I must have been my son’s age at the time, but I still remember the day when I went with a friend to the air show. My buddy’s dad was an aviation buff and spent the day telling his son all about the winged wonders on display. I remember that we saw plenty of big planes that day. But most of all, I remember the pile of airplane kits that I brought home.
My dad gave me $5 to spend on a souvenir, which seemed like an enormous sum of money at the time. Of course, I did the responsible thing and spent every last penny. I came home with at least twenty of the Guillow’s toy airplane kits. After I was banned from flying the planes indoors, I took my personal aviation show outdoors and promptly landed half a dozen planes on my neighbor’s roof. My dog intercepted a few mid flight as well. Even with these small setbacks, flying the planes in my backyard was a surefire way to spark some childhood wonder.
The past weekend, I gave my son a few Guillow’s toy airplanes to build. It was a good excuse to get outdoors so we could enjoy one of the rare sunny days in Portland. Guillow’s airplanes haven’t changed much over the years, which is a good thing. They are still really affordable (what other toy can you buy for $1.79) and they are easy to assemble. We built a couple of the foam kit airplanes and a few of the balsa gliders. Each one took just a couple minutes to put together.
In a dramatic reenactment of my childhood, I launched the first plane into the air, watched it glide over to the neighbor’s house, and then cringed as it touched down on their roof. My son was none too pleased about this, but all was eventually forgiven as we flew the other planes in our front yard. If you are going to get the balsa gliders I found that the Jetstream ($3.59), Eagle ($1.79) and Sky Streak ($3.09) models are great for beginners.
The nice thing is that you don’t have to visit an air show to find these airplane kits. A wide variety of Guillow’s airplanes are available on Amazon or they can be purchased at most hobby shops. The airplane kits are an inexpensive and fun way to spend time with your child.
