Group Building and Flying
Classroom or Group Building Suggestions
Suggestions From the Experts
My experience with group building sessions has been rather minimal compared to other people, so I have borrowed the comments from some of the experts.
Dick Baxter on Glue and Razor Blades
In classrooms. I use Duco cement for structure, and for DD's gluestick for the structure to paper bond. Avoid CA in the hands of kids. They don't know how to handle it safely. Avoid white glue or carpenters Yellow glue for structure. Neither one dries fast enough to be useful. White glue frequently never actually hardens. CA and accelerator vapors offend a lot of people.
Use sharp (new) single edged razor blades only. Dull ones produce injuries. Give the kids a good lecture on razor handling and safety and proclaim zero tolerance for horsing around before you hand out the blades. Make sure the teacher and school management know about the razor blades before you commit.
Some are scared to death of the things. Others shrug it off. I have had more than 1000 kids build with razor blades and have yet to have a serious injury. I do get occasional minor cuts. So far none big enough to want a band aide.
Razor blades are a legal hazard here in California. You can get expelled for possession. We collect razors at the end of class and hand them out at the beginning of the next one.
I forgot to mention that my classes usually have one adult per about 15 kids.
Dick Baxter
Tom Sanders on Using Jigs
Having many adults around is important but it sometimes it just doesn't happen. Using the Delta Dart as an example, I have made simple cutting jigs for the wing sticks, stab sticks and the fin parts from 1/4" aircraft ply. These I use to mass produce the wood parts if I know ahead of time that the kids are 10 yrs and younger with little additional supervision.
In my experience, I believe that when a model is built poorly in an GROUP setting and it does not fly, that there is a permanent scar burned into the kid's brain against any further model flying attempts- forever.
For my money, I lean towards "auto-mizing" the assembly process with kids as it is most important that they have a respectable flying model in their hands. Having them watch someone perform SOME of the assembly will actually cause them to respect the model much more. I always thought the opposite until we tried it once.
This is the critical element, building the models take lots time (from a kid's perspective), if it doesn't fly, do not wonder why they don't come back. But, when equal time is scheduled to flight trim and modify the airplanes, now there is a great chance for that child to fly again!
Regards, Tom Sanders
Neil Dennis On His First Delta Dart Session
Neil's students had a lot of trouble with the wing joint and he thinks improvements could be made to the design in this area.
"Of 9 students building, we had to repair every one of the wing joints, some didn't even last 1 flight."
Jerry Knoblauch on Group Sessions
Bill, for many years (maybe 25) I did these sessions with the help of my wife or daughter and occasionally was assisted as well by one of my modeling students. We've done groups as large as 80 at day camps and as small as 8 or 10 at Barmitzvahs. Sometimes I worked alone with the small groups. Recently I have been accompanied by one or two of my geezer buddies. Art Anderson is a retired Hamilton Standard engineer and Ed Rucci is a retired insurance company maintenance man. Each one will bring along additional planes to demonstrate to the group such as ornithopters, helicopters, penny planes, Co2 powered models and gliders of all types.
Today's group consisted of 6 to 14 year old boys and girls from a church in Agawam, Ma who were sponsored by the church's men's ministry. Each child was accompanied by an adult. The room was quite small but adequate in which to fly if the Cubs were trimmed properly. We allowed 2 1/2 hours and actually were with some of them for about three hours. We used glue sticks to fasten the wood to the pre-shrunk tissue and medium grade CA for the final assembly thereby assuring that each model is properly aligned. The rubber motors used for the indoor facility were 3/32" Tan and provided just enough power to fly them under a low ceiling. All participants were given a 1/8" rubber motor for outdoor use. They were instructed in the use of tweaking the plastic nose bearing web to induce a circling flight path. It was a very enjoyable experience for all.
From Art Lane in Canada - MAAC Cub is the Canadian version of the AMA Cub
The MAAC Cub kits are available to members at a cost of $2.50 ea., per pack of 6. Our club has a group of 4 members who go around to the different schools, teaching the hows, whys, etc on model aviation. We have in the past, had quite a few schools asking for this program and we found it to be too much for our small group. We, instead, set up Teacher Seminars and have taught them how to build and fly, and they in turn hold their own classes with their students, at their own time. Of course, we always get a call to help with the classes and are only to happy to do this.
There is a saying in both AMA and MAAC, "Get our Youth involved". Well, what with all the games and television and computers now, it's hard to get the kids away from these.. My wife and I belong to a Sr. Club and when we joined, I was asked if I knew of any programs that might be of interest to the Sr.'s.. Guess what? I mentioned "Building an aeroplane" and we just finished our first class. It wasn't a big group, but those who participated, really enjoyed and it brought back many fond memories of their childhood.. I think this program is going to continue on..