Toy help wanted....from when we were kids!

**grumpyoldlady** · October-04-09, 06:38 PM

I know they still make these, but not sure where to get them. The little wooden airplanes that came in a flat package...you slid the main wing and the tail through slots in the body and then put the rudder in a slot on the top. As a child I had loads of fun with them. We last purchased them back in the 1980's for our son. I got one recently in a boxlot at an auction. Does anyone know where to get them, or the proper name for them. I've searched "wooden airplane" and end up with kits to build very heavy "sit on the shelf" airplanes. Probably were/are made of balsa. Any leads????? My grandson loved playing with one, but they don't last real long. Thanks for any and all leads/info.

**Mikeg** · October-04-09, 06:48 PM

Google Product search results for "balsa gliders".

**ZRX Doug** · October-04-09, 06:54 PM

TopFlite is probably the product line you're thinking of..they're still stocked by lots of local hobby shops..Joe's, The PropShop, and West Point hobby shops all keep 'em in stock.
I tend to buy a handfull of 'em whenever I drop in for "real" model airplane supplies to keep my nephew's entertained.

**Jimaz** · October-04-09, 06:54 PM

I'd guess any hobby shop would still have them.

Here's an online source: Guillow Toy Airplanes.

Yeah, those things are fun.

There's an enormous hobby shop here: Great Lakes Hobby and Train.

**slick** · October-13-09, 01:34 PM

ACE hardware had them on the front counter this spring.
Seasonal item for them I am sure.
of course I live in Eaton Rapids, but ACE tends to stock similar items everywhere.

**vetalalumni** · October-13-09, 03:43 PM

I loved these little cheap gliders as a kid. My dad would get them for me and even back then they never lasted very long. We were careful with them due to their fragility. I got a couple for my 9 year old last summer from K-Mart I think. It was his first exposure to them and they lasted only a couple hours

. He wonders why "old people" like me enjoyed such toys. WalMart has a toy section with all kinds of light-weight balsa wood figurines.

**gibran** · October-14-09, 06:23 PM

a trip to Ace at the civic center could magically get a glider or a match box car....that was big stuff...even bigger when I got the ones with a rubber band...remember the larger ones [[.75) ...those lasted a little longer..then came the hobby shop on Whittier..then it was all over, model rockets and gradually the Cox Airplanes [[trainer first ...still have my P40)...with all that I should have been a pilot...then again Major Matt Mason couldn't turn the corner on aviation either.