Fold Epic Paper Airplanes

Re:Fold Epic Paper Airplanes by baruz on Monday November 09, 2026 @08:43PM (#50435029)

I really enjoyed your designs for the PowerUp flight thing. What kinds of designs adapt best to that “platform”? Do you find that it opens up possibilities that are unviable when used for unpowered flight? Are there any design decisions that you tend to make for the Powerup that you don’t usually make for your unpowered planes?

Thanks!

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Re:Fold Epic Paper Airplanes by FoldableFlight on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @11:20AM (#50442499)

Thanks! There are two primary variables to consider when designing planes for the PowerUp platforms:

1. The chord length of the plane's wings (their length from front to back) needs to be similar to the length of the PowerUp unit, but shorter.

2. The surface area of the plane's wings needs to be great enough that the wings generate sufficient lift to compensate for the added weight of the PowerUp unit. The PowerUp 4.0 (the remote controlled version) generates more thrust than the PowerUp 2.0 and works with more paper airplanes as a result.

It is possible to design planes that work with the PowerUp units, but do not work on their own. That said, my primary interest is in designing paper airplanes that fly without the need for the PowerUp units, so all of my designs fly on their own. The only exception to this rule is Hammerhead — a plane I designed specifically for The PowerUp Paper Airplane Book, which contains 10 planes designed to work with the PowerUp units.

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