| Tumble Wing Walkalong Glider Design |
| This design is essentially a paper airplane. It is much easier to build, trim and fly. |
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| Thanks to flyingwingbat1 for this design. It can be made from scrap tissue and does not require the ballast that the walkalong glider does. One note on flying it: when it achieves stable flight it spirals down. I needed to get behind it with my paddle to sustain it. It flies so slow it might be hard to tell which direction it is flying in!
To launch so the tumble wing flies away from you orient the wingtips up and downfold forwards. Although it has a different way of stable flight, the tumble wing has similar handling characteristics as a properly trimmed walkalong glider, but much much slower and steadier. It is a great way to start walkalong gliding. Sustainable flight requires the ability to gain altitude. I found gaining altitude requires the tumble wing to be balanced in the center of the paddle and a higher speed so air is rising faster under the tumble wing. The paddle is centered and rises with the tumblewing. The speed required to gain altitude is faster than the characteristic speed without the paddle as the paddle is pushing the air forwards as well as upwards. Take care the tumble wing does not fall off the top of the paddle into the downwind turbulence behind the paddle. Step by Step building instructions and photos. ScienceToyMaker building instructions Paper airplane book author John Collins describes a different tumblewing design "I've never seen an airplane with tumblewings. How does a tumblewing work?" 45 Second Flight of Tumblewing Made from Tissue Paper Additional Tumblewing Designs Tumblewing Experiment: Paper mass Vs Ground Speed Other Tumblewing ("Tumbler") paper airplane design Back to Walkalong Glider Home Page Copyright Phil Rossoni 10/13/05 |
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| Left: Photo of person flying a tumblewing walkalong glider. Below: animation of tumblewing in flight from sciencetoymaker.org |
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