Giant Rubber-Band Plane

Links to plans for rubber band powered plane - store.projectair.co.uk/produc... ... More below!
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DISCLAIMER: This video is purely for entertainment value. Personal use of video content is at your own risk. Recreations of experiments, activities and projects are the sole legal responsibility of the person(s) involved in replicating them. I can not be liable for any information or misinformation, wrongful use, damage to personal property, death or any circumstances that result from replication of any projects seen. Be safe!

[@TheDodgyEngineer]

You could vary the run times of each rubber band to create a sort of staging for each motor. For example, if the central motors had a duration of a few seconds, they would dump a lot of energy at the start, from which the plane could then coast, running off lower output from the other (longer duration) motors. Kind of like how rollercoasters often add all their energy in one go at the start of the ride! Excellent video as always!

[@stephenhudgins6457]

Love the staging idea! Can't wait to see whether it's incorporated!

[@DiyEcoProjects]

Hi Dodgy Engineer (lol cool name) was thinking something similar. Motors firing off in pairs

[@bsimpson6204]

But he said it didn't have enough power to climb with all engines running (so only just flying really) and props not running are a massive drag and dead weight. Longer rubber motors are the way to get longer flights and maybe over winding...

[@sperzieb00n]

gives me an idea, what if he could vary the stretch lengths with a servo, maybe that could be a simple way to have some control over thrust without too much loss due to friction. or even better, use another elastic band to keep tension on the twisted one while it is unwinding!

[@bobmvideos]

All too heaving and overly complicated. The key is to build it light. Use a longer motors and bigger rubber cross sections does essentially the same thing.

[@richardsweet5068]

As a 77 year old I well remember rubber powered planes, I also remember my dad telling me about lubricating the rubber with BANANA OIL ! yes there is or at least was such a thing. I tried it and it as I remember worked really well. I suppose it lowers the internal friction between the bands.

[@Captain_Yodelstein]

I used baby powder on mine.

[@gryfandjane]

I used to use green dish soap. But I’m sure banana oil smelled better. ;-)

[@BogHopperFPV]

Or silicone

[@kenpickett9317]

Glycerine is best. It reduces the friction between the strands of rubber allowing them to slide over each other. You’ll get more winds on too. Keeping the rubber cool will give better performance also. Leaving it in the sun to get warm reduces its performance.

[@superdupergrover9857]

Just don't use mineral oil or cooking oil of any kind. they will soften and weaken natural rubber. Castor oil is fine, though. It is chemically different than most plant oils.

[@slartibartfast2649]

It always brightens my day when James uploads.

[@CoOkIEs998]

ikr

[@Project-Air]

☺️☺️

[@theanomynusguy]

same

[@redlineracer2752]

Especially after a long day!

[@luscious823]

​@@whitemonk369 he is flying it at a field I'm pretty sure it's not his house

[@nWestie]

If you really want to get into the weeds of rubber power, have a look at what some of the indoor free-flight people are doing. Not everything they do would carry over, but a couple things from when I built rubber planes in high school: - lubricating your rubber bands somehow is important, find something that doesn't damage the rubber though. It lets you wind it up much more before they start breaking. - pre-stretch your rubber bands: I would always cut them to ~1.5 times the length of the mounting points, and then before I start winding, pull the rubber bands back until they're stretched to ~3x their unstretched length. This lets you get a lot more winds/flight time, at some reduction in instantaneous power. Really excited to see you continue working on this project! best of luck

[@patgarner]

Super satisfying, well done! I used to build little rubber band powered planes from kits when I was a kid and this is the best possible evolution of that I could have imagined!

[@Project-Air]

That's cool! Yes same here!

[@cancelledby1998]

@@Project-Air a r s e n a l b I r d

[@annputnam9302]

Good comment ❤🎉🎉😊

[@Nerdforge]

Fantastic video 👏

[@txma.]

hello other diy youtuber i love watching

[@Project-Air]

Thanks guys!

[@abinayasriabi4821]

@@Project-Air vjr

[@user-ud4dq6th2x]

You are the best ​@@Project-Air

[@user-ux9sh8oi3k]

​@@Project-Airso what your saying is that all I need to do is say FANTASTIC VIDEO and I,ll get a reply?

[@larrybud]

Somehow I got down the rabbit hole on YT and watching all these model airplane videos. I used to fly 30 years ago, and I noticed that foamboard and hot glue is a very popular manufacturing method. Surprising. Hot glue seems REALLY heavy vs CA glue and foam board is heavier than balsa/tissue.

[@zogworth]

The upside is it's really really fast in comparison.

[@larrybud]

@@zogworth for sure initial build time is quicker, but if you're doing repair after repair, might not be as efficient as it first seems.

[@bobdobalina5552]

7:05 ProjectAir: we didn't have a helper on this day for the wooden chucks Cameraman: Ummm, maybe I can help Camera tripod: Sorry, this is my day off. I'm not holding the camera for you 😂

[@CNCKitchen]

Awesome work! You really make me want to build one myself and join the challenge.

[@Experimentalhobbyist]

Do it! Try doing a 3D printed rubber powered airplane.

