I'm glad! I'm REALLY GLAD!

[Perd Hapley]

Tonight, on a whim, I went to Target and Wal-Mart, looking for some kind of glider I could toy around with tomorrow.  I was looking for something like this:



No such luck.  No simple little, cheapo glider a kid could buy with his allowance money.  No, just battery-powered models that cost 30 dollars or much more.  Stupid electric toys.   



OK, no, I'm not really mad.  It is disappointing, though.     I used to buy these styrofoam gliders from Wal-Mart, that had a four-foot wing span.  Those things were cool.  Maybe they'll have some come spring. 

[Manedwolf]

You mean the big gliders you see people throw at picnic places, and they go in a loop and nail them in the head ? :)

[Perd Hapley]

Good clean fun.   

[Manedwolf]

Sort of like when a kite on a beach falls out of the air in a dive, it WILL hit the only person on the beach.

[Harold Tuttle]

wrong season for those at Target or Walmart check back in the spring

find a real toy store and they will have them in a tube by the register

[MechAg94]

You mean the big gliders you see people throw at picnic places, and they go in a loop and nail them in the head ? :)

I was thinking of the big styrofoam gliders that would go in a big loop then nose dive into the ground breaking the wings off.

[Physics]

When I was around 10, my older cousin and I used to attach model rocket engines to the little balsa wood airplanes, then launch them horizontally out his window over the back yard and into his woods.  They would catch on fire halfway and crash, it was fun.  Sadly, he died a few years later at the age of 13. 

He was cool, he had a .30-06 and a 30-30!  He showed me that you could take all the shot out of a shotgun shell and tape a rock or marble to the primer end.  Then you throw it at someone and it scares the hell out of them!     Ahh memories. 

[Mabs2]

A shame...I wonder how he died...

[Perd Hapley]

wrong season for those at Target or Walmart check back in the spring

find a real toy store and they will have them in a tube by the register

Yeah, I figured they might have some in spring.  Still,   

And no real toy stores within range last night, so...

[slingshot]

I believe the gliders are a seasonal item.  Check after Christmas.  It never fails that I want to buy an electric fan between now and April....  almost none are available during this time period.  So, I buy them and store new ones just in case.  If you watch, you can buy them during the early fall close outs.  But they go so fast, that it is pure coincidence if you walk into a store and notice them on sale during that time period.

[Declaration Day]

Here ya go!

http://www.rudystoys.com/category.aspx?categoryID=116

[freedom lover]

This thread brings back good memories.

One of my rubber band powered balsa gliders made it from the treehouse almost to the flagpole without losing any airspeed or altitude. Thats a real awesome feat when you're 9 years old. I still to this day think a good paper or balsa airplane can be more fun than an electric RC car. I certainly use them much more.

[freedom lover]

Fistful, I don't know if you're gonna online today, but you could try making a v-shaped paper jet out of the stiff paper from file folders. Putting a paper clip
on the bottom in the middle to keep the ends together adds weight and helps it fly straight.

If your dad lived in the 60's he probably taught you how to make the same kind of paper jet my dad taught me to make.

[Big Hairy Bee]

They are at the register at my local ACE Hardware.  Both glider and prop I believe...

[taurusowner]

If it's that big of a deal, I'm sure Amazon or Ebay can help.

[RocketMan]

Try a local hobby shop.   They'll probably have them.

[Jamisjockey]

Hobby shop.  KayBee toys in the mall.  Something like that. 

[Perd Hapley]

Firstly, like I said, I'm not really mad.  I thought everybody would understand I was quoting that "really mad" guy at the McCain rally in Wisconsin.  Maybe not. 

Yeah, I know I could find them somewhere on line, or at some brick and mortar in another part of town, or in spring.  The thing is, I wanted to get one last night, so I could play with it today.   

And it annoyed me, because I have a theory that I could find one at any Wal-Mart, at any season of the year, if it weren't for the glut of battery-operated stuff, and Yu-Gi-O crap out there. 

[Manedwolf]

Fistful, I don't know if you're gonna online today, but you could try making a v-shaped paper jet out of the stiff paper from file folders. Putting a paper clip
on the bottom in the middle to keep the ends together adds weight and helps it fly straight.

If your dad lived in the 60's he probably taught you how to make the same kind of paper jet my dad taught me to make.

In high school, we had to make rubber-band cars with the propeller made out of paper. Glue was allowed.

My dad is a former aircraft designer, which was an unfair advantage. He showed me how to make a proper layered laminate, and how to curve and form a hard laminate prop with the proper pitch to bite the air and all. That thing whipped off down the hall like a bat out of hell and kept going and going and going...

[Gewehr98]

4-engines:

[freedom lover]

Thats neat. Did you carve the wings and tail yourself? They look like they could have been carved.

In high school, we had to make rubber-band cars with the propeller made out of paper.

That reminds me of the two wheel CO2 car I made in Jr. High shop class. That thing was fast. The only thing faster was a very small four wheeler that was made the same way as a layer cake and spray-painted pink.

Our teacher was fair, though. He graded us only on quality of construction.

[Manedwolf]

This was an AP physics class. I'd also won a "longest time in air" glider thing by departing from the norm. Instead of going for distance, I made a cupped lifting body that glided down a bit, nosed up, lifted into a leisurely hang of a stall, dipped its nose and regained airspeed, pitched back up at a certain speed, stalled again, and repeated that all the way to the ground, taking a long time to do it. Shortest distance, but longest time in air. :)

[Physics]

A shame...I wonder how he died...

He died in a quad accident.  I remember there being a search party, and driving around logging roads looking for him.  I kept thinking we were going to get to be on Rescue 911 when we found him.  I remember also the searchers interviewing me trying to figure out places he liked to ride.

Heh, when my parents burst through the door a couple hours early from work, they scared me so bad I spilled paint thinner all over the model I was building.  A '57 Chevy IIRC. 

Thanks for sharing that Fistful, brings back old memories.   

[Perd Hapley]

People that aren't completely disgusted with me:  1

People that pray nightly for my high-altitude defenestration:  Everybody else.   

[Bogie]

We used to fly paper planes from the tenth floor of Todd Hall at Eastern Kentucky University... Which was parallel with Dupree dorm... You'd get some truly tricky wind currents, and the occasional bottle-rocket RPG, to deal with...
 
Then they bolted all the windows shut. With allen sockets... Heh...