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Science Museum - Paper Plane Launcher

by Great Gizmos
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
RRP: £13.99
Price: £10.96 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.03 (22%)
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  • Discover how spinning motors and plastic discs are used to launch a paper plane at up to 50km/h
  • Experiment with different plane designs
  • Amazing fun and a great experiment
  • Suitable for children aged fourteen and over
  • From the Science Museum range of products
See more product details
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Science Museum - Paper Plane Launcher + 100 Paper Planes to Fold and Fly + 100 More Paper Planes to Fold & Fly
Price For All Three: £22.22

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Product Information

Technical Details
Item Weight322 g
Product Dimensions24.4 x 16.8 x 6.2 cm
Manufacturer recommended age:14 years and up
Item model number4893156039064
Batteries Required?No
  
Additional Information
ASINB000EOQXBM
Best Sellers Rank 9,684 in Toys & Games (See top 100)
Shipping Weight572 g
Delivery Destinations:Visit the Delivery Destinations Help page to see where this item can be delivered.
Date First Available1 Jan 2006
  
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Product Safety

This product is subject to specific safety warnings
  • Warning: Not suitable for children under 36 months

Product Description

Manufacturer's Description

Amazing Kit, Launches Planes at 50KM/H

Assemble the kit to produce a powerful launcher for paper aircraft

Try out different plane designs to find which can gly fastest and furthest.

Product Description

Launch your very own paper planes! Ready for take off! Discover how spinning motors and plastic discs are used to launch a paper plane at up to 50km/h. An ideal kit for exploring paper plane designs. Contents: base plate, battery box, rubber ring and disc, terminal box, screw and nut, motor, pulley, red connecting sleeve, wire, sucker, sticky pad, and detailed instructions with fun facts. The Science Museum has been turning science into a thrilling learning experience for many years, and have added their special seal of approval to a limited range of toys that they believe support their mission and will engage children in all aspects of science and learning.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Flawed but fun 9 Sep 2010
Durability: 2.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   
This was one of several toys, including three "Science Museum"-branded gadgets, that we bought for a flight-themed "Science Weekend" with my nephews aged 5, 8 and 10. At £10.99, it was the most expensive, but was the only one from this range that was worth the money. Although the product description claims it is for "14 years and up", it was ideal for our kids, although they needed some supervision and help with assembly.

The launcher is powered by AA batteries (not included) and demonstrates principles of energy transfer and aerodynamics. It is mounted on a plastic board that is held steady by suction cups. The front suction cup can be mounted in different positions to alter the launch angle. The launcher consists of two small motors that turn rubber discs that are aligned such that you can just fit the fuselage of a paper plane between them. As you push the plane through, the rubber discs grip and shoot the plane off the front at high speed.

Not all designs of paper plane work with this launcher - they need a fuselage that extends beneath the wings to engage the discs. It'd be worth preparing for using the launcher, either by buying a book on paper aircraft design, or by looking at some of the many websites devoted to the subject.

The kids loved playing with this, and came back to it repeatedly over the weekend. I'm sure we will use it again. Unlike some science toys, it would be tricky to make a homemade version of this, unless you had a bit of know-how, and parts from a specialist store.

So far, so good. However, I felt that the toy was let down by attention to detail. The suction cups weren't very good, and had to be attached to an exceptionally smooth surface (we used a glass chopping board).
... Read more ›
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars More fun than marbles! 2 Feb 2009
Durability: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   
This item was a stocking filler for my son who is 9 now and during the long cold weekend we dug it out of the christmas present box.

Man am I glad that we did! Not only did the product require building therefore keeping the husband and both children happy, it was simple and easy to use! Husband managed to build it quite well in spite of him being (by his own admission) a klutz at DIY: indeed, so inspired was my darling hero that he fixed the curtain rail in number one sons room and put up the new tie backs in the kitchen! Job sorted.

However, I digress, having opened the box and sighed at the building job after two cups of tea and a little bit of swearing the job was done. Then began the full afternoon of paper aeroplane folding! Excellent fun and lots of modifications were made to otherwise unassuming aircraft.

If you have children and a willing partner this is hours of fun for all (and if you are the wife of said family you can manage to sort out the Sunday roast).

Can't say any more.

