Model airplane how-to guide for Teachers

Building and flying a high performance model airplane is a great way to make education even more fun!

Here is a guide on successfully bringing model airplanes into the classroom for teachers.

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

Step 1: Obtain kits for your classroom. You'll need one per youth and one per teacher. Purchase kits or create your own from the "make it" page. Step 2: The fun begins! Adults should build their kit on their own following video direction or instruction sheet. Aleene's Tacky glue (craft glue), a glue stick and scissors are all thats needed. A small box is nice for carrying it once complete.

Step 3: Refer to the Educational Roadmap for lesson plans and ideas to consider. The Roadmap has a grid showing different educational concepts and grade. Simply click on the grid to find lesson plans and content for your educational experience. Be sure to take pictures of everybody with their Squirrel and share it with everyone. It's a great way to document something plus it makes the occasion much more memorable. Contact Darcy with questions.

How to run a great fast track 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 helpers 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.

Happy flying!