For the Kids

Here's the quickest, easiest glider to pacify the li'l rug rats. Move paper clip for and aft to adjust CG, tape in place.

Oh boy! I have a box of business cards and now to visit another office for paper clips

Let's just say, if I would have went and found some papers clips, this is really cool. I mean would be very cool. And if I had a certain architects card with a ruler and grid lines on it. I could fold some nice breaks in this wing and it WOULD fly all the way across my office. https://i.servimg.com/u/f58/17/97/77/61/image10.jpg

duke.johnson wrote:Let's just say, if I would have went and found some papers clips, this is really cool. I mean would be very cool. And if I had a certain architects card with a ruler and grid lines on it. I could fold some nice breaks in this wing and it WOULD fly all the way across my office. https://i.servimg.com/u/f58/17/97/77/61/image10.jpg

Well.. there you go! Accurately mark and score your dihedrals.. attach a paper-clip and Bob's your Auntie! (heard that reference in a vid-thread that Rusty posted recently.. https://www.coxengineforum.com/t10933-boltr-most-interesting-machinist-tool-man-i-know)

Rewind Roddie.. before I was connected to the internet.. I sourced some Bill Dean drawings for some VERY cool models that I would classify as "For the Kids"... if you were a kid 30 years ago.




The models in the above-referenced book are simple.. and would provide HOURS of fun for a grandparent to spend with a grandchild. I say that.. because most grandparents in "our" realm.. had at least some exposure to building action-models. Models that flew when "chucked".. whether a glider or rubber-band powered.. a boat with a wind-up or pop-pop engine. A "sail-boat" makes an awesome model.. and need-not be complicated.. the same for a simple glider-type airplane.

There are paper-airplane designs that are absolutely terrific. SurferKris (Krister) mentioned one that he builds.. and there are many more. As easy as making a few folds to a sheet of standard copy-paper can provide hours of fun.. and not just for the kids!

I've posted pics of this paper-airplane design before.. but here it is again. Build it.. and have some fun!









Fold the nose back up to just short of the previous fold-lines.. then fold the main structure in half to form the right and left sides.



Crease two 90 degree wing-folds from nose to tail.. to establish the fuselage.. enough for your fingers to grip the center. 1/2" to 3/4" is fine.






That's your basic airframe. It looks like an airplane.. but there's a little more work to do.. a couple of wing-tip stabilizer-folds..



and then cutting with scissors (or tearing.. on the fly..) of twin-flaps into both sides of the trailing-edge... equidistant.. about 1" in width.. and 1/4" in depth.




This is the cheapest, easiest and most fun you can have with a piece of 8.5" x 11" paper if your into FF model-airplanes! Plain-paper will get wet.. so if there's dew on a grass landing-field.. it will shorten the life-span of the model. Dry-conditions make for unlimited fun! Don't be surprised if it catches a thermal and lands where you can't reach.

Kim, for some time I’ve been trying to collect the “For the Tenderfoot” articles from American Aircraft Modeler, but I have only managed to collect 26 28 of the plans/articles.  They were great articles with included plans for hand and catapult launch gliders, rubbber Free Flight planes, 1/2A and 1/4A CL planes, and even FF helicopters.  Here’re a couple of simple ones that could be built by a kid in a couple of hours:

http://www.airplanesandrockets.com/airplanes/bonanza-mustang-jan-1971-aam.htm




If someone printed a book or made a CD with all the "For the Tenderfoot" plans and articles in it, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

The Simpleton Mark