Introduction: Easy DIY: Launch With a Rubber Band Airplane

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This is a very simple, easy to make paper airplane rubber band launcher, only requiring veryminimal parts. This was an idea that I came up with back in elementary school and i'm here to share it with you guys. I was reminded of this idea when I saw the copious rubber band projects that were on the front page. If you like what I've done please vote for me in the rubber band contest, but most of all have fun. Without further ado lets get started.

Step 1: Make Your Paper Airplane

Here is a list of some things you'll need.

  • Staples
  • Stapler
  • Paper
  • 1-5 minutes to make it

This is pretty basic in terms of how to make an airplane.
Here are some other links to some other ideas on how to make your airplane as well as launching it. My idea is by no means new; however, my approach is using a staple to launch the plane instead of a divot in the paper.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Super-PaperJet-and-fly-over-a-5-story-build/

https://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Aeroplane-Slingshot/

This folding technique is of a common distance flier. There are other derivatives so feel free to explore and try this stapling idea to other planes.
Here are the (somewhat unhelpful, if you don't look at the pictures) instructions.

  1. Start your basic half fold length wise.
  2. Fold the two corners in
  3. Bring the nose down to the bottom
  4. Fold the two corners down again leaving a little room for the flappy thing to fold up
  5. Fold this flap
  6. Fold the wings down to match the length of the bottom. (Wing length is preference, I've seen longer and shorter wing spans. Experiment and see what happens)

Step 2: Add the Staple

Here you'll add your staple to the front end of your plane. Make sure it's about an inch from the nose. You will bend then bend it in such a way as to get a hook. This is done by taking the staple tooth and bending it a 45* angle making it parallel with the flap. I really recommend you find strong staples, or stretchy, light rubber bands. You may also try experimenting with staple to nose distance and see what happens. From what i remember if i stuck the staple too close to the nose the staple had a bad tendency to catch on to the rubber band. Leave a comment below telling me what you did.

Step 3: Let'er Rip

Find your rubber band. Go outside (preferably facing away from incoming wind [i still don't know to this day the difference from downwind and upwind]) and launch your airplane.
Have fun.

PS: If you're staple snaps out, just restaple a new staple on. If it left a gnarly gnash in the paper i suggest ducktaping it (general tape will work just fine too). If it bends out of place just rebend it to a hook shape. And if cutting the paper up works, go for that. :D