Introduction: Indoor Paper Airplane Walkalong Glider

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What's a walkalong glider? Here's a video of this indoor paper airplane walkalong glider design flown a distance of approximately 400m:


Building and flying your own airplane has always been high on the list of dreams of adventurous souls. Learning to build and fly the indoor paper airplane walkalong glider is a first step, off the grid and constructed from reused materials.

This instructable incorporates improvements on the Paper Airplane Walkalong Glider instructable. The improvements are as follows:

-Lighter paper- phone book paper instead of copier paper for slower speed and increased maneuverability
-Change in dimensions of initial sheet of paper (22cmX27cm) for pitch stability
-Central fold adds dihedral for better maneuverability
-Leading edges folded downward for softer stall characteristics
-Wedge cut out of tail section for reduced tail weight and better pitch stability
-Wedge fold in tail section for increased drag and slower flight

Please see the web page on Controllable Slope Soaring for more walkalong glider designs.

Step 1: Construct Ballast Assembly

The first step involves cutting out a 22cmX27cm (or equal aspect ratio) rectangle of light paper. Here phone book paper was used but waxed tissue paper works even better. Waxed tissue paper is only slightly heavier than tissue paper but holds it's shape much better. Waxed tissue paper is used by florists because it maintains its shape when wet.

The ratio of dimensions of the rectangle are important for ensuring the correct washout angle in the wingtips (changing the ratio will change the distance between the leading and trailing edges relative to the width of the wingtip).

Step 2: Finish Construction From Ballast Assembly

From the ballast assembly, a central fold is added for dihedral. The wing tip washout angle is determined from the leading edge to tail distance (a result of the initial dimensions of the rectangle of paper used). The leading edges are folded down, tail wedge section cut from the tail and a wedge fold added to the center tail section.

Step 3: Trim Paper Airplane to Fly Straight

The winglets are adjusted so the paper airplane flies in a straight line. If the paper airplane tends toward a turn in one direction or the other, it will have trouble flying in the opposite direction in flight.

Step 4: Indoor Flight

Find a room or area where there are few drafts. Any wind other than what you generate with the controllable slope will make the glider fly off course. For instructions on how to fly the paper airplane walkalong glider, see the step 4: Powering and Controlling the Surfer Paper Airplane from the paper airplane walkalong glider Instructable. Launch the glider from as high as possible (as high as you can reach while standing up) so the glider settles into stable flight before it descends to the level of the controllable slope. Below, a piece of 96cmX75cm corrugated cardboard serves as the controllable slope.

Next try keep the glider from going down and make it fly for a longer time and distance. Secondly, try to steer the glider through a doorway. Ultimately, getting the glider to climb higher will give you time to maneuver better as the glider will lose altitude in turns.