by rigs.
Of course the inspiration for this work of genius came when i was at
college with the dedication to hard work and serious paper dart making
that being a full time student entails ;-).
Basically to make a paper slalom rig all you need is a couple of
sheets of A4, sticky tape, and a straw.
Cut about a 5 inch strip along one sheet. Draw a luff curve shape
along the middle, and fold the paper along the curve. Then cut the
rear of the luff tube so is flat along it's length.
Take the second half of the sheet and cut one side as your basic
trailing edge of any sail you fancy.
Then with the front edge of the sails body draw a line a cm in. Then
in this gap draw a convex curve. Cut along this curve.
Slip the front edge of the sails body into the luff tube then using
the sticky tape stick the body to the tube so that the bodies front
curve follows the rear straight side of the luff tube. This should
make profile of the paper sail camber.
Tape over the top of the luff tube and slip the straw inside. push the
straw right in as if you were adding downhaul to a mast then tape it
to retain the tension.
The sail is now complete. hold up in the air and let drop at a quite a
steep angle. The sail should fly across the room until it eventually
slows down enough that it stalls it may then dive to pick up more
speed etc..
(The sails flys upside down for some reason not the usual way up.)
There are many variations to this standard sail. A couple of the more
important ones are to add a third strip in between the luff tube and
the body which allows you to give the sail a better crafted camber.
Also you can adjust the front edge of the body and the rear of the
luff tube to give the sail a looser leach etc.. ie flat = |
curve =( =\
|( = standard.
)( = thick camber
| |
| \ = loose leach
|)
|\ = really loose leach
You can really experiment with your sails using this technique and
see how they fly. i.e. add wider luff tubes, thinner masts,
stiffer/finer paper, cutaways, fatter and thinner cambers.
Peter Watkinson
http;//www.w3w.com/