Fold and Valley Fold
Bending the Wings
Gently bend the wings with your fingers to “train” camber (curvature) into the paper.
Once you’ve creased the paper, use your fingers to gently fold it to just the angle you need.
Pushing Out the Pieces
Carefully push or pull the paper pieces out with your fingers. Support the paper with both hands so it doesn’t tear, and be careful not to accidentally fold pieces.
Don’t worry if you accidentally tear the paper. In most cases you can patch up the torn piece by gluing a small scrap of paper to the back. Align the edges together, and glue the patch behind it.
Tidying Up the Edges (optional)
You can use safety scissors to carefully trim away the flash (the little tufts of paper left around the edges of parts you have pushed out). This will make them look cleaner, but it won’t affect the way the plane flies.
Stapling the Planes
Hold the layers of paper tightly when stapling, and use the marks as guides. But don’t push too hard or too suddenly when stapling, or the staple will bend.
Just squeeze the stapler as you normally would, and the staple will punch right through all the layers.
Use two rulers to firmly press down the ends of the staples. This makes the plane stronger and safer, but be careful not to pinch yourself!
Gluing the Planes Instead of Stapling Them
If you don’t have a suitable stapler, you can also use glue to build these planes. Using a toothpick, spread a drop of white school glue evenly over the whole surface to be glued. Very little is needed; in fact, a thin film sticks much better than a thick layer. A little glue will create a strong, clean joint. Too much glue will warp the paper and ooze out at the edges, and make your plane look messy and grimy. And messy, warped planes don’t fly very well. I recommend that you practice with scraps of paper before gluing actual parts.
Test Flying Your Plane
Your plane won’t fly well if the wings are warped or twisted. You can check alignment by holding the model at arm’s length and examining it from the front and back.
Warped wings!
Warped tail!
Just right!
Add camber and fix warps by gently twisting the paper in the wings and tail with your fingers. Tweak a tiny bit at a time until everything is straight.
Paper is affected by moisture in the air and drying sunlight, both of which can warp the paper slightly, so you should re-check the plane when you get to the park, and again every few flights.
The upturn of the wings is called dihedral. It helps keep the plane level, because lift pulls at right angles to each wing, and when the plane banks, the lift created by the level wing increases, and straightens the whole plane until the lift is equal again. Delta-winged planes like The Red Jet (page 15) and The Mirage (page 28) don’t need dihedral, because the triangular wing shape has the same effect, but most of the planes in this kit should have a little.
Test fly the airplane gently at first, onto a carpet or bed or dry lawn. Toss the plane straight forward firmly and watch how it flies. If it stalls (B) or dives (C), adjust it and test fly again, until it glides gently like pattern A.
Just right!
Fix a stall by bending the rear of the stabilizer down slightly.
Fix a dive by bending the rear of the stabilizer up slightly.
If the plane turns to one side or the other, adjust it until it flies straight, as in pattern 2.
Fix a left turn by slightly bending the rear edge of the left wing down, the rear edge of the right wing up, and the rudder right.
Just right!
Fix a right turn by doing the opposite of 1.
Hand Launching Your Planes
