Scientific Explorer's My First Airplane Science Kit

by Scientific Explorer

Product Features

• Design your own plane based on the knowledge you gain about the forces of flight
• Includes 6 squeeze and brush paints, labels and laminated cards to customize your plane
• Alter your plane's flight characteristics by affecting lift and drag with design changes
• Learn the science basics that all pilots must know
• Watch your airplane soar and even do aerobatics!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 2.8 x 10 inches ; 2.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000NQIQWK
• Item model number: A244
• Manufacturer recommended age: 4 - 8 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,736 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 1.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

My First Airplane Kit unlocks the mysteries of flight through hands on experience building and testing a of custom plane. Learn the science behind flying, necessary to become a pilot.

Product Description

Scientific Explorer: My 1st Airplane Kit. This exceptional series of home science kits is based on the nationally recognized Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) program pioneered at UC Berkley's Lawrence Hall of Science. Acclaimed for excellence as a teaching resource. Learn how planes are built for speed or for stunts! This package contains 3 paint brush pens, 2 decal sheets, 4 wing & tail templates, 1 balsa body, 1 balsa horizontal tail, 1 balsa vertical tail, 1 balsa wing, 1 foam plane, 1 foam plain launcher, 1 balloon, 1 sheet of labels, 8 full-color cards, and a science and activity guide. Recommended for children ages 6 and up. WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD-small parts. Not for children under 3 years. WARNING: Children under 8 years can choke or suffocate on non-inflated or broken balloons. Adult supervision required. Keep non-inflated balloons from children. Discard broken balloons at once.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Box picture doesn't match kit, July 23, 2008

By 

Home Movie Buff "Riptide360" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews

= Durability:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Scientific Explorer's My First Airplane Science Kit (Toy)

My 6 year old son got this airplane kit as a birthday gift. He has been asking daily for me to put some time aside to help him build the 6 enclosed airplanes.

The outside shows an artistic picture of 3 different airplanes. A propeller plane, a glider with wheels and another glider.

The inside is a silver puch envelope that contains the planes.

Likes:
- The instruction manual is well written and serves as a mini science project on flight.
- The enclosed postcards of planes got my son really excited (Wright brothers, Air Force One, SR71, etc) about building the planes.
- The foam airplane with rubber band launcher is like a slingshot that sends the plane soaring. This is the best plane in the kit.
- The idea of painting your own planes with the included yellow, red and blue paint pens and the stickers is a nice touch.

Dislikes:
- 4 of the 6 airplanes are paper cut outs on 2 sheets of paper. They aren't even stand alone paper airplanes, they are mod kits for the balsa wood airplane.
- They only give you ONE balsa wood plane and my son broke the tail fin on trying to assemble it. You should have seen the heart ache... It basically meant that he couldn't build 5 of the 6 planes in the kit!

I'm really sad that Scientific Explorer (owned by Elemer's Glue) released such a promising kit with such a lame set of planes. They should have included at least 2 balsa wood planes, and one of them should have had the landing gear and rubber band powered propeller blade. It felt like false advertising to see those planes on the box art and not inside the box.

I hope they re-release this product with an extra buck or so in the cost of parts to make this the kit we hoped for. Until then I'll be wary of buying a scientific explorer product.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a box of false advertising, December 5, 2008

By 

Rebecca Mackle (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Scientific Explorer's My First Airplane Science Kit (Toy)

This toy is SO overpriced for what you recieve. It shows what seems to be real toy airplanes on the box but when you open it, inside you get 4 paper airplanes to put on balsa and one rubber slingshot plane and a few airplane flash cards. Obviously children will be disappointed upon opening it (not to mention the parents.) The balsa plane crashed quickly. Buyer beware. (One more thing- Wilbur Wright's name is spelled "Wilber" underneath his photo on the flashcard.)

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Completely misleading and disappointing, July 2, 2008

By 

A. Husted (Overland Park, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Scientific Explorer's My First Airplane Science Kit (Toy)

The people responsible for packaging this product deserve an award. They make this product seem like it's going to be totally cool for kids to make and fly their own planes. DON'T BE FOOLED!! The planes use incredibly flimsy balsa wood and they don't fly at all. Basically our son colored some wings and planes and then watched them drop to the ground like rocks when he tried to fly them. Your child will be extremely disappointed, as mine was. The only redeeming quality to this product is the little bit educational info they provide (what is lift, etc.) But it's not like you can't find that info someplace else. This is a big waste of money. You're better off buying a really good paper airplane book and making your own.