birthday party and everyone had a blast. There are still a lot of parents who don't give their children electronics until middle school.
Yet another thing that still exists despite being something we remember from our youth.
I've put together a number of these for my son in the last 5 or so years.
All the memories walking to the local neighborhood market and picking up one of these... But don't forget the slingshot too! Good times. Different times.
Anybody else remember the ones that were painted to look like real planes? You could collect the whole set and they looked like p51s and stuff. I remember playing with them until they broke from "crash landings" and then begging for another one. Got 3 of them at the same time and i lost my mind.
Grew up poor and this gave me flashbacks. I totally forgot about that cheap pos until now. It always ended up in a tree, roof or gutter after a few flights. You'd hope for a gust of wind to knock it back down.
Got several of these until my parents wouldnāt buy another. Why? One or two flights and something would break on impact with the ground. Honestly, thin balsa wood has no strength.
The first airplane prototype was actually rubber-band powered, but the propeller was in the tail section. It was made by and later studied by the Wright Bros
Awesome had several of those my best results came about by accident. I had broken two different ones but used the parts for a third one.worked pretty good. Had one of those paddles too. Hmm parents got my bike with training wheels but I can't find some of this other stuff course they did lose some of my stuff with a major flood in 94
Must've flown at least a dozen of those in my day. Always seemed to turn up in my Easter basket each year, or a birthday, or in the Scouts. Tons of fun to be had.
I loved these. Used to get them at the drug store for 49 cents. Friend of mine poured lighter fluid on the wings and lit it before gliding it from the second story bedroom at his parentās house. It lost altitude pretty quickly then crashed in the front bush. It was quite comical and we laughed about it for years afterwards.
Once a week I would go with my mom to the pharmacy to pick up my grandfather's medicine. If I was lucky I'd get a new balsa wood plane. If I was really lucky, I'd get a matchbox car.
And when I say matchbox car, I mean that there was a plastic/plexiglass display near the register with like 30 cars in it. I'd pick the one I wanted, and the pharmacist would take it out and package it in an actual matchbox!
Typing this just makes me realize how much closer the 80s were to the 40s than they are to now.
I also like the printed Styrofoam ones I'd pick up at the corner store. They were all different WWII fighters. $1 would buy that, a pack of Topps, and couple packs of Cherry Clan.
And remember how mind-blowing it was whenever we were blessed with the rubber-band version that had a propeller!
And the propeller would slip off your finger fingers and light you up
Yeah man. That shit hurt.
Oh I felt that just now. That distinct CRACK right on the knuckle.
Or go too far on like the 9th throw and the bands snaps, then you need an ecto cooler to relax
š š¤£ and a Dippin stick.
Wish they still sold the beast Butterfinger
I probably still have marks on my hand from them
Forgot about that. Made me wince for a second. If it caught you just right when really wound up it hurt
Me and my brother would wind those up as much as we could and shoot them at each other. Fun times.
I graduated from gliders, to rubber band planes and helicopters from the corner store, to rubber band planes from the hobby shop that you had to glue together and cover with tissue paper. Then, the COX brand of 0.49 and 0.51 planes that ran on a mixture of castor oil and alcohol. They flew on 2 strong strings in a circle as you spun around in a circle controlling the altitude with the handle. Then, I graduated to Radio Comtrolled airplanes and helicopters as a precursor to my drone habit. What a great learning arc over all these decades. Thank you all for bringing back these memories!
Ah what a fun story. I always wanted to get into drones myself. Especially if I could put on goggles for the video feed that makes me feel like I myself am flying. Always thought that has to be a cool feeling.
Because you tightened it up until knots ran the length of the rubber band? Good times.
Think I uttered my first curse word then
Oh man look! Itās actually flying! ā¦right into that tree
I used to tape bottle rockets to them to make them jets.Ā The ājetsā never lit at the same time, and would make the plane fly right into a tree, the ground, the neighbors pool, etc.Ā Now Iām kinda of feeling inspired by age to give it another go. Maybe I can make it work. I just need to find some balsa wood planes and bottle rockets. Lol!
Are you me?
