How to Make the StratoScout Paper Airplane

Fast, long range and aerodynamic, the StratoScout is a drone cruiser paper airplane designed as a successor to the popular Super SkyScout.

The StratoScout originated in the wake of the success of the sleek, aerodynamic Cirrus family. Following the success of the Cirrus series, I decided to experiment with mating its minimalist fuselage design with alternate wing planforms; included in these tests was the wing design of the Super SkyScout--which had proven to be one of my best drone cruisers to date. The tests showed that the Cirrus fuselage and Super SkyScout wing combination proved exceptional and that mating the two resulted in an aircraft that combined good glide handling with good speed characteristics. Thus, the StratoScout was created. The design passed through its further flight tests with little difficulty and was quickly approved for publication.

TAA USAF Designation: D419-1

Required:
1 Piece of 8 by 10.5 inch graph paper

Scissors

Ruler

Tape

Pencil

Stapler

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--13 full boxes apart (allow for a further box back behind the airframe). Use a ruler to make a straight line with the length of 13 boxes directly up 1 row of boxes from the two marks you just made. Then make the stabilizers, spars and counterweight as shown.

After the fuselage is made, take another sheet of paper that is folded in half along the lines of boxes. Mark out the wing as shown (2 boxes of chord at the root, by 5 boxes in width, with a leading edge sweep of 1 box of chord eliminated every 2 boxes away from the fuselage root and a trailing edge sweep of 1 box of chord every 5 boxes from the root). Then cut the wing out.

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

Note: 1 box = 0.25 inches

Cut out your fuselage and fold its counterweights into place. Cut along the solid lines and cut off the left fin at the bisected solid line as shown. Once this is done, fold along the vertical dotted line then fold the airplane in half along the center crease once again. Fold the spars down along the dotted horizontal lines then tape where indicated.

After the taping is done, cut the rear fuselage away below the diagonal line. Fold the horizontal stabilizers down then apply one staple in the area of the counterweight as noted in the photograph.

Cut out your StratoScout's wings and lay them beneath the fuselage. Apply tape where designated to secure them to the fuselage. Apply tape to the LERX joint where noted. This will complete your StratoScout.

The StratoScout flies quickly and much like a dart (albeit with better gliding capabilities); origami aviators with experience with similar aircraft like the Super SkyScout and AeroScout should have a relatively easy transition to the StratoScout.

Launches should be done at neutral or positive attitudes at moderate to high speeds. Test flights should be conducted to see what trim (if any) is required. Additional applicable surfaces include ailerons, elevators, flaps and a trimmable rudder. Enjoy!