Pizza box gliders

I hate to admit it, but I'm poor. Poor in money, but rich in ideas and ingenuity. The next series of posts will be about boost/rocket gliders made with a minimal budget. A lot of the parts and pieces will be made from corrugated cardboard, hence the name "pizza box gliders". Some of these will be my own design, some will be reworks of other folk's designs. I'll try to give credit where I can. Speaking of credit - my buddy Mike is a manager at the local Pizza Shuttle, where I've gotten a *limited* amount of clean, unused boxes. The logos and printing will probably show up on some builds.

What I have planned so far:
Stiletto-C
Flat Cat
Dog Chew
Hawk (maybe...)

Sounds awesome!

The first glider is based on George Gassaway's Stiletto-C. Right now it's just in hand-launched configuration because I haven't decided whether to go with a boost glider design or a rocket glider design. The wing span is 19 1/2" and the main boom length is 24" (basswood). The green stuff on the nose is modeling clay from where I trimmed it to be a H-L glider. Corrugated cardboard has "tunnels" through it which give it directional strength, much like wood. It also means there are voids that need to be covered on areas like leading edges (note difference between le of wing and tail surfaces). I took care of this with a narrow strip of craft paper from a shopping bag. Other areas, like above and below dihedral joint, need a bit of reinforcement - again, craft paper.

You've got my full attention

While I do not have a friend in the pizza business, I do have a 6 inch thick stack of new 27x27 cardboard.

I'll be taking notes!

Here's the page to George's plan for the Stilleto-C. It's a slide-wing, but that's not how I made it. Plus mine is upscaled slightly.

https://georgesrockets.com/GRP/CONTEST/Plans-C/RG/Stiletto-C.gif

You know, that might actually be from the Xebec glider on George's web page. I just went to the "plans" directory of my rocket stuff and stopped at the first one of George's gliders I found when I was first writing this up. The wing planforms are very similar except that the Xebec is not a "slider".

For some reason, I couldn't properly edit the above post...

Some of the guys that do Coroplast RC models with flat wings add carbon shapes inside the flutes for strength.

Just in case you have not already thought of it, a cheap package of bamboo skewers would supply spars that can be slipped inside the cardboard fluting and help reinforce the corrugated cardboard in the same way, especially if you have wrinkled a wing and damaged the structural integrity of the corrugations.

I was given some interesting scrap shapes of Coroplast left over from a friends project and will likely create a fairly indestructible, if slightly heavy RC rocket glider from them one of these days.

I'm waiting...patiently

OK, here we go. The first glider will be the Flat Cat. I got the plans from JimZ's web site.

Raw materials



Parts cut out



Need craft paper to reinforce joints



Someone's a real joker... (but the boxes were free...)



Next, the wings get glued together, the main body spar gets shaped, and the stab/rudders are glued together.

Wing reinforcement glued on, wings set to proper dihedral.



When this joint was dry, I glued on the top reinforcement.

Next came the stab/rudders. Glued on the reinforcing strips, added rudders.



When the glue dried, I trimmed excess paper. These joints are surprisingly stiff. I don't think I'll add reinforcements to the inside of the joints.



Cut and shaped main body spar, laminated "cheek" pieces. Ready to put it all together.

Two programming notes:

I'm going to have to wait a bit to do final trimming. I do a temporary trim with clay, then weigh the clay and glue an equavalent amount of lead wire on (solid-core solder). I don't have working scales right now, so final trim will have to wait.

I think the next build will be an Estes "Firefly" upscale. It's a parasitic glider kit they sold without a booster. I've built these in all sorts of sizes with all sorts of materials; from tiny, using card stock and bamboo skewers, to huge using foam board.

tab28682 said:

Some of the guys that do Coroplast RC models with flat wings add carbon shapes inside the flutes for strength.

Click to expand...

I saw a "$10 RC Plane" about 15 years ago, made from Corpolast. The wings were a 12" (or so) wide piece, creased and folded over, then glued along open edge. When the glue had set, the layers were spread apart and a yardstick on edge was stuck in. Tail surfaces were slabs of Corpolast. Body was a piece of rectangular plastic down spout. It flew amazingly well. I wonder if a rocket glider could be made in a similar manner/materials.

sooner.boomer said:

....I've built these in all sorts of sizes with all sorts of materials; from tiny, using card stock and bamboo skewers, to huge using foam board.

Click to expand...

I would cast my vote for huge, but maybe I'd better get a few smaller, easier builds under my belt first.

If you could possibly throw in a few dimensions in with your builds, that would be great. But, wait, they're gliders, so technically it's -not- rocket science?! lol

McKailas Dad said:

If you could possibly throw in a few dimensions in with your builds, that would be great. But, wait, they're gliders, so technically it's -not- rocket science?! lol

Click to expand...

Both planes I've built either had the dimensions listed in the posts, or are direct copies from plans mentioned in the post. The dimensions for the Flat Cat spar are a little confusing if you want to make it in one piece, if you have problems let me know. I'll try to include better dimensions in future builds.

