Paper Airplane Models

by Rick
(Dayton Oh)

I build paper airplane models and am looking for a way to power them. Warning, this is a bit out of the box!

I've been designing and building near scale (for lack of a better term) paper airplane models for many years. These paper airplane designs entail typical airframes weigh under 10 grams. I've powered some of these with pager motors and capacitors (dissected out of Spinmaster toys). Adequate power, terrible endurance.

Any commercial RC sets and propulsion systems for this size & weight range? Rudder only would be an OK starting point, but 3 axis control w/throttle is the dream!

Appreciate any knowledge you have about micro RC, or directions to an active micro RC flight blog or club. Thanks for your very informative web page.

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Paper Airplane Models

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10 grams is tiny!
by: Matt

Wow, 10 grams is pretty light.

Parkzone's Citabria is a 3 channel plane that weights in at 20grams. You may be able to order parts for that to use with your paper airplane designs.

The micro butterfly is the smallest commercial RC plane that I know if. And its rudder control only. It's also expensive, too expensive to buy for the purpose of robbing the parts.

You might do some research to see where they get their components. And buy direct. Heck, you may even figure out how to get 4 channels working, or at least three.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Just wait a few years, they' be so small you'll need a magnifying glass!

Matt

Thanks for the quick reply Matt!
by: Rick

Neglected to mention the 10 g airframes of these paper airplane models have a span of about 10" = 1/48 scale for WWII fighters. Definitely micro!

Attached photo of my P40 in authetic AVG colors. Excellent glider, very predictable in flight, wonderful loops. Ballast (as glider) to about 12 g with one US penny in the nose.

WWI work well too, attached Se5a about the same span & weight, 1/32 scale. Extremely docile, nice 3 point landings with ground effect flare (gotta be lucky though). Surprisingly sturdy, but keep them away from water, dogs & babies!

Rick Benjamin

PS, yeah I've got a Wright Flyer design too!

cool!
by: Matt

Awesome!

That Jet has to be the world best paper airplane. It's hard to believe those are made of paper!

What kind of paper? Are there any paper airplane instructions out there to show how these are built?
Sure as heck doesn't look like the paper airplanes for kids that I am used to making.

micro paper models-secrets of the temple
by: Rick

My paper airplane models are usually made from ordinary 10 lb computer/copier paper. Parts are printed on my home computer system in full color.

Larger models use heavier paper grades. Early designs were done entirely by hand. Second generation designs, like the ones I sent, used computer aided design, which was a lot faster and more precise.

Third generation paper airplane models (just coming off the line) are highly automated, except for odd shapes like WWII faceted canopies, Lewis guns etc. I just get some parameters off of available 3-view plans (5 view is better), shove them into a program I wrote, port the vector drawings to a commercial plotting program and wait for the patterns to be generated.

Tolerances are pretty close to the thickness of the paper now. The most laborious step is electronically painting the patterns (Corell Draw).

The Shimmy IV attachment is my P-51 D painted to look like the example in the USAF Museum in Dayton. Fun fact: the external fuel tanks on the real deal were made of fuel proofed paper! Who knew! My Mustang design is a bit dated, need to upgrade it to 3rd generation standards.

All my paper airplane models are tension structures. WWII AC fuselages are basically nested truncated cones with one thin bulkhead per section under tension. WWI are mixtures of boxes & cones. Putting one together is a lot like building a plastic kit model, except you have to create your own pieces by bending, folding and gluing patterns. For small models patterns = plans.

Wings are tensions structures too, either semi circular cross sections or more lately close approximations of a Clark Y airfoil. Simple box spars to stiffen the wings, no elaborate cross sectional pieces, the airfoil forms automatically under tension. It's a cool trick. Math.

Nearly all models are designed to the following master spec:

Looks almost as good a well painted plastic model.
Made from ordinary white paper,.patterns printed on a home computer system
Builds in one evening (most of the time is waiting for the white glue to set)
It flies

The models scale up well, but you use a lot more ink printing them! 25% size increase, no changes really. 50% increase, thicker paper. !00% increase, more complex internal structures. Really big models: start using sturdy board (paper bonded to a foam core) for interior structure, card stock or poster board for skin.

Real Pictures
by: Rick

Attached is a photo of a 1/4 scale SAAB Gripen I built for a local car dealer ("Born from Jets"). Length just under 12'. span about 6.5.' Weight 15 lbs. 150 man hrs over 3 mos. With a bit of structural beef-up it would probably fly, with either a very large fan or a surplus drone engine. Way way out of my league, display only. The canopy is cast acrylic, in my oven, before my wife noticed. Yoinks, my finest hour. The model hangs from fire wire fishing line (survived the quake of 08). Usually about 8 feet off the ground just above a car, higher than in the pix.

Thanks for the interest. Paper is an under-rated structural material.