BR 6 - Review Of Fabulous Paper Gliders By Norman Schmidt

Date Reviewed: 1 May 2008

Book Name: Fabulous Paper Gliders

Author: Norman Schmidt

ISBN #: 1-895569-23-0

Year of original book/Year of my copy - 1998/1998

Pages - 96

Cover Price - $12.95

Named Planes - The Paperwing, Glasflugel Libelle 201, Lilienthal 1895 Glider, Primary Glider, Orlik, Grunua Baby, Waco CG-4, Colditz Cock, Schweizer SGS 1-26, Schleicher Ka-6, Lark S.I. 28B2, Salto H 101, Solitare Canard, Genesis, PW-5 Smyk, Schemp-Hirth Nimbus 4.

Level of difficulty - (1-10) 8

Comments:

I enjoy Norman's books. He always has planes with great flying capabilities, with heavily researched and informative text. This book is no different, and stands apart from many paper airplane books in that it focuses on paper planes inspired from real gliders.

All paper planes are essentially gliders, so these seem to imitate their real cousins. Watching the Waco plane fly makes those old WW2 black and white newsreels spring to life.

This book contains plans for 16 planes. All will require cutting with scissors, a sharp hobby knife, 65lb card stock or 5x8 index cards, and some form of glue. A glue stick will work just fine. The idea is that you trace or photocopy the designs onto regular paper, then transfer them to card stock or 5x8 index cards to cut out. DON'T CUT OUT THE DESIGNS FROM THE BOOK! It isn't necessary. While his method works, it is cumbersome and involves a lot of steps. What I did was scan each plan, and put them into a word document. That way, whenever I need to make one of his planes, I print out the plane onto 65lb cardstock, and cut it out. No need to trace or transfer, and I can make unlimited copies. Two 5x8 plans fit on one 8x11 sheet. A bonus is that I expanded the designs, so that one plan fits onto an 8x11 sheet, and you can see the result in the pictures of the Lilienthal Glider and the Waco Glider. It makes a nice, larger plane, and with a little reinforcing of key areas, they fly AWESOME!

So is there anything I don't like about the book? Not much. Apart from having to scan the planes (tedious, but a one time affair), there is nothing to not like about it. A lot of good technical data, some personal stories and good history of the planes, it makes for a pleasant read. Combined with great flying designs, I am pleased to award this book a score of 10 out of 10. I would recommend this book to adults, and older children (mainly because of the knife work involved). However, the planes are a joy for children of all ages to fly, and I heartily recommend parents making them with their young children to enjoy.