To send messages up to his kite, many a boy has made a hole in a piece of paper and watched that go sailing up his anchor line. This sailboat will do that, and other things too, and come spinning down again to take another message. A parachute, made of a paper napkin, having a 12" thread running to each corner and a nail for ballast tied where the four threads are knotted together, can be sent up by this messenger, released, and allowed to float down from a great height. Paper gliders sent up this way will do many "stunts" before they reach ground. Fold a flimsy paper napkin in such a way as to hold a bunch of confetti with a pin thru only three or four thicknesses of the napkin. This can be tied to the keel and the pin withdrawn by the release and fall of a nail, and, behold, a shower of confetti! Be sure the falling nail will do no injury where it strikes.
A light, frail model like this will require considerable time and patience to make and adjust so that it will work. Make the hull and posts from a stick about 13" long. Bore the 3/16" holes for the mast and keel, the former a little to the left (port, a sailor would say) of the center and 2-1/2" from the bow, the latter in the center 2" from the stern. Make the wheels of the ends of spools by sawing them off just where the straight portion begins, and gluing them together on a hard dowel. Very accurately find their centers and drill holes for 1" brads which form their axles. Drive these into the post so that the wheels run very freely. Do not nail the posts to the hull till the wire parts have been put in place.
Make three staples of pins and drive them in the bottom of the hull so that a fine wire will just slide thru them easily. Three are used so that the wire will always be held straight. Next make the two eyes which hold the kite-string under the wheels. Coiled around once and a half, the coils must be separated enough to allow the string to slip between. The safety of the model, swinging violently high in the air, depends upon these eyes. They can be driven thru small, tight holes and bent on the underside to make them secure. They must be just high enough to allow the string to run free. The forward one is elongated because the kite-string slants upward so much. Bend the 4" wire trigger three times around a brad driven in a piece of wood for convenience. To handle wire readily for such work as this, two pliers will be found useful. Saw a notch in the bow just wide enough for this coil. Now glue and nail the posts in position.
Make the mast, all the spars, in fact, smaller at the outer end. Rig it completely before gluing the mast in place. Be sure that the booms will swing over the forward wheel, so as not to interfere with its easy running. The sails should be of light cloth. The booms and the gaffs must swing freely on the mast, so as to fold together when the trigger is released. For the main-sheets, use thread tied with a long loop to slip over the fine wire part of the trigger. A cork 1-1/4" in diameter, slit to the center, can be put on the kite-string far enough from the kite to be safe from any entangling. On the keel, fasten ballast enough (about 1 oz.) to make the sailboat ride upright.
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