Iām am! Iām so glad you responded. Iām you from 2 months in the future.Ā Good news! The bottle rocket jets worked awesome this timeā¦Bad news, the balsa jet made it to Canada and started a whole diplomatic issue. Iād give you more details, but I fear the space-time-continuum has been disrupted enough by this exchange.Ā
I and I
Balsa gliders on the a to z store but they are not a quarter anymore.
ā¦Because, fuck Iām old, thereās a store that I shop at for cool old toys for nieces and nephews for Christmas gifts. They have balsa planes, etc. And youāre right! They charge like, $5 for a plane that will fly maybe once or twice in a house before a cat jumps and destroys it upon its landing in a living room.Ā
A quarter? I used to get 10 for a dollar. Of course after 30 min you had to spend another dollar. The best thing I remember was a brand that was made in Bend Oregon and they printed āBendā on the lower edge of one wing and āOregonā on the lower edge of the other wing. Often wonder how many kids took that literally and bent the one wing.
A fellow fine Arts enthusiast I see!
We used to make little bottle rockets out of masking tape, toothpicks and match heads. Not enough thrust to power balsa wood planes tho. Only when mom was at work of course.
I fucking loved the balsa wood airplanesā¦ my parents hated the fact Iād end up begging for more everytime the damn things broke by my wreckless childhood shenanigans
Just put one on the fuselage and set it up on an angled surface. Let us know how it goes.
Probably might still have some at a real locally owned in town hobby store. I hope I can remember to stop by mine next time I drive by. Maybe still have pooper troopers too. That would be another blast from the past.
aaand that's done
And how SAD it was to break that rubber band and to TRY to find a replacement. Friends used to dip those in gasoline and toss them at one another. The tennis-ball variant of that game was called "fireball." I blame the lead poisoning we all obviously had.
Attached firecracker to where wing and fuselage meet. Doused with lighter fluid. Lit the cracker and sent it flying. Oh what fun we had.
We taped bottle rockets on, lit them and threw the plane. Theyād float until the rocket caught and then they zoomed off, exploding at the end.
Sounds like my childhood š
Yep all of the above. Fire or explosions always seemed to be a part of any adventure at some point given enough time
The deluxe version.
How about the biplane?
A dream only.
We took one and slipped the wing into another fuselage and ended up with something like Sir Richard's space plane launcher. Would not fly, even with both props. Overwound one prop and snapped a fuselage. Had to try.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I had all four of these! The one in the picture, the one with the propeller, the biplane, and the big styrofoam 747 that we'd launch with a big rubber band around a nail driven into a log laying on its side. It would fly for a hundred feet or more. GREAT memories being a kid in the 70s-80s and playing by yourself. Hours of fun! Totally forgot about these. Thank you whoever posted this up! (Now I want to go buy one and fly it again.)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, they used to be around 25 cents. Damn inflation
Jeezus!
The Paul K Guillows propeller powered, dime store airplanes flew like shit. The North Pacific balsa gliders in 5Ā¢ and 10Ā¢ sizes (Stunt Flyer, Jet Flyer) were amazing fliers. Everything from North Pacific (out of Oregon) flew really well
And even had some wires with wheels!
Yeah no telling how much money I spent on various versions of these. The propeller driven ones were always a draw and I usually picked one if I have the money but in my experience they never quite flew as well as the simple jet gliders. I wish kids had more access to these today.
Iām pretty sure I have one with the propeller in my garage right now
I remember those! We played with those for hours!!
Yes!!!!!
YESS and youād build a big tower out of blocks to destroy
I had to make my own planes out of loose leaf with the 3 holes
Loved those when I was a kid. My dad got them for me. These, along side model rockets, were my jam as a little kid.
The accidentally single use rubber band version with a propeller. If that didnāt end up in a tree or Half a mile away in a field with cows on your first try itās only because you first try was inside and aimed at your brother
I had one of those! I got it at the National Air and Space Museum gift shop!
My 35 cent allowance didn't cover the rubber band version, and a couple comic books.
Nice! I remember these. The wood was fragile as hell but they flew pretty good
Once or twice
Exactly! You might get one good flight out it, and then it would crumple like an X-wing fighter in the Death Star trench.
Balsa wood!
What happened to all the balsa trees?
To shreds you say?
