Make: Technology on Your Time Volume 17

MEDICINE MAN GLIDER

By Ryan Grosswiler

Photography by Ryan and Kristen Grosswiler

BALSA FLIES BETTER

Build a majestic, 5-foot-wingspan model airplane inspired by stick-and-tissue designs of the 1930s, then fly it free or radio-controlled and watch it outclass all the toy-store plastic.

The summer before ninth grade, in 1985, I was stuck at home while my usual friends were away. I started talking with Eddie, the World War II vet who lived across the street, and during those 3 months he taught me the fundamentals of model airplane building. His lifelong hobby, which he had learned during the Great Depression, became my own, and it inspired my career ...