Competition workshop - Building a balsa thrower

There were 8 pupils from primary schools, 3 of them girls. The participants had to build a balsa thrower, fly it and then compete in the length of the thrower's flight.

To begin with, the pupils received a little safety training on how to use the breaking knives, how to glue properly with instant glue and how to behave when throwing the model airplane. We then demonstrated the simple basics of aerodynamics on the interactive whiteboard and explained the theory behind basic balsa woodworking.

The actual construction of the throwing machine took place in another classroom. First, the pupils built one thrower together under the guidance of the teacher. After analysing and explaining the individual operations of the construction, the pupils started to build the thrower independently. First they had to modify the upper side of the wing into an aerodynamic shape and then glue the wing together according to the template. This was followed by gluing the wings to the fuselage and actually balancing the thrower using balancing shot. Some pupils were more skilled and they then helped the less skilled pupils build the thrower.

Then the model was flown, several pupils managed to damage the imperfectly glued thrower. But this did not matter, because the participants learned how to repair the damaged wings of the thrower correctly. After a fair practice in throwing the model, we started to compete in the length of the range of the airplane. (note - for the next workshop it would be advisable to rent an airport in Plana u C.B. - it has a larger landing area than the corridors of our school)

The longest throw of the model, 13.3 m, was performed by Jiří Alina. Two girls also reached the fifth place of the competition. Participants of the workshop received small gifts and the first five best will be invited to our school and rewarded with material prizes.

The main objective of this workshop is to support activities towards the development of technical education, its promotion and popularization.

Ing. Miloš Badal