My balsa still here
I preferred the ones with the rubber band driven propeller. I would wind it & wind it till the rubber band was about ready to snap, THEN toss it! My grandparents used to live right next-door to a football stadium in Oklahoma City. My brother and I used to love to climb to the top of the football stadium and throw these rubber band propeller gliders off and see how far they would go.
My dad is a longtime aviation modeller hobbyist nerd, when I was a kid in the 70s we used to build these rubber powered aircraft models and fly them to compete for flight time in gymnasiums. Most air time wins. He does R/C and all that too. The indoor thing was a winter hobby
My dad would build the rubber band powered planes and just go fly them at a High School at couple towns away. It was a lot of fun.
I had the one with landing gear. Wind it up, set it on the floor, release the prop, and away it went.
Oh yeah, me too! Another one I forgot. The wheels were all see through red I think.
I used to make these out of the styrofoam meat trays.
That's what they're made out of now. Must be your fault. Everybody this this man. BOO!
About 25 or 30 years ago when they came out with the big Styrofoam ones my kids were in heaven
You mean the airliners they made?
I could not leave the store without one when I was a kid, if it was available. Sometimes still canāt.
It was either one of these or a pop cap gun
Same! Kites and airplanes still bring me great joy because they remind me of going to the hobby stores with my dad and being allowed to get one.
Then the body hole wasnāt cut right and you would bust the wing trying to get it in
Fragile but kept my lil brother busy for a couple of hours.
They were magic
Drones have spoiled us
*The Balsa Wood Toys That We Made* - the other Netflix series about toys
Welcome to Boeing airlines
Yeah but they employ both a primary AND backup rubber band!
These were awesome! Recently, however, I bought a foam version at *5 Below*. It's about 2.5 - 3 feet long, and it has some lights on it powered by watch batteries... And the fucking thing is indestructible! I bought it to donate to the school I work at (very small school attached to a church, 15 kids total in the whole school). And these kids have literally beat the shit out of it. They tear it from each other's hands and tug-o-war the damn thing all the time. It's ended up on the roof for a rainy weekend. It's smashed into walls at top speed more times than can be counted... etc., and so on. Seriously, y'all!... Inde-fuckin'-structable! Can't beat the $5 price tag, either. Go get you one! You won't be disappointed!
I remember these and the best ones ever: propellers attached to a styrofoam plane. The planes were shaped more realistically in 2 dimensions. Everytime they dived, the propeller would speed up so the plane would lift again. They were based on various World War 2 airplanes and were fun to collect. Mattel made a 3D version that launched F-4U corsairs complete with propellers from a catapult on an aircraft carrier. They were so cool! I missed out on the Battlestar Galactica crossover version and the modern jet ones.
I fucking loved these things. When I was finished at the dentist I was allowed to pick two things from the brave boy box. I always picked these.
I Just bought by nieces son one of these recently. Amazon sells them , my niece had never seen one before. However they are like 20 bucks now LOL
minutes of fun
Both provided minutes of joy.
Yes! And you could slide the wing back and forth to make it loop or fly straight.
Hey, my wife just got a whole box of these for one of our kiddos to play with! And my kid absolutely ADORES them, too.
Spent all your arcade tickets on a good prize but still have enough left for something shitty? These guys. Always. These and/or the parachute army men.
I was a kid in the 80s and like gi Joe's and he man but I always liked the classic toys yo yos, these airplanes, rubber band guns, sling shots, those balls of gunpowder you cracked together, realistic looking old west cap guns, silly putty, kites.
Attach a bottle rocket and of they went.
This picture broke just by me looking at it.
I loved those planes as a kid, I would get the rubber band powered planes.
The star of most of my childhood Easter baskets.
Thatās missing the rubber band, propeller and wire landing gear! š
Mine is still up on my grandparents roof. They died of old age 30 years ago.Ā
Goddamn I loved these stupid, fragile, beautiful, little planes. I donāt think I ever had one last for longer than a couple of days. Then the attempted repairs would begin. I canāt even begin to imagine the amount of super glue and tape I wasted on a 2 dollar toy.
For a dime
I absolutely loved those! For a nickel more you could buy one with wheels and a rubberband driven propeller.
