Paper Airplanes - Articles - Zimbio

Time to test out the DIY ‘deuce’.

Sun, 9 Jun 2008 14:23:46 GMT

posted by MRGaudet

My good buddies Dylan and Jesse Cook popped in yesterday for a quick visit. Jesse has a friend in the city that wants a Skyaak Model 3 so he came out to grab a unit from the source.

The above shows the package that Jesse picked up. The flat design makes the Model 3 easy to carry around and also makes it possible to ship anywhere in the world.

While Dylan and Jesse were here they said sure, they would be happy to test out the DIY ‘deuce’, no problem. Dylan also mentioned that he would pass it around to some of his buddies in the city so we can get some un-biased feedback about the functionality and logistics of the model. That is exactly what Fred had mentioned we ought to be doing as a next step. I mean it’s great that Dylan and Jesse want to test it out, but they are both pretty familiar with the Skyaak design so it wouldn’t really be a true representation of Joe consumer who is seeing it for the 1st time.

That’s why it is so important that Dylan has offered to circulate the DIY ‘deuce’ around to people that have never laid eyes on the thing before.

I imagine there are still some Skyaak virgins out there that Dylan knows, although there’s a pretty good chance that he’s shown it in some form or another to most of his friends by now.

At the moment, I am trolling far and wide both online and in the confines of my own skull for cool design ideas for the brand spanking new website we are in the process of creating for Skyaak. Our 19-yr old daughter Ilara is here for the summer, working at Camp Easter Seal. We had a pretty intense design brainstorming session a few days ago and I think some of the ideas that we came up with have sticky power. EG: I’m fairly certain that some of the creme de la creme concepts will make it to the new site.

For instance, Ilara came up with this really cool idea for transitioning from the home-page to the links. We’re thinking of designing buttons for each link that will be a front shot of the Skyaak. When you click on the link (which will include the button) your mouse will act like a trigger to launch the Skyaak out of the monitor and it’ll zoom towards you so that the very center of the Skyaak will quickly fill the page and you will find yourself on a new, white page. That is the extreme close-up of the very center of the nose cap, that happens to have a distinct highlight…

Chase 'n Race Paper Airplane Game

Wed, 5 Apr 2007 02:38:35 GMT

posted by graylee
If you love paper airplanes like I do, you'll love this fun paper airplane game. It's easy to do and everyone has a great time.

Chase ’N Race Game

Have a quantity of good paper airplane paper available. You can use plain ol' copy paper or very thin construction paper. You can also make it more of a project by having crayons and markers on hand to color the paper first before you fold your paper airplane. Kids love this!

Give a hand to each child in folding the paper airplane. A good idea is to practice the folds a head of time so you are completely familiar and comfortable making the paper airplanes.

A good place to go for easy to make and free downloadable paper airplane directions is the Easy Paper Airplanes website.

Once all the paper airplanes have been folded, take the kids outside and play the Chase 'n Race game. Here’s how to set it up:

Make a starting and a finish line on a grassy area if possible. To make it super fun, have the space between the start and finish around the length of a soccer field, but if you don’t have that much space, just make it as long as possible.
Get all your pilots lined up at the start line with planes in hand.
The beginning of the race is started by someone (who isn't racing) yelling, “Wheels up!” (or “Go!”), Then, each pilot throws his/her paper airplane as far and as straight as he can toward the finish line.
Each pilot then runs after their own plane, picking it up, and then throwing it toward the finish line.

Two Rules Only!

No running with the plane in hand. If a pilot runs while the plane is still in his hand, he has to go back to the start line and start over.
The first person that throws their paper airplane over the finish line and crosses it himself is the winner!

Tip: One of the best planes to make for this game is the ProFlier paper airplane. It’s a good, straight-flying plane.

A good prize for the winner is a Super Dooper fast stunt plane called the Karate Kid. You can learn how to make both of these fantastic paper airplanes by signing up for my free e-newsletter here or filling out the form below. Make it ahead of time with cool colored paper of your choice and write Chase ’N Race First Place on it. Make some and practice with it.

Read the fantastic flying tips on this Web site on how to make the Karate Kid do unbelievable stunts with just a flick of the wrist. Then show your first-place pilot how to fly it and turn it into a mini event that will be sure to make him or her feel special.

For more paper airplane games go to the Paper Airplane Games page.

Cool Paper Airplane Facts

Tue, 11 Apr 2007 15:39:00 GMT

posted by graylee
I bet you didn't know there were so many things that people have done with paper airplanes in the past. Here's just a few of them...

