Cub Car Draw results to win 10-Pack of Squirrels!

Building and flying the Squirrel high performance model air planes is a fun and educational experience for youth and leaders. Here is a guide on how to run your model airplane workshop.

You can also book Darcy and friends to help with workshops and flying. Please don't hesitate to contact us to help find someone in your area to help with your workshop.

Step 1: Obtain enough kits for your group. You'll need one per youth and one per adult. Kits can be purchased or you may follow directions on the make it page if you'd like to make yours from scratch.

Purchased kits include everything except glue and scissors. No other tools will be required (unlike other high performance model airplanes).

Step 2: The fun begins!

All the adults should build their kit on their own following the video directions on the make it page and contacting Darcy with questions. The steps are in a specific order for specific purposes. The downloadable instruction sheet lists the instructions in order as well.

Be sure to take pictures of everybody with their Squirrel and share it with everyone as it makes the occasion much more memorable.

Craft glue such as Aleene's Tacky glue, a glue stick and scissors are needed make a Squirrel. A small box is nice for carrying it once complete.

All adults should have their Squirrel flying and also familiarise themselves with the repair section.

Contact Darcy with questions, comments and feedback. This helps us make revisions to the video and printed instructions.

The Workshop

Option 1 (recommended): You will need two sessions of an hour and a half or more. You can use one session for building and one session for flying.

Option 2: You will need a single session of at least two and a half hours. This may be a bit long for younger children.

Prepare workspace for building. The common collapsable tables found in most venues are very comfortable with as many as six youth per table. This also makes it easy to assign one adult per table.

Start with a flying demonstration. (A leader should hand out materials during demonstration). One or two flights is enough. It's important that youth see what their finished project will look like and how well it can fly. This is also an opportunity to show them how to pick a Squirrel up by the nose piece. Show the launch technique which involves two steps. Release propeller, wait for it to spool up, then a gentle launch.

All leaders and workshop leader should have a copy of the printed instruction sheet with them.

One or two leaders should be in charge of taking pictures. This makes the occasion more memorable. Almost every adult I meet talks about model airplane memories from childhood. Having pictures makes it all the more fun. Don't forget you can also submit pictures to your association magazines and newsletters.

One adult should lead the workshop. At the beginning, they will instruct youth to listen to each step completely before begining to make sure they understand it. The workshop leader will say "go" or "woof" when they are finished demonstrating the assembly step It takes a few minutes for youth to get over the temptation of starting the step before the instructions are finished. Start using this technique with showing how to get the parts out of the package and organized them on the table. Be sure to reinforce the technique.

If the workspace is organized as described in the video (right) it will go much smoother with less chance of breaking things before the project is complete.

It is important that the leaders at each table keep youth on track and focused. The workshop leader cannot lead the steps, provide support and worry about focus.

Each table will have a small flag. (You can make one out of a skewer stick, piece of paper and some putty to make it stand up). When a step is started, the leader at that table lays the flag down. When the table is ready for the next step, the flag is stood up in the putty. Once a table is ready, the leaders at that table will move to another table that is still working and help. Once all flags are up the workshop, the leaders return to their tables, put the flags down and the workshop lead will start the next step.

Repeat this cycle until all gluing is done and make sure all the wings are lying flat and the body sticks are on a ledge so everything can dry straight.

While glue is drying the children can tie their elastic using a reef or square knot.

A brief flying demonstration. Review the techniques of handling. Include how to handle the wing and motor stick when they are not attached and how to handle them the wing is mounted. Launch a model with the wing incorrectly adjusted and have the children call out "forward" or "backward" to make sure they understand trimming.

By the time the demonstration is over, the planes should be ready for flying.

Walk through the step of mounting the wing, elastic motor and propeller.

Have the children line up so that there is a line-up for each adult flying coach.

The children will wind their propeller about 200 times and give it a light toss. The adult will give them feedback and they go get their plane and return to the line. After a child is comfortable with winding and launching, then they can go to the other side of the gym for some free flying time.

There should be one table with an adult helping with repairs. When a plane is repaired it stays at the repair table until the glue is dry.

If you'd like to run more sessions, the education section of this Web site has lots of suggestions for fun activities for children of various ages.

Happy flying!

Aviation Troop Speciality Badge

Cubs and Scouts are now building Squirrels as part of their various merit badges. Here are some pictures I got from the Scouts Canada Web site from an article written by Christopher Singleton who is a model airplane expert and advocate.