Whitewings Paper

I recently got a second secondhand copy of THE Paper Airplane Book: The Official Book of The Second Great International Paper Airplane Contest. Aside from containing the plans for several interesting designs, it also contains countless photos of competing models. More importantly, the book really captures the combination of creativity, exuberance, and technical mastery of the participants, and is a joy to read.

Most importantly, my used copy arrived with all three sheets of Whitewings paper intact. An extremely light, strong material, Whitewings Paper is characterized by having a minimal grain, and a remarkable ability to maintain whatever shape it is bent into. Unfortunately, it still seems to be a proprietary product of Dr. Ninomaya's Whitewings line of pre-printed glider kits, and remains unavailable for separate purchase.

Let me preface: Whitewings paper is a joy to work with. It is indeed light, versatile, stiff, and lives up to its reputation.

However...

I carefully cut out the "Phaeton" pattern from one of my sheets of Whitewings paper, folded it up, and watched the craft plop to earth like a stone. I experimented with different flap positions, dihedral angles, and COGs (I even broke the cardinal rule of my design: adding a small tab at the bottom to accomodate a "throwing" launch rather than the traditional "pushing" launch). The Whitewings paper just seems to be too heavy for this design. Plus, models made from traditional 20-weight copy paper seem to move WITH the surrounding air, while the Whitewings model is much stiffer, and seems to force itself into the air.

A possible solution would be to construct a larger version of the craft from several sheets of the paper. There is a definite size-to-weight ratio in the craft's construction that remains to be decoded, and I plan to explore future models made with different materials. However, given the scarcity of it, I will be unable to experiment with Whitewings paper. I have two sheets left, though, and I am looking forward to designing a craft that will take full advantage of the material's advantages.