Customer Reviews

Joy of Flying Paper Airplanes

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I'm amazed at the lack of reviews for this superb book!

I bought this as a teenager and, having had long experience with flying models of all kinds, throughout my childhood, the content of the book was not new to me. However, where this book really shines, and the reason I went ahead and bought it, is in it's sheer accessibility. The models are all excellent and all fly superbly, putting the paper aeroplanes of this book well into the top 20% of the genre (there are a great many books claiming to offer models that fly well but which, in reality, fly like soggy dishcloths). This book makes it so EASY to build models which would otherwise be a little daunting for the unseasoned paper aeroplane builder. Note that with this particular book, one can choose whether to transfer the outlines onto other paper to build the models (photocopying, tracing/transfer, or pricking through the shape outlines on the pages with a pin) or one can directly cut out the necessary pieces from the pages. Obviously, the latter option will swiftly result in a useless book but if it serves to help inexperienced modelmakers get the job done and enjoy flying the models then it may be worth it. The pages are printed on paper that is very satisfactory for actual use.

If you have folded model aeroplanes in the past and are looking for a step-up in terms of performance and longevity of models, but without experiencing frustration, then I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It'll take you by the hand and have you making and flying top-notch paper gliders in next to no time.

Buy this book if you like paper aeroplanes. It'll repay your small investment many times over, I promise you.


Slightly less accessible, but equally excellent in terms of the flying performance of the finished models, is Yasuaka Ninomiya's 'Jet Age Jamboree', also available from Amazon (note that Ninomiya's book is not intended for directly cutting the pages - the pages are stiff but not suited to actual modelmaking because they are too heavy. You'll have to transfer the shape outlines to your own paper using one of the methods mentioned above. Ninomiya's models do fly *beautifully*, however, so it's well worth the effort if you're good at modelmaking).