Building model aircraft is an important activity at the Australian Air League, while the Cadets are enjoying building and painting their model aircraft, they are learning practical techniques and improving their fine motor skills. As well as this they are also learning the history of the aircraft they are building, the technologies they revolutionised and the role they played in our history.

Cadets learn to build their own models from balsa wood and tissue paper, from simple gliders to complex aircraft with miniature engines and line or radio control. They learn about aircraft construction, how a plane actually flies and what makes an aircraft engine work. They also get to fly their models themselves (and occasionally crash them !).

As with other Air League activities, the Cadets also get the opportunity to enter  their models in competitions against their fellow members, to see who has built the finest model, or whose glider can stay aloft the longest, or whose powered plane flies the fastest.