The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes - DOUG STILLINGER
The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes - DOUG STILLINGER
The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes - DOUG STILLINGER
3
- e greot stuff for kids ages 3 to 103.
e egan our corporate life in 1977 in ~ goroge we shared with a Chevrolet - polo. Although we've outgrown r 0 first office, Klutz galactic "'eodquarters remains in Palo Alto, California, and we're still staffed e tirely by real human beings. For t ose of you who collect mission s to t eme nt s , here's ours:
'RITE us
e would love to hear your comments egarding this or any of our books.
e have many!
KLUTZ.
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c 2004 Klutz. All rights reserved. published by Klutz, a subsidiary of
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egistered trademarks of Klutz. No part f '-his publication may be reproduced in o'ny form or by any means without itten permission of Klutz.
istributed in the UK by
Sc olostic UK ltd, Westfield Road
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is ributed in Australia by
Sc olastic Australia Customer Service
.. Box 579, Gosford, NSW Australia 2250
3: 978-1-57054-830-7
• 8 7
e sA. -~ e - e_
These aren't paper toys. And they're only technically paper airplanes. These are high performa ce b ow-the-competition-away flying paper machines.
en planes in this boo~ are ror people they 've seen a good paper plane or two e re for the hard to impress, the playground e ans - the kid at the next es who thinks he and his plane
. get sent to the principal's I ce first. These are the es that can prove rOlng.
MAKE GR.EAT FOLDS
Great planes start with great folding. Take your time and put the paper exactly where it nee be. Perfect folding will save a bad throw, but no throw in the world will save sloppy folding.
EXRCT FOLDS WILL FLY
CHECK SYMMETRY
SLOPPY FOLDS WON'T FLY
Every plane in this book is the same on both sides. The left wing is always a mirror image of the right wing .r r fold your plane so that one side is even the tiniest bit different from the other side, your plane won't fly it flies at all.The golden rule is this: If- you rJa~e a rJista~e, Ma~e the eMct sane Mista~e on the o-rher side.
THIS PLRNE FLIES GREAT
THIS PLRNE CRASHESGRE~-
THROW IT ERSY
Make your first few throws light and breezy. No marxe good your folding is, we guarantee that your plane's flight will also be its maiden crash. Once you ge then you an open up and haul off,
SS,C C
, e your plane and . doesn't fly greaL rig t 0 ~ and it
, you fI need to tweak the wings. Af+er every +hrow t _
\
F ALL ELSE FAILS, OLD ANOTHER
S e planes look perfect but, no matter
ow much you fuss, they just won't fly.
Our advice? Grab another sheet and ake a new one.
and
~ea+ foldiM l'1a~es a plane f-I~
" es+, 5lopp~ foldiM l'1a~es a bit, ffltb+fess ness, Ta~e ~our +il'1e a fold careru"~ and er.ac+I~.
weo
-
EDGE-TO-EDGE, CORNER.-TO-CORNER
Almost every fold in this book is an edge-to-edge, corner-to-corner or edge-to-crease fold. When making these folds, put each edge or corner precisely where it's supposed to go. Even near-misses - --~ are enough of them, will ruin a plane.
CREASE WELL
With every fold, make the crease as sharp and clean as you can get it. Run your fingernail along the crease to get it flat. The better the crease, the easier the following folds will be and the better the plane will fly.
SMOOSH DOWN PRPER BUBBLES
A few folds into a plane, you may see some part of the paper bulging up.We recommend flattening these to make the rest of the folds easier. The best way is to use a pencil or pen cap and, pressing hard, sweep across the bubbled-up paper.
01
EORAL
"Dihedral" is engineer-speak for the angle between a plane s plane in this book flies best with a positive dihedral. That means at your plane from the back, the wings and body form a -V- shape. means to paper airplanes is this:
THIS PLANE FLIES
TH IS P LANE eRAS ES
~ rs are small flaps in a plane's wings that make the plane go up and down. r plane to fly higher or longer, add up elevators. If it's flying too . ing, like it's on a rollercoaster, then it needs down elevators.
