How to Make the ThunderVulcan Paper Airplane

Fast, long range and able, the ThunderVulcan is an augmented version of the AeroVulcan paper airplane with improved handling, owing to new canard modifications. These modifications had previously been applied to other Vulcan family variants, such as the Simple Vulcan, HyperVulcan and UltraVulcan, resulting in similar performance improvements.

The ThunderVulcan's development was around the time of the publication of the UltraVulcan, as the improved canard design it and other predecessors had featured clearly presented a new opportunity for development. Because the AeroVulcan had displayed great performance and popularity suggested was desired, I decided to improve the design further. This improvement was made to reduce complexity by maintaining commonality and experience. When I eventually prototyped the design, the ThunderVulcan was found to be an excellent performing aircraft and was cleared for publication soon thereafter.

TAA USAF Designation: F292-11

Step 1: Materials

Required:
1 Piece of 8.5 by 11 inch Paper
Tape
Pencil
Ruler
Optional:
Scissors (additional surfaces only)

Step 2: Length and Nose Folding

Fold your paper in half length-wise. Then pull the paper down so that the crease stretches from the fold at the front you just made and the corner of the paper on the other side. Repeat on the other side. Once this is completed, pull the overhanging paper back above the center crease made earlier. Fold the edges of these sections down over the center crease as shown, then pull the triangular tip of the nose back over them.

Step 3: Nose, Canard, Wing and Winglet Folding

Begin this step by pulling the nose backward until the leading edge of the nose touches the trailing edge of the wing. Make a mark 0.75 inches in from this fold. Then reverse the fold up to this mark and make a crease as shown. Unfold this new crease, then pull the wingtips inward as shown. Once they are folded pull the nose forward once again. When this is done, fold the fuselage in half along the center crease. After this is done, open the nose fold as shown, then make the folds as pictured. Tuck these folds into themselves, then into the nose flap as you fold it back down again. Fold down the canards whilst keeping their leading edges aligned with the nose to maintain an angle of incidence of zero degrees. Make marks 1 inch from the center crease and 1 inch from the wingtip along the trailing edge of the wing.  Following this, fold down the wings at the mark you made previously. Align the trailing edges of the wings with that of the fuselage to keep the angle of incidence at zero degrees. After this is finished, fold the wingtips down at the marks you made previously.

Step 4: Taping

Apply tape to the nose above and below the canard, as well as to the LERX-wing joint. Then apply tape to the rear of the fuselage and over the wing root near the trailing edge. Once this has been done, apply tape to the canard folds to secure them to the fuselage. This will complete your ThunderVulcan.

Step 5: Flight

As with almost all other Vulcan family variants, launch of the ThunderVulcan should be done in similar fashion to the way one would launch the "classic dart." Launches should be done at a neutral or positive attitude, at moderate to high speed. Additional applicable surfaces include flaps, elevators, ailerons, slats, flaperons, elevons, rudders, air brakes, canard trim and an "electronic warfare" tail. Enjoy!