How to Make the Scout Paper Airplane

Smaller than a child's hand, the Scout paper airplane has an impressively small wingspan of only 7.5 centimeters. This plane is different from other similar planes because of its structure, which allows it to perform tighter maneuvers. 


Due to the recent popularity of these small gliders, I decided to design my own. Originally I hadn't incorporated the inverted gull or the parasol wing arrangements, but for stability and aesthetic reasons, I later added both.



TAA USAF Designation: D132-1

Required:
1 Piece of 8 by 10.5 inch graph paper
Tape
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler

First, begin by folding your your graph paper in half (excluding three boxes on the perforated side). Once the paper has been folded appropriately, make two marks--15 full boxes apart. Use a ruler to make a straight line with the length of 15 boxes directly up 1 row of boxes from the two marks you just made.

Then make the elevators, struts and counterweight as shown. Follow the photograph markings. Once all is marked out, cut out the fuselage and wings. 

Solid lines indicate places to cut. Dotted lines indicate fold lines.

Note: 1 box = 0.25 inches

After having cut out all of the fuselage. Begin folding it along the dotted lines. After you've folded all the lines correctly, it should appear as it does in the second picture. 

Now tape your fuselage together at the front, back and across the struts. 

Now you will fold the wing to the appropriate shape. First, take your wing and fold it in half width-wise. Then unfold all but 2 rows of these boxes.

Suspend the wings upside down and install the fuselage. The struts should have 2 entire boxes on the wing section with no anhedral. A small section--roughly a quarter of a box should exist under the anhedral part of the wing.Then, tape the two boxes under the wing to the underside of the wing. Do not tape any other parts of the struts to the wing.

Surprisingly for its size, the Scout is remarkably forgiving and tough. With struts, it is also one of a select few planes on this scale that can perform relatively tough maneuvers. Before flight, make sure the tail has a "butterfly" configuration. Launch should be made at a moderate pace at a neutral or negative attitude. Additional applicable surfaces include flaps, ailerons, and trimmable elevators. Enjoy!