Let's Fly Away

     Several years back I came across a simple plan to build a toy airplane  out of wood.   It was pretty basic.  It seemed to pattern after the plane that Snoopy flew when he was trying to attack the Red Baron (careful, might be ageing yourself here).   That plane seemed to move with us where ever we went.  Through the years it developed some battle scares, but seemed to stay in tact.   Today it still has some resemblance that it once was an airplane and when the little ones arrive,  it once again flies in that imaginary world of loop-d-loops and death-defying nose dives.

     Last week my question to my grandson was "What would you like for your Birthday?"    (I was hoping that maybe it would be something grandma could find at K-mart for a couple of bucks.)    He is turning 4 and his response was that he would like an airplane.   One with three wings.   One on top and one on bottom and one in the back.   I didn't say anything because I was thinking I can whip out one of those in no time.  (Wrong.)

    Since I did not have the pattern of the one I built several years ago, I went on the internet to see if I could find something there.   It is amazing!    Type in wood toy patterns followed by planes and you can come up with more patterns for planes then one could ever hope for.   After a little searching, I selected one ----http://www.woodworkit.com/woodworking-project-plans/toy-airplane.php ----and printed the pattern off and went to work.  

I dug into my wood scrap pile and drug out some old pieces of dark walnut scraps that didn't seem to match up with anything else -walnut wood that had been around so long that it was definitely dry and very  hard and perfect for the small pieces needed to stand a crash or two.    The first step was to glue a few 3/4 inch pieces to make up the body of the plane as that needed to be a block  2 1/2" by 2 1/2". 

The next part was to plane down some walnut boards to a 1/4 inch thickness.   These were the boards that would be used for the wings.   Once all the scrap lumber had been cut and sized, the next phase was to start cutting out all the pieces.   There were a lot of small pieces to cut - the prop, rudder, the pretend engine, supports for the wheels, pins to help hold it all together.   (I'm thinking it might have been easier to build a six-shelf bookcase for his birthday then to build this airplane. ) 

Finally, as you can see to the left, all pieces have been cut out.   To my dismay, there were a few required pieces for which there were no diagrams in the plan on the internet.   One had to look at the picture and form your own patterns.    This is where my creative touch comes into play.  (Yeah right)     

After several sheets of sand paper and a lot of glue, it finally came together.    I left the wood raw or without any varnish or conditioner.   I was thinking that it will be played with and that's what it was made for.    I hope it holds for awhile.    (When no one was home, a phase of Alzheimer's hit me and  I jumped in the cockpit and tried to chase  down the Red Baron a few times myself. ) 



Let me introduce you to the real pilot.    Now that I think about it,  I should have packed a pair of goggles and a red scarf to go along with this present.  







For my next venture a more "Grown Up" project is in the works...