Low Mass Toy Airplane Fuselage

This was originally intended for the toss-it contest, but it didn't quite fit, I got hung up on the video, and they the local virus swept through the family and I never got around to finishing it. Now that the toss-it contest is over, I can just publish without the video, and maybe it will still be interesting...

This isn't so much plans for a particular paper airplane, as a concept and technique that could be used for a whole new style of airplane, not TOO much more complex or expensive than the typical all-paper airplane.

Step 1 Weighing Paper

Here, we have a regular 8.5x11 inch piece of paper. It weighs about 4.6 grams (Isn't it fun to mix those metric and american units?) If we fold this into a paper airplane, it will still weigh the same (of course), but only PART of the weight will be used in "functional" parts of the plane like the wing surfaces. In fact, in a model like the classic Dart, only about half of the paper will end up in the wings (and a good part of that is folded in multiple layers, so it's not particularly efficiently applied to the wings.

Comments

[elecsl]

Very interesting design and I would like to try it. Here another design I tried. Anyway I appreciate how you have present this. thanks

[macrumpton]

it would be interesting to make a kite using balloons for spars and lightweight dry cleaner bags for the cover. A classic rogallo wing would be a good choice:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogallo_wing
And it would have the advantage over a sparless version in that it would hold its shape better in a low wind/light load situation.

If the balloons were black and it was sunny you might even get some hot air lift.

[chardster]

ive done this before its very fun got a couple stuck on the roof and in the trees

[rimar2000]

Very good idea.

[GorillazMiko]

Pretty cool! Looks awesome to try out, I might do this if I get the balloons. +1 rating!