As a kid in the 90s I discovered indoor free flight(1). It's a hobby where you build flying machines with balsa wood and carburator paper, and you power them with elastic bands using an old clock mechanism. Then people compete to see which airplane flights for the longest time, some flying for over 30 minutes!
replyThis was magical to me. My "mentor" was able to build tiny butterfly-like contraptions with four flapping wings, and many other flying machines of different kinds.
Maybe this is interesting to your family as well!
Oh thanks! We've made small gliders and those butterflies with rubber bands, but I never thought that mode of operation went that far. It makes sense to use something that requires higher torque like clock mechanism to limit the speed of the blades/wings, the basic builds don't fly that well or for long precisely because the faster you spin (more twists) the less effective the angle of attack is, with gliders you need a somewhat precise alignment in terms of twists+launching speed in order for them to fly just ok!
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