JarJarDrinks
125506
1489
35
The rubber band ones were the best.....
Dec 22, 2022 3:33 AM
JarJarDrinks
125506
1489
35
The rubber band ones were the best.....
cptwott
None of them, however, ever made it to regular air service in civilian or military context
LavaAxe
I had these with a propeller in the nineties
or0b0ur0s
Well, there's been inflation, natch. About $1.60 in bandwidth and I'm guesstimating 5 or 10 cents in electricity entertain me all day...
Buef0rd
Slap some bottle rockets on those boys and watch em fly
TheMouseOfMadness
I remember playing with these in the 90s. They were considered pretty retro even back then, but classics have a way of sticking around.
cosinewave
I loved those planes
sandstruk
Get off my lawn!
chbarts
The innocence of a simpler time or lead-induced brain damage?
AndrewCanadian
As an adult I have bigger electric versions of these now that are made of carbon fiber.
LordKilgore
Born in 85.. I played the shit out of these
charondaboatman
Got these for the grandkids for stocking stuffers last year. They loved them.
jjw9
1975 … I took the wings off a busted one and glued them on to a new one to make a bi-plane thingy.
vampire49
You were inventive! They actually made one ... such as this one.
Marine0311
I was a big modeler and made my own flying planes that required stretched tissue over a balsa framework. Balancing them was a bitch.
inb4thewar
I played with those in the 90s as well
StonesOnTheHill
Kept you entertained for 20 minutes. Kept you looking for the damn thing for hours.
ThioSuxTube
We used to make our own designs from blank sheets of balsa. Had some crazy ones that flew beautifully.
Ssemo
I was playing with these in the 90s! Turns out planes are neat!
uCantFeeMe
My grand mother would make them herself with balsa because "that's easy to do". She did a 80cm wide one who could glide on hundreds of m
napsmear
Heck, an empty refrigerator box kept us entertained for hours ?
ZeRootOfAllEvil
My two cousins had a whole afternoon of fun with one last month. Kids always love boxes.
FartsSmellBad
Hours? Those things barely lasted two throws
bill4935
Sure, but I got banned from the CN Tower after just one throw, so... money well spent!
Snooj
You have to take them outside instead of throwing them straight into walls.
NicolasKevinMac
"There are two kinds of kids..."
StigsMilwaukeeCousin
Srsly, Im in my mid 30s and still have stuff like this from when I was a kid. Let my kid touch it,broken in 30 minutes,o well glue is friend
Stitchabarger
Shit, I played with these in the 90s
Munchman347
Shit, I played with these in the 50's
EchoOfSnac
I definitely remember these as late as sometime around 2004.
MrStealYourGiF
Still available, a little spendier now.. https://www.guillow.com/jetfirebalsaglider.aspx
DickeyBirdie
based on the price of gas as a reference, it's about the same price as it always has been.
psmith00
Price of gas, price of cup of coffee, price of comics books, ...
MrStealYourGiF
derp out of stock, might be spring before they do a run, but they are making them still.
azarza
meh the styrofoam ones the kids got now are decent
MrStealYourGiF
Those large airhog gliders walmart get most springs fly really well (there are RC conversions) but a bit big for most backyards.
SiriHowDoIAdult
Born in the 80s. I kept bugging my dad for these when I went to the hardware store with him. 75 cents and right by the cash.
CheekyRose
Same! Only got about 15 minutes fun before they inevitably broke into splinters
Trimule
I can remember paying 10¢ for these. The rubber band powered prop cost 25¢ - usually beyond my means. Mine were "Testors" (model paint co.)
toddlerfights
Born in 79. Played with these a lot.
bemurray814
Those were awesome
Almaadin
They are about 4 bucks around here now and I get them for my kids every once in a while.
AjaxMaior
Quarter and dime store for me! Along with a bunch of other nicknacks
yhellothargoodsir
They knew what they were doing, there was a small toy section in the little store my dad always took me too. I had some many cap guns lmao
ihateeggs
Ours had the coloring book section. A buck each, same as my allowance and I got paid on Saturdays. Probably kept me quiet for hours
Pigswithstripes
Born in the 90s. I had one of those.
astrangehop
Did you spring for the rubberband prop?
32FGWolfhound
KaptainObveeus
Hated when these skeeters landed on my peter and I had to wack them off.
emjay9010
*skeet, skeet, skeet*
ThisGuyHere
I bugged my dad for rubber bands for this thing so often that he just bought me a little box full of them and said "now leave me alone!"