P ELEVATOR
::
THiESEF LA P S
E THE PLANE RISE
ONS
DOWN ELEVATOR
PINCH AND BEND DOWN. END UP LIKE THIS.
THESE FLAPS MAKE THE PLANE FALL
TO MAKE AN ELEVATO~ P:: c- --= =.=::
EDGE OF A WING, Hi THEN BEND THE PI C E
DOWN. MAKE ANOTIiIER OPPOSITE WING.
k just like elevators, but make the plane bank or roll. An aileron in the right wing of a plane ) left, while an aileron in the left wing makes it bank (and turn) right. You make them j st Ii e r at. the ends of the wings, not the middle.
- =S?
5 __.:-
Pick up thi /'
and . IS corner
put It near the X
Getting your plane into the air isn't hard, but getting grea flights one after another can take a little practice. The trick' to figure out what type of plane, you're throwing and how y want it to fly. Then, give it the launch it needs to get the e.
t e way a plane is designed, it aturally"like" certain angles and ee s but not others. Dart-shaped a es since they're thin and sleek,
. east throws. Gliders, with their
e at shape, prefer slow ones. or most planes, a II you
o know are these ortant) rules:
eo
~ e t a e S
y 2 t i
S that make
ow different from another
eed and angle.
-8, or a +
throwing 5pe
SMRLL _ THROW WINGS - FRSTER
BIG _ WINGiS - S
bis, iMpor+an+ throwing Ant
GLIIl)ERS LIKE I TH iSE RNGLES
DR~rrs LIKE THESE RNGLES
STU NT P LA NES LIKE THESE ANGLES
NDOOR VERSUS OUTDOOR FLIGHT
I ... INDOOR
• If you're flying indoors, you're best off with 2:'CS that need calm air but don't need much spitee. Darts and slow gilders work best.
OUTDOOR
Outside. you'll geL the best flig ts frorr: -~~, '~l""
,..-~ ---~- -~-
A
I
/
/
.. '"
~' I'
/
\ ~~~----~~~~
I'
I I
f
J
f
L.....__ /~
ER IS IQUAl
TIER WAY '10 HIT TOP SPEED WITH AIHEET OF PAPER ..
: :
, , , , , , ,
~==::;; ""J;".:""''''''-!
e cease
NEW) ...
U •• ER-"'G~1 ' CORNER.
UNFOLD THE LAST FOLDS. IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:
••
,
, , . .
:
_____ 40~ __ " _ _ _ - ,..__ =-- _ --I -
BELOW IT
M Q K I: S IJ RET 0 L: E UP !=ILL EDGES
Fold the diagonal edge on the right srdeto the crease you made lnste~ '8.
Repeat on the left side.
the creases you ace steps a and 9.
Flip
over
Fold the top fiaptt<own as far as it will go.
fold in half.
FOLD WING
Fold the wing down so mat the
e ge sits 0 e
c e.
rlip
r t r , , ,
,
t
,
,
,
,
,
r
, , , , , , ,
I
I
,
.
.
·
·
·
.
or, hY. a f> a e and a Brick
THRUST
FT VE RSUS GRAVITY
o t a throw, a dropped piece of paper - even one ooks like an airplane - falls right to the ground. .5~-: -: row it and something holds it in the air a little
ccger.That something is "lift" and it's a force, just like ~ itv, In flight, lift and gravity play tug-of-war with your lane. And so long as lift is winning, the plane goes _oJ. B t when gravity takes the lead - and it always
.::~es - your plane has a date with the ground that it
LI FT
GRRVITY
FORCE
LESS LI FT
THAN GRAVITY •••
••• PLAN,S G 'as DOWN
OF ATTACK
cline a plane's wings make with the oncoming air is - & - e "angle of attack." For most planes, the front of ings is higher than the back. So, when you throw the ie rush of air hits the bottom of the wing and
::'~ _~ es off. The bouncing-off air pushes the wing upward, e plane lift.
