Flying Models: From Soaring Flight to Real Rockets

Flying Models: From Soaring Flight to Real Rockets is part of Crabtree’s series titled “Model-Making Mindset”. Model-making is a pastime that goes back centuries. Recent research has identified benefits in cognition, focus, dexterity, problem-solving, and other skills for model-makers of all ages. Introducing young readers to this hobby can be the beginning of a life-long passion that is good for you.

Flying Models includes topics such as basic principles of aerodynamics, the pros and cons of different sources of power and methods of control, scale, historic aircraft, the parts of an aircraft, drones, and rocketry. Safety is stressed throughout, from when you are constructing your model to when you are choosing where to fly your model.

The chapter on “Silent Flight”, includes a picture of an Avro Arrow. “This simple chuck glider has a design based on the swept-wing Avro Arrow, a fast Canadian jet that flew in the late 1950s.” Although “flew in the 1950s” might be an overstatement, it is nice to see the mention of an historic Canadian aircraft.

The final chapter, “What’s next?”, contains more Canadian content. Text and an accompanying photo show BlackFly, a “single-seat electric airplane [which] was designed in Warkworth, Canada”.

The worlds of flying models, conventional airplanes, and drone technology are coming together. Drones are now so reliable that they can be scaled up to make larger, “people-sized” machines. Learning to fly may also become easier and cheaper. For example, the CanadianOpener company says you might need only a few minutes of training to fly its all-electric BlackFly safely.

Flying Models: From Soaring Flight to Real Rockets is a good entry point for beginning model-making fans, packed with lots of information well-supported by colourful photographs.