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Paper Airplane Designs

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Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#201

Post by tempestn »

usrusr wrote: post #173
tempestn wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm talking about the leading edge of the wings, where they meet the fuselage. How far up that is from the tip of the nose is often not based on any existing edge or fold.

The fold that separates the "fuselage" from the wing? Not the leading edge (except in one point), but you are right, that is the one where many otherwise non-arbitrary planes make an exception. My favorite designs, front heavy with a decoratively complex leading edge would usually have plenty of potential guidepoints for the fuselage fold though. Good times, bringing up those memories makes me wonder when exactly I s…

Yes, that fold, but specifically that leading point of it. Often the back can have a reference point, like having the edge of the wing meet the bottom rear corner of the fuselage. But yeah, the fold in general is often more arbitrary. But not really; you would try to fold a plane as consistently as possible, so something like 'begin the fold 1/8" from the tip of the nose' isn't arbitrary at all.

Similarly, you often don't want to fold right to a crease, as it can cause bunching. It's often a better idea to leave a mm or so of extra space for inward folds. Doesn't make the design less pure or anything though.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#202

Post by taftster »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #197
taftster wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying, adblockers in the UK are illegal due to copyright concerns? I don't think that holds. If I buy a magazine and rip the ads from it, that's perfectly fine. This logic even holds in a school setting.

Actually, it doesn't - you can't take the ads out (eg a clipping service) in any commercial setting. Using a tool that you put your newspaper in that removed all ads would be creating a tortuous derivative too. There's no general personal exemptions in UKCDA either. Chances of being prosecuted for use are roughly zero. Lawful educational use is highly restricted in the UK, but there are few prosecutions. For example…

Thanks for the reply. Very interesting stuff.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#203

Post by Dove »

simonsarris wrote: post #3

In the 90's I went to a small middle school, the 8th grade class was 21 people. Once, the school had a contest in the indoor gym, we each designed paper planes and the one who flew it the farthest won a prize. We argued with teachers over an allowance for a little bit of tape, which some of us used just as nose weight. However, each kid was the one to "fly" his own plane, a big oversight. Almost the last kid, when it…

I heard a take on this story in a book about origami (origami airplanes, I guess? It's been long enough I don't specifically remember the source). The artist said, roughly, that if you crumple up a sheet of paper, dip it in water, squish it hard, let it dry, and then throw it as far as you can, it will go quite far. A paper airplane must go farther otherwise it might as well not be a paper airplane.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#204

Post by dwd »

jeremy_wiebe wrote: post #175
dwd wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a ring design that will beat any dart for distance. Particularly when thrown gently from a height where its glide ability can be exploited. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach/activity/ring-wing-glider...

I used to have a paper airplane book and this was one of my favourites. The other was a plane made with a drinking straw and two paper rings. It always flew really far also! https://sciencebob.com/the-incredible-hoop-glider/

I believe I had the same book when I was a kid, as I remember that one.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#205

Post by lightlyused »

offsky wrote: post #41

Imagine my surprise when I'm reading down the HN list like I do every day and I stumble upon my own website. Thats a pretty cool feeling! Im happy to answer any questions people may have. This was my Angular learning project back when Angular just came out. I think Angular ended up being the wrong choice for this project, but it works and I learned Angular, so its all good.

I used to make one like the square plane, except at step 4 I would fold the outer points on more time toward the center line then fold the tip while inserting the previous folds into the folded tip so it makes a thick triangle. You could then fold the wing tips up or down to make the vertical surfaces. I'm not sure I'm describing it well.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#206

Post by saalweachter »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #189
pantalaimon wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the very same reason I wonder whether there might be a difference in taste between a metric recipe and an imperial one.

> imperial standard The US does not use Imperial. It uses US Customary. This differs from Imperial in many ways especially for volume measure. And of course Imperial is not a standard.

For one thing a pint is still (roughly) a pound.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#207

Post by anonytrary »

User23 wrote: post #120

When I was a child I had a book that listed quite a few of these. It was so popular with my classmates in kindergarten that the school ended up banning paper airplanes except on "Paper Airplane Fridays."

I wonder how many engineers society lost because they banned that.

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#208

Post by Endy »

langfo wrote: post #165
Endy wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only problem with this website is that when I used it with a class of students, there were pornographic advertisements in between the plane types. That was really upsetting. Please reconsider your ads.

I would strongly recommend an ad blocker or use a browser such as Brave which by default blocks ads and other nasties

Honest question: How would I do that when I'm on a rather locked-down school Chromebook?

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#209

Post by thrower123 »

Endy wrote: post #137
profalseidol wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best to use Brave as your browser. Or even Opera. Both has built-in ad blocker.

Couldn't do that when I was using the school Chromebook.

The school doesn't have some kind of filtering proxy setup? A decade and a half ago I was having to end-run Bess to get to the Sun Javadocs - blocked for "hacking." Useful education, but it made studying for the AP comp sci test difficult...

Re: Paper Airplane Designs

#210

Post by sundarurfriend »

rdtsc wrote: post #81

Very interesting, I wonder how regional these are. For example I grew up with this one as the "basic" / default: https://www.origamiway.com/plane-nakamura-lock.shtml Notice how it has a high air time and distance. I used to launch them them from my 8th story apartment in the city. On a right day, some would take off and would be carried by the wind to where I lose sight of them.

Here in India, I grew up with the Basic Dart (from the OP site) as the default paperplane for kids to do. But the one you linked to was also pretty common, usually made by the "cool" uncles entertaining kids at parties.
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