I've had great fun with models: Airplanes, helicopters, rockets, Trains, ships, and cars too. My models have varied from wood to plastic to spring-wound to control-line to radio controlled.
I used to have great fun with my control-line model airplanes. They were small .049 engined units; One was a beautiful scale Stuka Dive Bomber which I received as a gift. I don't think I ever flew it before it burnt up with the farm house; it was such a beautiful model that I never wanted to crash it. In retrospect it had quite a small wing and would have been quite a fast flier. However, one which I flew quite a bit had a big symmetric foam wing and tail. I forget if it had horizontal stabilizer and elevator or a stabilator; I'm leaning towards the last, but its been too long. It somewhat resembled a A-7 Corsair or F-8 Crusader. This thing flew well, whether right-side up or upside down. I never worried too much about crashing it, and so it flew. It crashed a few times too, but it never broke.
Prior to my Blade mCX we had another helicopter, a free-flight 0.049 helicopter. It had a prop which it spun quickly, and the base of the engine was attached to the rotor blades which spun opposite. This little heli was great fun; fire it up and let it fly around. In retrospect it even has helicopter aerodynamics. The most stunning moment of the flying was one day when it headed right towards Dad's new (and later my) Chrysler New Yorker, right towards the open drivers window and roof-line. About a foot before it hit and started chewing up the leather roofing, it just lifted up to clear the roof by about 6 inches and kept on going. Everybody was watching it, but too far away to do anything about it; we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
I tried a small .049 powered car, but it wasn't any fun to use; the best you could do is fire it up, and have it drive really quickly in a circle until it ran out of gas. Much more fun was a spring-wound Formula-1 racer which I really enjoy. Full independent suspension front and back, steering, changeable tires, and I think it was scale too. That was a lot more fun since you could always stop it and do something else.
The best ship model I made was plastic. It was a motorized Fletcher class Destroyer. Twin driven screws, cam-driven rudders, moving gun turrets and torpedo launchers.
This was a great model -- 3 feet long, and you had to deal with a lot of issues such as stuffing boxes (both rudders and screws), center of gravity, etc. The cam-driven rudders (straight line, box, circular, figure 8, something else) were a pretty cool idea.
The only real problem was that I didn't have a good place to sail it. A swimming pool would have been idea. Instead, I used the pond on the farm. The only problem with the pond is that the ship was scale, but the underwater weeds were not! I think a weed grabbed and pulled off one of the rudders, which I had no idea how to fix at that time. I've always thought of refitting this model with a 3 channel radio for props and rudder. The Fletcher DD has a great underwater profile (there is a reason that DDs are called greyhounds of the sea), and should really make knots properly ballasted. Without the lack-of-control problem, smaller bodies of water aren't a problem.
For a while we toyed with a hydro-dynamic submarine. The submarine has positive buoyancy. The diving planes on the sub were always set to make it dive. It had a timer driving a motor. As long as the motor ran, the sub would dive and stay underwater. Once the timer ran out, it would come back to the surface, flying upward a bit due to the fins. The weeds in the pond caused it to have the same kind of problems as the destroyer had.
My first Rocket was a model of the mighty Saturn V moon rocket. It never flew because I never finished it. I also broke one of the transition cone sections (S-III to S-IVB staging) and ... didn't know how to fix it when I was unexperienced.
My second was also never finished; it was a Patriot. Almost as tall as the Saturn, but single-diameter. The killer feature to that build was was attaching the darn fins; could just never get the darn things glued on. Finally I purchased a fin jig to help with the task... but I think the fins were gobbed up with old glue by the time I had the right tool to attach them. Of course, I didn't have any idea of buying some more balsa and cutting out new fins :)
The last, well it actually flew many times. It solved the fin problem -- plastic base with fins and integral motor mount. I'd set it up on the launch rail and send it flying with the family as an audience. The last time it flew, we couldn't find it. Then a few days later Karina was out riding on her horse and found it -- right after the horse stepped on the fuselage and broke it just before the fins. Oh well.
Big Trak is last but by no means least. Model isn't the right description; computerized tank is a better one.
I still have great fun with mine ... 20+ odd years since I received it as a gift from my parents and aunt, and still playing with it on a regular basis.
Big Trak it was a permanent fixture in my living room -- until I tripped one day and broke the Transporter's connector. That is basically a 1/8" stereo jack which fits into BigTrak itself. Fortunately I didn't hurt BigTrack any, but I am scared to fix the trailer connector and make it worse -- it is a unique part which fits into the rest of the Transporter's chassis. Maybe I should make a new one with my Lathe!
BigTrak also needs some maintenance; the O-rings around the driven tire have aged so much they cracked and have fallen apart. Fortunately, a trip to Wisconsin Bearing should give me a supply good for another 25 years!
I sorta miss BigTrak... he would have fun playing with Helicopter!