"I bet if I put wings on this it would make a good airplane..."
...to which Krista promptly responded...
"You're so cute!!"
Not being disheartened by this blatant attempt at distracting me from my latest brainstorm, I pressed boldly onward and retrieved a second set of chopsticks from the counter.
This set of chopsticks sat on my desk for about a week whilst I dreamt of graceful little airplane wafting about on a warm spring day. Finally I had a vision of just what the plane should look like and I set out to build it.
I began with some design equations that I found in the instruction book for some WhiteWings paper airplanes. I wasn't sure if the equations would work for larger, heavier planes or not, but I gave it a try.
The final plane fell short of my vision of a graceful little glider. Much of this was due to my own impatience. I designed the entire plane in one afternoon and then constructed the entire plane that same evening. I took several short-cuts that I should not have taken. There was no dihedral in the main wings. The wings were a bit too short, and the lack of bracing in the tail surfaces allowed them to warp up like tacos when I shrunk the tissue paper. Worse yet, the chopstick was so heavy that I needed to glue a nickel to the nose to get it to balance.
I was able to get the warps out of the wings by steaming them and pressing them flat and the balance was fixed as mentioned before by gluing a nickel to the nose.
Surprisingly enough, the plane flew. The design equations worked and despite the warps and weight it flew.
Although I had anticipated a much more graceful and stable plane than I produced, I am still proud of that glider.... Besides, I still have another chopstick.
If you really want a DXF file of the plans for this plane, just follow the link. You can preview the plans by clicking on the little picture at the top of the page.
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Created by: Joseph M. Krzeszewski
Last updated: 6/12/1996