Karen
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Electric plane launcher 5 Jan 2010
Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   
I bought a book of paper airplanes to compliment this educational toy. You do need a fine screw driver to be able to put it together, but it does what it says on the box.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Bit of a letdown 22 Jan 2012
By Clurr
Durability: 2.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 2.0 out of 5 stars   
Son was quite excited to have a go at making this - he's rather young for it and was given it as a gift, but with adult help he can usually handle these sorts of things pretty well, being a bit of an avid mechanic.
At first he found it interesting to put together, he loved connecting all the parts, however the drawings were somewhat inaccurate which led to total confusion (the pulleys do not look as drawn when made) so it managed to fox me (44) and much more technically adept husband (57)for quite some time. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing and reconsidering how we'd done it. Very frustrating.

As a launcher it was somewhat lacking too. The suction cups only stick to certain surfaces - a tiled floor worked for us - but no table would hold it. A major design flaw - the front 'foot' is bolted through the front of the launcher plate and sits right in the path of a plane! We couldn't really get it to launch anything further than a couple of feet! Easier just to use your hands!

As it was so frustrating to put together, it wasn't really educationally doing much for any of us, so the fact that it then didn't really launch planes well either, was a shame. Glad we didn't pay money for it, but feel bad for the gift-giver who did.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Infuriating 13 Oct 2010
Durability: 2.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   
While not strictly a toy, this launcher is let down by being infuriating to use.

The black disks that rotate to propel the paper plane forward are too flexible to be of any great use. They need to be much, much stiffer.

With the current black disks only one in ten planes will actually get a good flight - infuriating...
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3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty fun 28 Aug 2012
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   
I bought this along with Galt Toys Paper Planes as a fun little gift for my dad's birthday. I was a bit worried after reading some of the reviews that said it didn't work but there were enough good reviews for me to take a chance on it.

The instructions for assembling the launcher were pretty poor. They instructed you to attach parts which were not included and left out instructions for important parts that were included. However, it's not that difficult to work it out yourself so my dad didn't have much trouble putting it all together.

At first we, like some other reviewers, thought that it didn't work at all as the planes would just get stuck in the spinners. There is also an unfortunate design flaw as there is a screw just in front of the plane which will stop it before it launches unless you angle the plane carefully to avoid it. However, all you need to do is adjust the gap between the spinners (which is easy to do, they are designed to be adjustable) and the planes fly through them as intended.

Overall, it was exactly what you'd expect, just a bit of fun which provided a couple of hours of entertainment. Once my dad had worked out how to use it, he had plenty of fun shooting planes at us! It's more of a novelty toy than anything. If you want to use different planes in it you have to adjust the spinners each time, which does get a little frustrating, so the fun wears off quickly.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars Not the best buy we made in 2011
This piece of junk soon earned its place alongside the clutter on our dresser. "Launches at 50mph" it said. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Nicci D
1.0 out of 5 stars Paper plane killer
I brought it for my child who is 11 to play with but it took him hours to build and ended up not liking it. it couldn't launch it even 10 inches of the ground. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Yeah Mannnnnnn
5.0 out of 5 stars Science plane launcher
This is a great toy. Easy to read instructions to construct it and then great fun (as long as your batteries last) to launch paper aeroplanes. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Historia
4.0 out of 5 stars Need help building it?
I got stuck building this until I found this video showing you how to do it:
[...] My son (8) now loves it. Falls apart quite easily but a ton of fun.
Published 16 months ago by Challenging
2.0 out of 5 stars Not well built
Not the easiest to put together and fell to bits almost immediately. Other products in the science musuem range are far more durable and better designed.
Published 17 months ago by Jason
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
I bought this for my 11 year old grandson who is really into origami and makes loads of paper planes. It was an ideal present as he lives in Australia and it made a light package. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Corndolly
4.0 out of 5 stars A good bit of fun
I got this in my father's birthday, as he is an aviation engineer. It's fairly feeble as a paper aeroplane launcher. But it was fun and kept us all amused.
Published on 15 Nov 2010 by Mr. James Wood
3.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointing
This was not as much fun for our 9 year old grandson as we thought it would be. At first it didn't work very well as the connections were loose. Read more
Published on 24 April 2010 by Pauline, Cornwall
5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun!
Bought this for an adult male for Xmas - what great fun! Once he had built it and fiddled with it we all had to have a go - what out tho' the planes left off fast and furious!!
Published on 16 Jan 2010 by J. Tett
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