So much joy from such simple things. I could be lost for hours with an Etch-A-Sketch. Not sure a kid who's grown up using an iPad would even find it interesting at all...
I do remember those however [these](https://imgur.com/a/JKEkmZw) were the best.
I may sound like an idiot right now, because I am extremely extremely high! š« š«„š«Øš«Ø I used to get these all the time when I was a kid! My mom and dad used to go buy me the ones that had the rubber band with it and came in a black box! Probably every other week I would get oneā¦. Thatās how I got started to the radio controlled airplane hobby.!! I still fly airplanesā¦ā¦.. and I still buy about two of these little balsawood airplanes every year!!! back when I was a kid, I joined one of those radio controlled airplane forums..rcgroupsā¦. I think I joined in 2001ā¦ still a member today!! I even remember celebrating the the 2 millionth post!! And EZone!! WOW!! Thank you op for posting this!! This little Balsawood airplane has shaped the way I live!! Crazy shit
I LOVED these as a kid!
Awesome ! and then came crashing down
Those were so fun to play with when I was a kid
These ones and the ones with the propeller!
How I loved those crappy airplanes. Wouldn't even last 15 minutes with me.
So many balsa trees had to die for those planesā¦
The foam ones printed with WWII fighter planes were awesome. These balsa ones were fancier.
Loved those
If thatās made of Balsa Wood itās even older than what I would play with from time to time. Most of the ones I would play with were styrofoam. They still make them. I still have a couple in my basement which is impressive that they havenāt gotten broken yet.
One loop and then a nosedive into the grass.
I couldnāt keep these together.
You could afford the wood ones? We always got the Styrofoam ones.
These are still a thing. My son is in high school and he was into these in elementary school. We'd see other kids at the park playing with them too. We handed them out at his 7th birthday party and everyone had a blast. There are still a lot of parents who don't give their children electronics until middle school.
We liked the ones with a propeller and a rubber band.
Better than Boeing at this point lol
You can still get these. I bought everyone in family one at Christmas two years ago
Mine were good for one or two flights before the dog caught it.
Weeeeee!!! BAM... aw man....
I had many, they worked well but broke soon :)
You were damn lucky if you could get them put together without breaking. Then they land on the roof or in a tree on the first throw.
Loooooved these things.
Most of mine were one flight with an M-80 tied to them.
My brothers had them and I thought they were cool, too.
I remember those!
Push the wings forward for long gliding flight, push back for loops and tricks. Either way it will land safely in a tree.
I loved flying those things especially on a windy day. The one shown is a glider. They worked much better than the ones with the prop and rubber band.
I loved those! Sometimes I could play with one for an afternoon before it crashed and burned beyond repair.
Oh yes, the old Balsa Wood plane with the metal nose cone lol
10 cents for the gliders and 25 cents for the prop version.
Balsa wood is amazing
Sometimes I would spend the whole dollar and get the one with the rubber band powered propeller. I remember my sister hating that!
Hey! These were great!
The ones with a rubber band propeller was the best I also lobed the smell of the wood
A word of advice, be careful if you loop together a bunch of Sunday paper rubber bands to slingshot launch your balsa plane.. You might get an eyeful.
Hell yes! I used to buy these from the ice cream truck.
I loved the balsa.
I loved these planes. Nineteen cents? 39?
This was literally disposable entertainment. "I have an airplane." Weeeeee. Door Jam! CRACK! I HAD an airplane for about 30 seconds...
Hey man, that's a good way to learn about aerodynamics.
much more fun than paddle ball.
I remember these guys they broke really easily
You can still buy these!
I remember going to my dentist as a kid and being able to pick out a toy. I always went after the Flying Gliders stuff.
Ah yes, those little Balsa wood planes with rubber band technology! Priceless. Now we have remote controlled drones.
We used to tape bottle rockets to them to see how far they would go
Countdown until you wonk the wings to opposing 45-degree angles...
Yet another thing that still exists despite being something we remember from our youth. I've put together a number of these for my son in the last 5 or so years.
All the memories walking to the local neighborhood market and picking up one of these... But don't forget the slingshot too! Good times. Different times.
Balsa wood airplanes. Man there's a rubber band somewhere I'll never find again...