AtleastIvegotthatgoingforme0
That was his way of bonding with you.
Quixus
In the eighties unfortunately they changed them to some foam material. less durable and likely less environmentally friendly.
TheFishFace
Yep I had the foam ones in the 90s
ROBOTvsMAN
We had a big bag of one-piece foam planes that needed a penny inserted into the bottom. Best trick planes ever. Had the balsa ones too.
whitewater0034
They were so popular where I was at the time!! So damn fragile though!
Bleedingyamato
I had these growing up in the 90s and they were balsa wood just like in the picture. Even had ones with a rubber band powered propellor.
Quixus
Might be a different company, unfortunately I never had the balsa ones.
whitewater0034
They mean these.
Quixus
Exactly.
duktayp
you had 10 cents? we used note book paper to build our own
YoSamiteSam
Thanks to mutually assured destruction IR hegemony, environmental deregulation, global slavery, racism & sexism, 10c was equal to $100 today
YoSamiteSam
If you bought a house in 1970 for $1000 you can bogart all the housing and sell it to a millennial and make them pay for your retirement.
artistandascholar2000
You can paper? We used sticks to build our own.
Mmmmm337
Surprise Yorkshiremen
ReturnOfActionCheese
You had sticks? We just threw rocks at each other
KingMCG
Rocks? The best we could do was used tissue paper. Rocks. Luxury.
Ishman2000
You had tissue paper? We used corn cobs.
ColdestOne
You had corn cobs? We just flung shit at each other.
Threemorewishes
we would tape firecrackers on the wings...fun times
Jonquepublik
Born in "60" I used to soak the wings in lighter fluid, light em and throw them. Then run and hide.
orrair
Same,very satisfying.We use to tie on the long center fuse from the firecracker pack to give it the delayed explosion.
redbullvodka
Born in ‘79 so I’m a gapper. Never thought of this- which is weird bc we did all kinds of shit with fireworks as kids, mostly in the alley.
Wmcmwa
We put firecrackers under a metal biscuit tin and my brother hung out the upstairs bathroom window and caught it.
tentacularfleshscape
Pictured a guy going back in time just to show his earlier self that trick, then ??back in the time machine
quitepossiblygettingold
We used bottle rockets
Hammerwell
RATO
twoamartist
Hours?! I think not. But a fresh one was gold.
MarshalFunChef
Hour
misterwilson
Minutes. We'd bite the metal bit to cinch it down on the nose until it inevitably wouldn't hold.
Tastesicle
Enter the paperclip that inevitably failed instantly.
NotSomoneElse68
Yeah, hours. The 70s were different. Pre-digital basically.
randoigno
I think it's more of a reference to how fragile they were. I remember flying them a couple of times then they wouldn't fly anymore
Raikupath
Has more to do with literally not having anything else than "We were able to be entertained with nothing else unlike you youngsters!!!"
Raikupath
I'd rather fly with my self build RC plane with a VR Headset because it is more fun and would've been back then as well
NotSomoneElse68
Of course it did have. But the bar for entertainment was lower. During school I used to draw a (terrible looking) cockpit on paper. Then ¹
NotSomoneElse68
I'd kinda reflect it in my plastic ruler so i could basically pretend to be flying. Basically a fantasy of VR. Certainly isn't ²
FeloniousMonk13
I had the deluxe model w the rubber band powered prop
draqsko
I had one too and it lasted all of about 5 minutes because it decided to fly into a house and snap the wing in half.
Snooj
There was a big hill near our house so we'd take 'em and launch them off of it. On a tight wind it would go forever.
keyblader1985
Get a load of ol' Rockefeller here
binky4me
LucidPariah
How many times did you spend like 5 minutes winding it the wrong direction just to be disappointed
Bytencoder
5 minutes
nojustsayitdont
Aimlockbelch
My man.
FeloniousMonk13
HOLY SHIT that's it exactly ! Hadn't seen one of those in 35+ years, talk about nostalgia
bourbonandbaddecisions
Well hello Mr fancy pants.
Bytencoder
So he worked for HP back in the day?
CapitalNick
And wheels!
HenryLongfellowIII
Springy landing gear?
misterwilson
Except it never landed quite right and always dented the nose.
CapitalNick
The springiest.