How to Build a Model Air Glider

Tossing a glider and watching it fly across the sky is a very satisfying experience for many people.  Building a balsa wood glider is a fun experience that you can share with your friends and your children for a fun bonding experience.  It is a great way to teach yourself or your children about aerodynamics, as well as how to build something from scratch and to have pride in a homemade product.

Find Proper Measurements

Building a glider isn’t very difficult, and you can find plans for many different builds of glider on the Internet.  Once you find your plans on the web, you will want to print them out and make sure that they are to scale.

Purchase Balsa Wood

Next, you are going to need to buy the balsa wood for your glider.  You can choose to buy your wood at the local craft store or hobby store.  Make sure that you have balsa wood sheets that are large enough for the plans you printed.  You can cut out each piece from the plans that you have and then trace them onto the wood.

Steps

Use a modeling knife to cut out the pieces of the glider very carefully.  Use a medium grade piece of sandpaper and sand the edges of the pieces.  Make sure that you sand an airfoil (angled edge) into the wings of the glider.  Sand the other edge of the wing until it is flat.  Glue the wing pieces together and then assemble the rest of the glider.  Have a little patience though, and let the glue dry for at least eight hours before you fly your glider.

Ensure Great Balance

Make sure that the glider has good balance.  You can add a bit of modeling clay to the glider to give it better balance.  Once you finish, you can go outside and fly your plane! 

It might take a couple of tries before you make your best glider, but it is fun enough to keep building them.  Keep your materials close by to fix any parts that become loose or need an adjustment.

To add a bit of pizazz to your plane, decorate it with your favorite colors or to emulate an old fashioned plane.  You could even have family flying races or decorating competitions!