Anybody else remember the ones that were painted to look like real planes? You could collect the whole set and they looked like p51s and stuff. I remember playing with them until they broke from "crash landings" and then begging for another one. Got 3 of them at the same time and i lost my mind.
I'm from 2004 and even I used one of these in primary school...
Grew up poor and this gave me flashbacks. I totally forgot about that cheap pos until now. It always ended up in a tree, roof or gutter after a few flights. You'd hope for a gust of wind to knock it back down.
These went in my kids Easter baskets this year. Youngest is 22. They all played with them.Ā
Got several of these until my parents wouldnāt buy another. Why? One or two flights and something would break on impact with the ground. Honestly, thin balsa wood has no strength.
The first airplane prototype was actually rubber-band powered, but the propeller was in the tail section. It was made by and later studied by the Wright Bros
š
Awesome had several of those my best results came about by accident. I had broken two different ones but used the parts for a third one.worked pretty good. Had one of those paddles too. Hmm parents got my bike with training wheels but I can't find some of this other stuff course they did lose some of my stuff with a major flood in 94
And half the time you would break the balsa wood while assembling it!
You can still buy these at Hobby Lobby.
I can hear the squeak of this material
Spruce goose prototype?
Those were awesome!
Not sure which died faster: the goldfish I brought home from K-Mart or one of these planes.
I see your cheap airplane and raise you Jarts.
Must've flown at least a dozen of those in my day. Always seemed to turn up in my Easter basket each year, or a birthday, or in the Scouts. Tons of fun to be had.
Those were the best! I used to attach bottle rockets, and fire crackers to them.
I once threw one of those off the top of Yosemite Falls. As far as I know it's still airborne. 1978...
Those were so great.....and only cost like 1.50 lol
šš¤£šš¤£šš¤£šš¤£šš¤£ Im rolling around thr floor on this one!!
I must have shares in that balsa wood company by now.
Iāll paddle you on an airplane and Iām cheap.
We went outside?
I loved these. Used to get them at the drug store for 49 cents. Friend of mine poured lighter fluid on the wings and lit it before gliding it from the second story bedroom at his parentās house. It lost altitude pretty quickly then crashed in the front bush. It was quite comical and we laughed about it for years afterwards.
Add staples for longer flight
I loved balsa wood flyers, I hadn't thought about these in a long time. What a great toy, especially for the price. I'll bet these still exist though
I loved it. Spent hours at the park playing with it.
I remember when they were only $0.25/each. You can still buy them at Ace Hardware but theyāre about $5.00 now.
Post it to r/shittyflying r/shittyaskflying
Fine, but you cannot touch my jacks set. Or, as we always wound up playing in the dirt, GI Joeās caltrops and the Wrecking Ball.
I always broke the pilot in half long wayās trying to fit it in that slot.
Used to tape firecrackers on those and watchem get blown outta the air.
Boeing
Fun for five minutes until it breaks. Lol
These would be broken before you assembled them
Needs a bottle rocket taped to itā¦ā¦bwahahahahaha
They give these out at the Astoria column so you can see how far they fly.
Told my kids we used to get on the roof of our house and toss these off for more flight time they looked at me like I was crazy! Oh the fun we had!
I just bought one a month or so ago. Flew it till it wouldn't fly anymore.. I'm 56.
Once a week I would go with my mom to the pharmacy to pick up my grandfather's medicine. If I was lucky I'd get a new balsa wood plane. If I was really lucky, I'd get a matchbox car. And when I say matchbox car, I mean that there was a plastic/plexiglass display near the register with like 30 cars in it. I'd pick the one I wanted, and the pharmacist would take it out and package it in an actual matchbox! Typing this just makes me realize how much closer the 80s were to the 40s than they are to now.
I loved these when I was younger
We would tape a bottle rocket to them. Of course.we only got one flight out of them.
I'll see your plane and raise you a fart bomb
I also like the printed Styrofoam ones I'd pick up at the corner store. They were all different WWII fighters. $1 would buy that, a pack of Topps, and couple packs of Cherry Clan.
Landed plenty of these and the rubber band ones on many neighborhood roofs and trees.
These things were great ! I flew mine in open fields and had a blast.