Zoooom!
I've been obsessed with folding paper airplanes recently. I haven't really thought about paper airplanes much since I was a kid. I had this small blue hardback book that had a small line drawing of a paper airplane on the cover. I loved that book and I made every airplane in it.
I feel the same way now with "Gliding Flight". The website says its a "children's book", but don't believe it. I consider myself pretty good at spacial relationships, but this book had me scratching my head for a good 20 minutes on some of the folds he uses. It helps that the outer 1" of the page doubles as a flipbook showing animations of some of the harder folds.
The other great thing about this book is that none of the designs require any cutting. Iv'e seen others that have you cut individual wings or produce tail fins by cutting the paper. This is supposed to make the planes look cooler without actually having to fold them right. It usually produces crappy planes that don't fly.
These planes fly, and 2 out of 2 cats at my house agree, they're fun to play with!
I feel the same way now with "Gliding Flight". The website says its a "children's book", but don't believe it. I consider myself pretty good at spacial relationships, but this book had me scratching my head for a good 20 minutes on some of the folds he uses. It helps that the outer 1" of the page doubles as a flipbook showing animations of some of the harder folds.
The other great thing about this book is that none of the designs require any cutting. Iv'e seen others that have you cut individual wings or produce tail fins by cutting the paper. This is supposed to make the planes look cooler without actually having to fold them right. It usually produces crappy planes that don't fly.
These planes fly, and 2 out of 2 cats at my house agree, they're fun to play with!
Comments
1) Make exact folds - take time to line everything up
2) Fold only once - if you don't follow rule #1, you'll end up refolding the same crease several times which will negatively affect the flightworthiness of the plane.
3) Crease heavily - put your weight into the creases and make them sharp!
4) Hold at the bottom of the nose - When launching, don't hold in the middle or back, hold at the bottom front of the plane.
5) Throw straight - Imagine your hand is resting on a roller skate and can only extend straight forward. Many people throw in an arc and release the plane at a random point. Don't throw the plane, *push* the plane.
6) Throw lightly - Until you get used to the aerodynamics of the plane, throw very lightly at first. Throwing too hard can warp the wings on release and lead to unpredictable flight.
Your childhood book sounds like Seymore Simon's "The Paper Airplane Book", and I enjoyed it as well. I have a review of the book located on my website here
http://www.theonlinepaperairplanemuseum.com/BookReviews/BR1/BR1.html
I also have links to over 800 FREE paper airplane designs on my website, in case you wish to try some more!
http://www.theonlinepaperairplanemuseum.com
enjoy!
Uncle Dean