The Smallest Paper Airplane
The smallest origami paper model of a Crane Bird was folded under a microscope using tweezers by Mr. Naito from Japan and was made from a piece of paper 2.9 mm square. It is displayed on top of a sewing needle. Wow! That’s small – only problem is, it didn’t fly!

Upside Down Paper Airplane Flying
Any kind of paper aircraft that is trimmed to fly on earth will, when thrown inside a spacecraft, fly up and not down, as would normally be expected. This is because there is no gravity in the spacecraft, but there is lift created by the wings, as they fly in the atmosphere inside the spacecraft.

Fly on Forever
In space where there is no atmosphere, if a paper aircraft were thrown it would not fly at all; it would float away in a straight line. With no gravity to pull it down, it would possibly fly on forever until it hit an object.

Most Expensive – One of NASA’s
One of the most expensive and lightest paper aircraft ever flown, was the paper aircraft thrown inside one of NASA’s space shuttles, during a routine space flight. The fuel alone used to carry it into space makes that paper aircraft one of the most expensive. It was the lightest because of the lack of gravity in space.

To read more interesting paper airplane facts, click here.

Thanks to Andy Chipling for these cool paper airplane facts.

7000 Words about Skyaak

Sat, 18 May 2008 21:54:27 GMT

posted by MRGaudet

Someone once said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s 7000 words about the DIY ‘deuce’…

Remember that I am 1st and foremost an artist…a visual artist…so I am showing you these images because I think they are pretty neat just as images. The Skyaak DIY ‘deuce’ design is actually quite intricate and complex, considering it starts off as two sheets of flat paper.

Don’t you think it has a cool sculptural look? Not to mention that this little unit glides through the air like a dream…call it ‘kinetic art’.

I built a new DIY ‘deuce’ last night, shown above.

I used ‘Canada flag’ celophane tape to cover the wings and shaft with to give it extra strength. Also looks kinda cool. The good ol’ patriotic look!

It glides really well, but I have found now (no big surprise really) that when I put a bit more ballast weight (along w the 3 large paper-clips) in the nose it glides quite a bit further and also tracks a much neater trajectory. I actually just stuck a stick of gum in its paper wrapper right into the front of the 3-sided shaft. Probably weighs about .05 of a gram or so.

Basically, I’d suggest as heavy a ballast as possible in the nose to maximize the performance…keep adding extra weight until just before it starts to nose-dive and you will get a much better glide.The Skyaak design really likes carrying some extra weight in its nose. A harbinger of a future power-pack?

Easy Paper Airplanes - A Little History

Thu, 7 Apr 2006 20:23:00 GMT

posted by graylee

Easy Paper Airplanes

Here's a little bit of interesting information about the origin and history of paper airplanes.

Definition
A paper plane, paper aeroplane, or paper airplane is a toy plane made out of paper. It is perhaps the most common form of aerogami, a branch of origami (the Japanese art of paper folding). In Japanese, it is called 紙飛行機 (kami hikoki; kami=paper, hikoki=airplane).

It is popular due to its being one of the easiest types of origami for a novice to master. The most basic paper plane would only take at most six steps to "correctly" complete. The term "paper plane" in recent times can also refer to those made from cardboard.

Diagram of a traditional paper plane.

History
The use of paper to create toys is believed to have originated 2,000 years ago in China, where kites were a popular form of entertainment. Although these can be considered to be evidence for the modern paper plane, no one can be sure where exactly this invention originated; designs for velocity, lift and fashion have been improved by the years gone by. Leonardo da Vinci is often cited as the inventor of paper planes, although this is debatable. However, he did make reference to building a model plane out of parchment. Arguably the father of model gliders was George Cayley, who built hand-launched kite-like gliders from linen in the early 1800s.

Kites were used by the Chinese to fly materialized objects in the air.

The earliest known date of the creation of paper planes was said to have been in 1909. However, the most accepted version of the creation was two decades later in 1930 by Jack Northrop (Co-founder of Lockheed Corporation). Northrop has used paper planes as tests so that he could discover ideas for flying real-life aircraft.

From Wikipedia

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Want to learn more about making great paper airplanes? Check out the Easy Paper Airplanes website and download 10 Easy to Make Paper Airplane Designs today!

AND... Don't forget to check out my other blog called Kids' Crafts for more exciting and interesting ideas for your kids to keep them happy, busy and expand their creativity.
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Easy Paper Airplanes
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