I want to create a large fleet of planes in my neighborhood. With the pandemic I think outdoor activities with lots of physical distance between people is the way to go. Running around outdoors with a rubber powered plane is good for fitness and good for general well-being. So I need a model plane that flies well, is easy to make, is compact, is robust and has enough charisma to be interesting to a wide audience. I’ll fly it at the park, when people show interest I set them up. If successful I will eventually be able to attend the park and come across people flying rubber band planes. So there’s a summer project.

I came up with the Menace for this. It’s an exercise in minimalism with just four glue joints, 1mm Depron and a 3/8×1/8 inch motor stick. It’s a bit Squirrel-like with winglets and wingspan but it a slightly different purpose and a bunch of differences so I came up with a new name. This adds a solar power option, wing camber, 3D printed motor hanger for rubber power and v-tail.

Stackablility

I went with a v-tail and the winglets are slanted outwards a few degrees. So I can bring lots of them to the park! For the kit version I’m using a traditional fin and stab so it can flat pack. I’m using heat to bend the v-tail. I heat the tail with an impulse sealer and then bend. Another method is a to perforate the tail and then bend and glue.

Power

The Menace runs great on rubber power. With the 1/8″ loop of super sport rubber it climbs above the trees quickly and then glides nice. I’m using a 3D printed motor hangar and a Sig 5.5 inch propeller.

I managed to get a solar power option up and running as well.

I used 5 and 10 Farad capacitors for power storage and a 6mm x 15mm drone motor (replacements I got for my CX-10 toy drone). I held it all together with a little circuit board and switch I made. I 3D printed a little pod so the whole thing snaps together and can just drop in to convert any 3/8 x 1/8 inch stick plane.

For charging I’m using a regulated power supply a solar panel (phone booster as a backup). I’m setting it up to charge off of a pair of AA alkaline batteries so I can hand these things to kids.

I will update this article in the future with the details of how to make the electric version.

Design

This thing is very easy to make from depron and a 3/8×1/8 inch motor stick. You don’t even have to measure really.

The planes in the picture are prototypes. I’ve added new curves for the v-tail and winglets. I will make up some of those when the hand cut ones run out (I made 30). Here how I created the new curves in inkscape.

From there you can either CNC parts or print out templates. The wing is 30cm so you may need to rotate it onto a page.

Here’s a video of the proof of concept I did recently.