MORE LIFT
THAN GRAVITY •••
LIFT EQUAL
TO GRAVITY •••
EVATORS & AILERONS
~-e - a s on the back edge of a wing change the angle of i g air and move the plane. If the flaps go up, air and goes shooting skyward. This makes the =~- eoge of the wing drop. The angle of attack gets
o e ngs. e
egets
/' /'
••• PLANE
••• PLANE GOES UP
F LI ES
STRAIGHT
y THE ~ -SHAPED
I
GS?
lane is fiying straight, then the lift created by each wing is about the same. But jf one wing is fia-er --;; ,- at ,"ng creates more lift and makes the plane barrel-roll.The reason most paper planes fly best .-
-saa M . gs is that as soon as the plane starts to roll, the now-flatter wing makes more lift than the angled .,...",,_
---e extra lift forces the wing back up, straightening out the plane. With ~ -shaped wings, a small roll ca €S 2:
:: 5.5E roll and the plane spirals to the ground.
..
-V--SH A PED WI NGS SELF-CORRECT
....-v-.-SHRPED WINGS SELF-DESTRUCT
ST VERSUSDRRG
" and I,ITt control a plane's altitude, stuff engineers call "thrust" and "drag" change its speed.
T ts aJl'~ force that Ma-kes an airplane go f-orward. In metal planes, propellers and jets ~ - ust The only thrust a paper plane gets, though, comes from your own arm. Once the plane leaves ":_ gou:en all the thrust it's going to get, which is why paper planes always end up on the ground.
+fie, =+her hand, is what air does to a plane to slow it down. The faster a plane --~ more air hits it and the more the air pushes it backwards. And the bigger the wings are, the more air
" re, causing more drag. That's why glider-type paper planes go slower than darts. If a plane kept g . g
st to overcome both gravity and drag, it would simply keep going and going and going and going an gS'-g ~
--_--_ -
.::.:: -- .. -
s
rJip <~ over
e
V I d
-
flip ~ over
Q FLYING THE PTERO'PLANE
! I Your best {lights will be hard throws up and' ,
ffom you. Put an elevator in one wing for circles and corkscrews, and in both wings (Of" 1OOas.
e tric~ to twea~ing our plane correctly
: .-...:: 'e- i~ then fil'., one proDle~ at a ti~e.
c. rirs+ few throws of a neWDorn plane, go - _: a cJCle of checJ<.ins and fill.ins that loo~s
_ • % Jil<-e this:
o it,
Do the sa e t g e.F
L
::::.:::
~-=
F:Q1<1 the top 0: __ - :~: ~ down so that --s :::: -~ .: bil'l@ up precisey '. - __ :--=
bottom of the C'''S~ ~::
Un,feltL
~N.J) TH E SI DoES
:> J- e- e -0"" ~"'r;;;e cf -;..,~ ,,",:::,",0-
_ '-.._ _ 0..1 t;;::1"",;_:!) J_JG.
:.: r: *i,'"2._r:. lJAS 0_ ac. -:-c: c es 0: --e
- - ----
- -::=._ ;;;.:=._.
C]:H~se GOES
GR~B J 5
ar c crease.
MAKE THIS -CREASE RIGijl'
: z e, ining up the b:~'tt;QJ1'I =::ges of the paper .. - -
Fo. M .th e left,-C;Q,F!tlI1er oJ the ,.
t\' . :;we
tri.angle in, ju;s;~ ttl~e~10u did.
in step 8. MaK~ - 'It's ",.
right on top:olf ,first ene.
e
Flip the same flap up so
IDa-:'" e ooii t sits 0 e
:: case 2.:: -- e:: -""
r: OSE
Fold the plane in naif from eft to right. Une r,rp all e ges P e rfe-etly.
;,.r- \
,
Pick up thi /
and . IS corner
put It near the X.
1 0 designs th at we tested,
and tested, and tested, and tested ...
o Sheets full-color, flig~t-rea paper inside. 20 different des:g""s.