Prototype:
Strengths – The plane is very light and strong for its size, it can fly a fair distance, around 5 to 6 meters. The joints where the wing connects with the fuselage of the plane are very strong. We used super glue in combination with hot glue to secure the wing onto the main body.
Refinement – One major aspect of the plane that needs refinement is the glue. A lot of the glue is left on the joints, which makes the plane look very poorly made. Another refinement that I would really have liked to make was to cut the wings into the shape of an actual plane. This will help significantly with the aerodynamics of the plane. Furthermore, I would like to have flaps at the end of the main wing so that the plane would have a natural curve on the wing, allowing it to continuously point upward, and not crash head-on into the ground.
Feedbacks:
Ophelia: “Clean up the glue, add propeller, concept is good” – Using this feedback, I will make sure that I don’t put too much glue on the joints of the plane, which will make it look very bad. I will also make sure that the plane has a propeller that can power the plane forward.
Aidan: “This is a dangerous fin – stabilised projectile, however it is a good concept” – Using this feedback, I will have to change the front of the plane so that it is safer. The front of the plane right now holds a magnet to balance the weight in the back, I think that instead of adding too weight in the front, I could instead decrease the weight in the back to balance the plane better.
Summary:
- Figure out a way to add the propeller and to make it actually power the plane through the air.
- Clean up the messy glue at the joints of the plane.
- Make the plane safer for our audience, which includes small kids.
If we had more time available to use we would have figured out a way to lessen the friction of the propeller spinning against the small piece of straw. We would also have cleaned up the messy glue used to attach the wings onto the body. We would also have decreased the weight both in the front and in the back of the plane to make it less dangerous but still balanced.