Foam Walkalong Glider Gallery

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Here's what people around the world are doing. Join in! I can add pictures and embed YouTube videos.
First, check out this extraordinary glider seed from a vine in Indonesia. Amazing! Thanks to Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski for the tip.

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Katie in Florida not only mastered walkalong gliders using the foam I sent, she created a science fair project with the angle of board tilt as the variable. If you want to see the best example of how to use the scienctific method and how to present your results--thorough and still clear--then click to see Katie's write-up.

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Nick and his buddy Jonathon in Atlanta, Georgia..." love to solve anything that looks impossible." They were searching for the perfect paper airplane when they came across one of the sciencetoymaker videos about foam gliders. They didn't even have nichrome wire but found a substitute (I hear that thin metal guitar strings or fish line can work) and made a foam hot-wire slicer with an AC/DC adapter. And soon they were flying.

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David Elias made these bird gliders with a church group. He said that he used weights as eyes and the tail allows for some adjustment. Beautiful feather pattern. There are more examples of gliders that look like birds, insects, even sea creatures here.

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Wilfred van Norel, a teacher in The Netherlands, is showing students how to air surf. He has started cutting foam with the new design that uses screw threads instead of shims to set the thickness--including multiple cuts. Wilfred just discovered that even in the Netherlands the foam from seafood is discarded, so it's available for free. I think he will like the seafood packaging foam. It might be a little stronger and have fewer holes in thin slices.

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A young person in Kansas, A.J., exemplifies what I hope to see more of around the world. A.J. not only built and learned how to fly foam gliders, but now he comes up with his own imaginative designs. Picture1: AJ with a Mama Bug he built. Picture 2: AJ's air fleet. Picture 3: A Big Mouth T wing that AJ--with a few twists and some straw weight--tuned into a biplane glider. Picture 4: a walkalong glider AJ created from a gum wrapper. He reports that Stride gum wrappers work best. Click on to see larger pictures. AJ has also started posting flight video on YouTube.

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Paper Tumblewings aren't foam gliders, but I think everyone contemplating foam gliders should try T-wings first. They are easy and fast to build, using only phone book paper or newspaper. Tumblewings might be a little more difficult to launch and fly. but that makes them all the better practice for foam gliders. Jonathan Beutlich's science club students at the Calvin Christian School in California built and flew Big Mouth Tumblewings (instructions here) . Jonathan tells me they are looking forward to foam gliders. A longer version is here.

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Also from Kansas is Audrey, who colored her Baby Bug. Does that resemble a certain Pokemon? Audrey reports that she had to readjust the glider after decorating it. Now she's starting to hot-wire cut her own foam.I'm hoping she'll create some videos soon. Half of my students are girls and they build and fly walkalong gliders as well or better than the boys (see them in aerial combat here) so I'm puzzled that more girls aren't sending feedback. Go Audrey!

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Michele in Italy made a jagwing flight video, buzzing his parents who are trying to watch a soccer game. He also posted a video about making and adjusting the glider.

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Diego from Mexico sent me some great video feedback about the putt putt boat, another project. Also, I saw on his YouTube channel some really interesting kite vehicle videos. I asked him to test foam gliders. I like the way he involves his family in projects. Now Diego is hot-wire cutting his own foam powered by a car battery, too.

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Abhinav is a young person in Texas who provided helpful feedback about the foam air surfing kit. He has shown his friends, teachers and his 8 year old sister how to fly. If you click on the picture below, it will play an AVI file of him flying with only his hands. And he just made his own hot-wire cutter to slice out his own thin slices of foam. It's so encouraing to see these young people taking up and teaching walkalong flight!

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Nyle Steiner is an inventor, musician and great freind who lives in Utah. He first contacted me to show me how to electrostatically levitate common things around the house. Not walkalong gliding but very cool. I've learned from his method of investigating the science behind several projects. Nyle has a wonderful website http://www.sparkbangbuzz.com/ full of DIY science projects. Below you can see grandfather Nyle and two granddaughters flying outside (though be cautioned that it's often too windy to fly outside).

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Here's a terrific video sent to me by Ralph Hughes, of his Cub Scouts learning to fly in England. I just a few seconds it has everything: the challenge and awkwardness of learning--particularly launching-- a helping hand and triumph as fellow scouts cheer on the pilot! Clicking on any of the first 3 pictures will open the YouTube video. But if that's blocked clicking on the last picture opens an 8MB 3GPP video file of the same.

Ralph Hughes sent such terrific feedback about another sciencetoymaker project, the periscope, that I asked him to test the foam glider kit. Soon he was designing his own foam cutter. Click to enlarge pictures.

Ralph reports he can power it with either a 9 volt battery or 12 volot, 400ma adapter. He attached a micro switch on the side so the wire is only energised when needed, which reminds me of a kind of switch in an industrial application that could be activated by the foam directly. He said the wire is a single strand from a fishing trace, he burned off the outer nylon with a match. The washers determine the wire height, then he shims underneath with paper until he gets exactly the right thickness. Interesting spring tensioner (when the wire heats it expands) and wire attachment system.

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David Williamson is a friend in England who invents all sorts of whimsical creations. Here he is cutting some foam, test-gliding and expertly flying in circles in a room (while his niece expertly operates the camera).

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Thomas Buchwald is a "Technik" teacher of students in grades 6 to 10 in Germany. His glider creatures are so imaginative that he has his own page, Buchwald Bionics.

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Hurray! Michael Thompson is now putting his work on YouTube. Mike is no less than the inventor of the Jagwing and he got us going with very thin foam for walkalong gliders. He is the only one I know who does not hotwire cut foam, using instead a bandsaw and—lately—a deli slicer! Mike is truly a master engineer and builder. I’ve seen him fly a walkalong glider that tows another glider. And check out his paper propellers!