Design Round 2: Lockheed P-38 Lightning (Part 5)

As I continue designing planes, you'll start to see a pattern emerge.  It's the same pattern that most planes follow.  A fuselage, a pair of wings, and vertical and horizontal stabilizers make up the main features.  And while their design inherently sets them apart from their folded brethren, it is the details which transforms them from paper airplanes into models.  I'll generalize detailing a model later, but for now I'll concentrate on those that makes the P-38 unique.

The next model is...

The P-38 isn't quite complete yet, but after the design phase is done, most of the heavy lifting is complete, which means construction and testing will go rather quickly.  If all goes as planned, I'll be ready to move on to another design.  If it crashes again, well, depending on how simple the adjustments are, I may just put the whole P-38 project on the back-burner.

With that in mind, I want to start selecting a new model.  I have a few ideas in mind (read more to see some), and I'm leaning toward a particular plane already, but I'd like to do a little crowd-sourcing to see what would be most interesting to those actually following this blog.  Here is an idea of what planes I'm considering, and why I think they'd be interesting.  Feel free to comment on your favorite(s), or suggest others!

Design Round 2: Lockheed P-38 Lightning (Part 4)

The last two parts include what is arguably the simplest, and one of the most complicated.  The wing support is an important part which adds to the structure of the model.  That being said, it is essentially a plank of paper which spans the engine booms.  On the other hand, the canopy is mostly decorative (it does partially act as a vertical stabilizer), yet it is one of the more complex parts of the model, requiring careful design considerations.

Design Round 2: Lockheed P-38 Lightning (Part 3)

The trailing control surfaces are composed of three parts:

• Vertical Tail (x2)
• Horizontal Tail

There isn't much to the design of these parts.  That being said, they are also several considerations I need to cover, especially regarding weight, and the possibility of making the tail keep its self from dropping and causing a stall.

Design Round 2: Lockheed P-38 Lightning (Part 2)

With the wings hopefully in decent shape, I can now move on to the fuselage.  In a standard plane, the fuselage is one part, and runs down the middle.  Instead of a single fuselage, the P-38 has two engine booms, and a cockpit nacelle.  These three structures combined make up the fuselage, and are essentially the same shape.  With this in mind, I'll be using the same standard shape for all three parts.

Design Round 2: Lockheed P-38 Lightning (Part 1)

Since the initial design crashed (literally) and burned (not really), I have two options: fix what I have, or start over.  Given the amount of things I didn't like with the original design, I'm opting for the latter option.  With any luck, this one will fare better.  One note on this post: there is a lot of information here, but I intend to break down and generalize a couple of the topics into their own posts at a later date.  Until then...

Prototype Build: Lockheed P-38 Lightning

Here she is, my Lockheed P-38 Lightning paper model!  (More info after the photo.)

The first model

When I first decided to try my hand at designing my own paper airplane model, I was presented with an interesting and challenging decision: Which plane should I model?  I had a literally bank sheet before me.  There were a few exceptions in that I didn't want to copy what I had already built from Norman Schmidt's book.  After careful consideration, I finally settled on one: The Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

Design Tools

I use two tools for designing my models: My mind, and the 3D CAD program, Sketchup. Without becoming too gushy about the program, Sketchup makes it very simple to start with 2D surfaces (virtual paper), and "fold" it into a 3D model. Plus, their measurement tools allow me to make nice instructive images for you all.

examples of Sketchup renders

I still have some work to do to make things presentable for publishing, but it's a start, and it's a heck of a lot easier than taking and annotating photos of each step!

As for my mind, well, until I can find a way to back up that info, I recommend searching the Internet and libraries for planes that you like, and of course reading my tips for designing models.  The techniques I use apply to all kinds of planes, regardless of era and configuration, so try applying them to a plane that you like!

Construction Tools

When it comes to making paper airplanes, what tools do you think one would need? If you've read any of the other posts here, the answer won't surprise you. While folding is still the primary skill required, my designs also require measuring, cutting, and gluing. Below are some examples of the tools necessary for the job.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I'm going to be sharing my experiences, designs, and attempts at designing and constructing paper airplane models. But before going forward, let's take a quick step back. Here is how I got here...