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Glider Planes
Sure I love the ocean and making bodyboards,
rescue sleds, and all kinds of other stuff- but I come from a
family where all the men were either fighter, transport, or
helicopter pilots- it's in my blood I guess. I never had the
chance to be a pilot, but I always loved the technology and
futuristic designs of planes. It wasn't until I had my own son
Shaun- he rekindled my desire to make a plane- even if they were
only foam planes that he and I could play with.
Necessity is the mother of invention- all the planes I bought
for Shaun were pieces of junk that didn't fly good and
immediately broke, so I had to make my own. Here are some of the
designs I have come up with recently for us- the rest are
secret!
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Dad- Russ WW2
P-51
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No.1- Russ
Vietnam chopper pilot |
No.2- Charlie
C-5A |
No.3- Jeff
F-4 and F-15 |
11 foot
wingspan glider-
Here's my son's friend Maverick
with the custom one of a kind Kenu Mega11 hand thrown
glider with an 11 foot wing!!. It is made out of the same
foam as all my boards and sleds and even my 10 year old son
can launch this monster a good 100 ft or more. It is
meant to be caught by another person and thrown back
again-much like a flying disk. It is built super tough with
reinforcements where needed and the wing comes apart easily
for car transport. Due to a special impact absorbing nose
and structure, this plane has hit the ground hard at least
300 times and still looks like new-the foam is really
durable and bendable- it won't crack like other cheap large
foam airplanes available at toy stores!
It is meant to be thrown in
a level manner for maximum glide on a calm wind day at the park in a
grassy non-crowded area. It is not designed to go too high or too far-I
didn't want to chase it or to have it get out of control and crash into a
car or a kid or something. If your throwing angle is too high it will
climb higher, stall, then crash. Too low and it won't fly far. It's level
flight about 6-15 ft off the ground is quite amazing and far-when you see
this monster coming at you in what seems like slow motion- you sometimes
think twice about standing in front of it to catch it! I plan to make an
even bigger 16 ft. wingspan plane soon-stay tuned. |
 Kenu
X-12 Glider
Here's
ShaunBrown.com shooting the latest Kenu X-12 Glider
invention to come from the Kenu labs. This glider's wingspan is about
12 inches and the whole plane is made of my special expensive
bodyboard foam (see above monster glider) that is far less
likely to crack than your usual cheap styrofoam, etc. gliders
you find at toy stores. You can almost bend the white
wing foam over on itself. This glider was designed to last for a
long time and to keep Shaun and his buddies happy- and now you
can buy it too!
Note that in this picture
the rear of the wing has been forced up- the glider will make a loop and
probably stay in the air longer.
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Kenu
X-12 Glider and shooter
$14.95 plus tax and $10 shipping to
Hawaii and continental USA.
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 Kenu
X-12 Glider and shooter top view. Note the elegantly
simple Kenu diamond planform wing design and soft nose
bumper. On the bottom in the rear where the white wing joins
the black body is a small gap. If you shoot the glider just
the way you get it, it will go in a straight line- good for
throwing or shooting and playing catch with it. If you want
it to do loops and stay in the air longer- fold up a little
piece of toilet paper,small leaf, etc- and put it in that gap area under
the wing. This will force the rear of the wing up- which
will make it do loops. The bigger the deflection of the rear
of the wing- the tighter the loop-and probably the longer
time in the air.
This plane is
safe in the house too, we use it all the time to play catch
in the house by gently throwing it to each other-even my 6
year old daughter can throw it good and she can't really
break it. By slightly bending the wings just right, you can
make it glide real good, straight, and accurate. The
lightness of the glider and the softness of the orange nose
bumper keeps things safe in the house. Shooting the glider
in the house with the rubber tubing shooter is not
recommended--- do it at the park with no one around. |
 Kenu
X-12 Glider side view. Black foam body and rudder is a
special foam with a heavier density that is stronger than the
white foam. The white foam can almost be bent back onto
itself before cracking. Any cracks can be easily fixed with a
small bead of hot glue, wait five seconds, then smear down the
warm hot glue with a little spit or soapy water. Also note
reinforced rubber tubing hook up groove under the plane.
Note that with this type of
foam, the thinner you make it, the less likely it is to crack- you could
never bend the above monster glider's wings like you can this X-12. This
foam is the same foam used by almost all of the professional RC planes
made now- balsa wood is being replaced by this foam for much of the wings,
body, etc. on those planes.
Comes ready to fly and shoot-no assembly required. |
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All products proudly made in Hawaii by KenuHawaii LLC. All text and
images copyrighted by Kenu 3/2/07.
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