Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Draw a cross section of a wing shape onto a piece of paper. Your shape should measure three inches across by about 1/4 inch tall. Research the curve of a classic elongated teardrop curve before completing this step, and make several practice attempts before cutting out the final shape with a pair of scissors.
Place your cutout wing cross section on a sheet of thin balsa wood. Draw around the cross section nine times. Cut the nine shapes out of the balsa wood with a hacksaw, then sand them down to exactly the same size.
Cut a sheet of paper so it measures exactly 8 inches across. The depth of the paper should slightly exceed the circumference of your wing cross section. To form the airplane's wing, wrap the paper around all nine of your balsa wood cross sections and glue them into place at equal distances. Two of the cross sections should be at either edge of the paper 8 inches apart, and one should be in the exact middle. Position the remaining six with three on the left and three on the right of the wing. Cut away any excess paper once you have wrapped it around fully.
Bend two 7-inch pipe cleaners in half to form V shapes with an angle of about 100 degrees. At the tip of each V, bend 1/2 inch of the pipe cleaner back so the two tips are parallel with one another. Glue, or tape, the pipe cleaners to the underside of the wing so the V sits in the middle. Position them about 2 inches apart.
Saw a length of balsa wood doweling so it measures 9 inches long. Position it under the wing so it sits in the bottom of the V of the pipe cleaners with about 1 inch of the doweling extending beyond the leading edge of wing. Most of the doweling should extend to the rear. Glue it into place.
Saw a new length of balsa wood doweling to 4 inches. Glue the doweling across the middle of a 3-by-4-inch sheet of paper so the tips of doweling lie flush with either edge of the paper. Wrap the paper around the doweling, and glue it together to form an elongated tear shape. This piece will form your airplane's horizontal stabilizer.
Construct a tail fin for your model by cutting a right triangle from a piece of cardboard. The shortest edge should measure about 1 1/2 inches long. Trim off the corner formed by the second longest edge and the hypotenuse to make a trapezoid. Tape what was the short edge of the triangle to the middle of the horizontal stabilizer. Apply tape to both sides so it sits in the middle. Place the stabilizer and tail fin on the airplane's balsa wood doweling so it lies parallel with the wing, facing in the same direction. Use tape to fix it into place from the underside.
Draw around a regular mug onto some cardboard. Use a protractor to measure and draw four equally shaped and spaced sectors in the circle. Each sector should measure about 70 degrees and will divide the circle into four. They will form four thinner sectors, making an X shape that will become propeller blades. Now draw around a coin in the middle of the circle, where all the sector lines intersect. Use scissors to cut out the circle and then the large sectors. Leave the card within the coin line untouched so the propeller's blades remain attached to each other. Twist each of the propeller blades slightly in the same direction. Mount the propeller onto the tip of the aircraft's balsa wood doweling with a pin pushed through the middle.
Cut a rubber band and trim it so it measures about 4 inches long. Glue one end of it to the center of the back of your propeller so it can still spin around the mounting pin. Tape the other end to a point about halfway down the length of the aircraft's wooden fuselage.
Store some energy in your indoor aircraft by turning the propeller blades against the tension in the rubber band. Hold the propeller in place with one hand and the aircraft's frame in the other at shoulder height. Release both hands simultaneously.