Estes Firefly build:

The plans from JimZ's, correct dimensions, on graph paper



redrawn slightly - easier to measure/mark/cut



a Firefly I made using cardboard (mat board) for wings and tail. It is made to the dimensions on the plan (pick one...)



I'll work on the upscale (will depend on how big a wing I can fit onto a pizza box).

sooner.boomer said:

I saw a "$10 RC Plane" about 15 years ago, made from Corpolast. The wings were a 12" (or so) wide piece, creased and folded over, then glued along open edge. When the glue had set, the layers were spread apart and a yardstick on edge was stuck in. Tail surfaces were slabs of Corpolast. Body was a piece of rectangular plastic down spout. It flew amazingly well. I wonder if a rocket glider could be made in a similar manner/materials.

Click to expand...

A friend of mine made a coroplast delta with a forward motor pod which flew well except for the initial pitch forward at take off. He's flown it many times and is almost indestructible.


Richard

TheTellurian said:

A friend of mine made a coroplast delta with a forward motor pod which flew well except for the initial pitch forward at take off. He's flown it many times and is almost indestructible.


Richard

Click to expand...

Thrust line issue has little to do with the building material, although the extra weight of Coroplast does affect the model a bit extra at initial acceleration, before airspeed builds up.

My Coroplast delta will be rear engined with the motor very close to the aerodynamic and mass centerline and ought to boost nice and straight.

(Just thinking out loud. I know you know this stuff, Richard)

No problem Tom. I should have explained that the motor was at the nose and above the delta wing, this offset is what causes the pitch over. Surprisingly it gets to about 400" on a D11. Love to see your coroplast delta design, please post.

sooner.boomer; You should look for 2 mil coroplast as it weighs about the same as medium 1/8 balsa.



Richard

TheTellurian said:

sooner.boomer; You should look for 2 mil coroplast as it weighs about the same as medium 1/8 balsa.



Richard

Click to expand...

Is it free like my pizza boxes?

:surprised: oint:



Richard

sooner.boomer said:

Is it free like my pizza boxes?

Click to expand...

I got your messages, but your mailbox is full...

McKailas Dad said:

I got your messages, but your mailbox is full...

Click to expand...

Fixed it. Out for more pizzas....

The thread is on temporary hold. Seems like almost every computer I've got has some sort of problem. No, not a virus, the problems are all different, and most are hardware. I'll get back to this eventually.

sooner.boomer said:

Estes Firefly build:

The plans from JimZ's, correct dimensions, on graph paper

View attachment 281763

redrawn slightly - easier to measure/mark/cut

View attachment 281764

a Firefly I made using cardboard (mat board) for wings and tail. It is made to the dimensions on the plan (pick one...)

View attachment 281765

I'll work on the upscale (will depend on how big a wing I can fit onto a pizza box).

Click to expand...

Interesting thing about the Firefly -
Those balsa parts were the same used in the Mini Bomarc kit.

hcmbanjo said:

Interesting thing about the Firefly -
Those balsa parts were the same used in the Mini Bomarc kit.

Click to expand...

Yep. Noticed that when the Firefly came out.

Seems like a clear case of a SPEV kit.

hcmbanjo said:

Interesting thing about the Firefly -
Those balsa parts were the same used in the Mini Bomarc kit.

Click to expand...

I've seen several military rockets with the same wing planform. The main wing is a pentagon - a "chopped square". I'm looking at possible designs with a square wing. Sort of like an F22, with splayed tailfins.

Great thread, quite brilliant. Perfect for those times when you need a fast build on the low. Hope this thread gets revived!

Rktman said:

Great thread, quite brilliant. Perfect for those times when you need a fast build on the low. Hope this thread gets revived!

Click to expand...

I guess it just did.

I dropped the thread last Spring. I pretty much gave up on rocketry for a while. I can build, but have nowhere to fly. Other health problems this year have really shut down almost all my hobbies and "fun" activities. To complicate matters, my friend that was a manager at the local pizza shop quit. I now have to buy a pizza to get a box (I know, a high price to pay...maybe I should take up a collection).

sooner.boomer said:

I dropped the thread last Spring. I pretty much gave up on rocketry for a while. I can build, but have nowhere to fly. Other health problems this year have really shut down almost all my hobbies and "fun" activities. To complicate matters, my friend that was a manager at the local pizza shop quit. I now have to buy a pizza to get a box (I know, a high price to pay...maybe I should take up a collection).

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the health problems, that sucks. Hope things get better. I have a 400+ mile round trip to get to the launch site for our club so I know how you feel about the lack of flying space. If you need any help emptying those pizza boxes I'm your man--I'm pretty much addicted to the stuff. In place of pizza boxes, coroplast might be a good substitute that ppl might want to consider--the dumpsters are full of coroplast signs after an election.