Create another design: plane

[schuderer]

Rubberband-powerd, most parts probably simple and fixed (e.g. simple flat-profile wings).

Material? Normal poplar plywood, but very thin (1-2mm)? Afraid that it will behave more a projectile with fins instead of a plane. :) Balsawood is very expensive, and foamed/lightweight plastic sheets are usually styrene-based and therefore poisonous when lasercut.

It might be possible to have kids stick paper or something on the wings to make them lighter, cf. here: https://www.lasercutplanes.com/product-category/indoor-kits/ They are writing about very light HDPE foil, not sure there. What I know from my youth is this papery material: https://www.modelairplanenews.com/covering-wings-fabric/ Plastic wrap can be used too, apparently: fix it with glue stick and then heat-shrinked, done: https://www.instructables.com/Airplane-Covering-With-Plastic-Wrap/

It is important that all possible configurations/slider positions give results that can fly. The only difference between them should be how far or how fast they fly.
This makes it kind of difficult to make e.g. elevator attack angles configurable. If the wrong angle is selected and cannot be changed after lasercutting, the whole thing won't fly right. So how to make it possible to tweak angles of attack etc. after laser cutting? Should it be possible?

Also wondering about whether it's possible to make it more fancy (e.g. grid-cut a wing profile in this lasercut-bendable style). Bit this would probably cause extreme air resistance. On the other hand, golf balls are a thing. So who knows. If it looks simple to do, let's try it.

Propeller could be difficult/impossible to purely laser-cut. Moulding wooden props is a thing (you'd need a jig). Maybe 3d printing (possibly with that foamy stuff)? Maybe we can also create props using vacuum forming.

See also:

• https://www.lasercutplanes.com/product-category/plane_kits/
• https://www.lasercutplanes.com/product/5-farad-capacitor-power-system/ (if rubber feels too "low-tech"/we want to scale difficulty)
• https://easybuiltmodels.com/ff.htm#gsc.tab=0