Rubber Band Catapult Gliders

[mbauer]

During 2019 I started a new way of designing some catapult Gliders. Thought small "profile" type gliders would be easy to fly.

Some did all right, most did not. Tried doing different things with the design to get good flyers using a simple rubber band launch system using a 1/4" wood dowel.

I made several gliders like this. A few were made and have survived. Below are some of the photos, taken today, to show a small sample of the designs.

For instance the F-4 Phantom has 8-different paints, only two survived sort of.

Since the original designs were completed, been thinking of ways to improve them to get better flights from them.

Most are "Lawn Darts", not real flight. The cardstock (110# Index [198.9gsm] used was too heavy.

Been using 65# [165gsm]Cover Cardstock for my big rockets. This cardstock will lower final weight of these models.

Recently, a new member: ReynoldsSlumber, has been posting about his attempts to fly scale paper models.

Since 2019 some of my thoughts have been constantly returning to these profile models that don't fly so well.

As you can see in the photos, the fuselage have warped over time. The glued back to back profile of the wings and fuselage have all warped to a degree.

The great thing about using Cover cardstock is you can find the same brightness rating for 20lb bond paper. This makes it possible to print hopefully on two types of paper and get the same look.

Underside of the wings can now be lighter weight bond paper.

The next thought was to widen the fuselage to 1/4" thick, instead of cardstock glued back to back. This should stop the warping and give a much stronger model.

One of the things I did was to make a small hook under the nose to be able to use a rubber band stick launcher. I added several layers of cardstock to strengthen this hook as well a balance weight for the models.

This semi-worked.

Today I started the re-design process to update the models to these new changes.

I have several models already complete as the Profile models, these will be updated to the thicker fuselage using the lighter weight cardstock/bond paper.

All of these "profile" type gliders are not drawn to scale, smaller rudders, increased wing span to remove weight and enlarge flying surfaces.

Here is a list of the models done so far as profile models before the new changes, each model has different "paints":
2023 List.JPG

The F4 Phantom has 6-different paints for instance, two are shown in the next photo. Blue Angle and Spirit of '76.

Here are some of the models that have survived the best since first test flights:
PICT0298.JPG

A close up of the very small hooks added:
PICT0301.JPG

Close up of the layered cardstock to add balance weight and support the hooks:
PICT0303.JPG

Updates will soon be added as I try different things to loose weight and the thicker fuselages for strength.

Mike