It is not an easy kite to manage, but when once the art of flying it is mastered it is never forgotten.
Gliders. The earliest type of toy flying-machine consisted of a two-bladed tin propeller spun on a frame by unwinding string, as with a top, and suddenly let go. It is easily made, as shown in Fig. 475, where A is a tin propeller nailed by nails C and C to a large reel B. In making this toy the nails must be driven into the reel first, their heads are then cut off and they are tightly fitted into holes in propeller A. D is the axle on which the reel spins and the handle for holding it; E is a washer. This flying-machine is worked by smartly pulling a length of string wound around the reel.
Fig. 476
Modern aeroplanes are far more difficult to make than this; they need patience, skill and experiment, and besides a knowledge of how to twist and bend wood by steaming it; plenty of cane and whalebone wire, tissue paper or fine Japanese silk, and catapult elastic, which is generally the motive power used in working model aeroplanes. (Messrs Gamage, Holborn, W.C., stock skeins of specially prepared elastic.)
In this chapter only the simple and well-known types will be very briefly described, the boy who is interested must get special books on this subject from his library. In the first place the beginner must know what the three types of machines used in designing models generally are—viz. (1) the glider or motorless model, a glider being a winged structure, which when released from a height does not fall directly to the ground, but descends gracefully at a gentle slope; (2) the monoplane, which is constructed more or less on the lines of a bird; and (3) the biplane or double-winged aeroplane.
Gliders may be either of the monoplane or biplane type. Experiments with gliders will enable boys to find out some of the principles on which aeroplanes are built, and will prepare them to undertake the construction of more difficult forms.
In making one's first glider one cannot do better than copy a bird. On a piece of paper draw a circle, fold it in half, draw a bird on one half, as in Fig. 476, cut it out, when the paper is opened it will appear as in the figure. If this bird is thrown head first toward the ground, it will probably fall. If two little bits of cardboard are gummed on each side of his head, he will make a better flight and land on the ground after making a gentle curve. A still better bird may be cut from cardboard, a half cut is then made along a b to bend it, and the head is weighted with sealing-wax. How well this bird flies depends on the weight, and to some extent on the shape of the bird. Birds of various shapes and with different amounts of sealing-wax should be tried, until one is made that glides to the ground in a long, graceful curve.
In making bird gliders the following points should be remembered:
(1) Draw the bird in a circle as already explained, this ensures that the wings will be exactly balanced.