Customer Reviews

The Gliding Flight

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My dad bought this book for me years ago, and I memorized and still fold some of the designs whenever I feel down. Anytime I see a somebody make a standard, pointy tip airplane, I make the Starfighter or APDW and blow them away! I only had difficulty folding one plane, but they all fly quite well.

John Collins' instructions are concise and clear, making the plane construction easy. He also includes "flip animation" drawings in the margins to actually demonstrate some of the more intricate folds. I like that all of his planes can be made from standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper. My son and I had a great time with this book!

I was delightfully surprised by this book. The airplanes are great examples of origami, they look good and they fly! You'll discover some unique and dramatic looking airplanes here. The folds may be difficult if you're not familiar with origami, but there is an ingenious "flip-page" tutorial printed on the page edges that illustrate the tricky folds.

I had been searching for a good paper airplane book for a long time looking for plans that involved only paper and folding - no scissors, tape, glue, paper clips, or anything extra. While travelling for work in Arizona several years ago I found this book at a Barnes & Noble - it's the best paper airplane book I have ever run across. Some of the folds can be challenging but the author's use of flip-through animation in the corners of the book help tremendously. I've built and flown every plane in the book and they all perform incredibly - especially "The Plane". Buy this book and you'll be amazed by the looks and performance of your paper airplanes.

This is a great book. I made 'The Plane', and asked a friend to stand below my window, and i tossed it out the window, and my friend followed it, running, and the plane flew about 3 blocks down the street! This is a great book.

I was given this book a few years ago by my grandfather; my grandparents knew that I liked origami, electronics, and legos. It's an incredible book; I spent long hours folding airplane after airplane. My school administrators (the philistines) lumped artwork such as the AWACS with any other form of flying paper, and this caused much strife. This is a wonderful book; an ideal gift for anyone from a child of 10 who knows some origami to a college student. Having lost my copy years ago, I'm only replacing it now, but I treasure this gift more than any video game or radio-controlled car.

While some of the folds are origami difficult (there should be difficulty ratings for each plane), the planes really are impressive flyers! The book attempts to demonstrate the more difficult folds with flip-through style animations on the margin of the pages. My 5-year-old son thinks I'm the best paper airplane maker in the world!

My nephew is really into making flying rockets out of paper. He's five. Well, I wanted to impress the little devil, not an easy feat as this young man is more proficient on the computer than I'll ever hope to be, so I got this book, decided to learn how to make a couple complicated paper planes.

My plan, learn a couple of these designs, practice them over and over till I could fabricate them blindfolded, do them in my sleep. I wanted to make making these babies as easy as tying shoes.

I skipped the easy stuff, went right to the Trang on page 75. This baby was for me. If I could knock this out, while watching television, you know, as sort of an after thought, well that little booger would really, really be impressed.

First off, let me say, that maybe I should have started slow and worked up, but I didn't. There are seventeen different steps to building this glider and the design assumes that you've at least looked at some that have come before. But after several failed attempts, I got it down. I went through quite a bit of paper, but I mastered this (in between practicing the Trang I was learning how to juggle, a feat my nephew wants to master, but is having trouble with).

So the next time my brother asked me to babysit, I did my juggling bit. My nephew wasn't impressed. But when I built that Trang while watching Wolf Blitzer on CNN, now that impressed him. If you've got kids, or nieces or nephews, this is a good book to have around. Really!

I could not remember how to make a good plane. I was just looking for one good plane and I found it in this book: The Phoenix (page 25). Easy to build and my five year old can succesfully throw it. I'm glad I bought the book. After the plane crashes a few times, like all paper planes, they no longer fly correctly. But thanks to John's "trimming and flying" trips, I can make the plane fly well again.

Purchased for my 12 yr old based on other reviews. Instructions like "waterbomb the upper diagonals" are not clear enough to easily follow.