[@DogeMultiverse]

Wow cnc kitchen! Let's gooo

[@Project-Air]

That would be great to see Stefan! I think you should!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Very cool! I'd forgotten playing with rubber band plane kits when I was a kid.

[@hobbespremium8762]

This KZbin channel is the embodiment of because I can

[@markusmacdonald5647]

Rather than twisting the elastic bands around, it may be more effecient for the elastics to pull and use linkages to get the pull to a rotational motion. However, I dont know how the extra weight would affect its flight time. Nonetheless, cool project-keep the work up!

[@server642]

The elastics could be wrapped around a small drum on, or via a simple gear reduction to, the prop shafts and anchored to a point somewhere beside the drum. Fairly lightweight and directly translates the linear stretch into rotational motion. I think this would be neat because a person can vary the tension that gets wound onto the drum with each turn, too!

[@cayenne7792]

every conceivable design has been tried and tested over and over nothing is more effective and efficient than this design

[@viasevenvai]

the twisting is pulling it.

[@MangeSoderling]

@@cayenne7792 true but my 600mm single F1B prop would destroy those puny little things

[@sufysprojects2689]

Cool video! A couple of thoughts : -Depron is waterproof, you may consider using it in the future (but it's expensive -using thinner foamay lead to a lower all up weight and therefore more performance, at the department store I've found a very thin type of foam that it very brittle used to insulate floors, but laminating it with some packing tape solves it.

[@bry29bry]

Minimize friction! Add bearings or save weight with bushings and graphite lubricant. Love this project! Great video as always!

[@nithikasandinu9034]

long awaited video🙂

[@Idk_________]

Finally another airplane video, ngl it's pretty good 👏👏

[@twist6124]

Have you thought about stretching the bands, rather than twisting them? You could connect it up to a 3D printed gearbox, getting more power and runtime with only a single prop. You might be able to use much stronger bands, and also have a faster reset time between flights.

[@properprinting]

This was a pleasure to watch. Also, nice work on the kits, they look very thought out and professional!

[@afwalker1921]

There is a fine line between genius and madness... then again, some things are just crazy!

[@braedenfischer6018]

as an engineering student thankyou for the website! always need more CAD files and interesting designs!

[@bknesheim]

A standard trick to increase the runtime taken from rubber driven boats is to make one of the connection point flex so that the tension in the rubber band stay more constant.

[@spencerbrady2425]

That’s genius

[@bayernbahn1549]

Great project! Great how it flies! Because of the world record, my idea would be that you take the double number of propells with engines, but when starting only half activated and the other half only when the other engines are empty.

[@FarmerFpv]

Lol, I thought I was dreaming. Turns out it's real. I love the NASA hat. So sick!

[@benamadmi1459]

Perfect example of never ever giveup🎉👏👏

[@wideyxyz2271]

Brilliant. Great work. I love to see how you work through problems. Great British engineering is alive and well. I also love that Tom Stanton is one of your supporters. Keep it going and smash that record! Maybe if your viewers have some similar projects you could have a "Fly off " day and smash some records between you ? The Great British Rubber Band Fly-Athon! TGBRBFAT.....

[@plaetzchen86]

Could you do a staged approach? So like 4 engines start immediately and 4 to increase endurance?

[@codenerd7823]

Bring back the old memories

[@tubois2025]

This is the best time to log on ! James upload!!!

[@JohnTelford1]

This reminded me of The Great Egg Race (BBC Two TV show in the 1980s). The original challenge was to make a wheeled contraption powered by a standard rubber band to transport a hens egg as far as possible. From memory, the key to great distances was using a fusee to even-out the release of energy from the rubber band.

[@littlehills739]

fusee to even-out the release of energy from the rubber band more info if you could please :)

[@JohnTelford1]

@@littlehills739 When a watch spring is tightly wound, or a rubber band is tightly stretched (or twisted), they want to release a lot of energy in a short time at the start. Mechanically, this is because the exert a bigger force when tightly wound, compared to later when they are partly unwound. The fusee is like a kind of continuously variable gearing that slows down the release of energy at the start, and then make the release of energy easier (through mechanical advantage) later on.

[@littlehills739]

@@JohnTelford1 fusee in clock making nice thank you for helping

[@runforitman]

those virtual kits look really cool definitely gonna see what you have

[@RCPlanesAndTravels]

This system with 4 servos is great idea!!!

[@whoever6458]

Always remember that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, therefore all unmanned aircraft landings are good landings. I think this project is awesome!

[@MikeStallone]

Had to watch this again man. Your storytelling is really impressive and keeps me engaged throughout the whole video

[@Roadrunner_official]

I guess you could say it wasn't *plane!*

[@JoelCreates]

Rubber band airplanes were a childhood favorite, I liked the prop release system

[@Project-Air]

Thanks Joel

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@Project-Air Have you thought of part two with a catapult launch? Use surgical tubing.

[@BlaqHawk24]

"prevaricating" new word of the day!

[@Physicus9]

"I didn't have a helper" Immediately looks at the camera/cameraman and laughs

[@bz938]

Well they weren't very helpful

[@RazShifrin]

Brilliant!!! Come on guys let's smash that like button and comment on this video, if we support this brilliant creator, he will have the financials and freedom to create more epic content for us..win win:)

[@thomaslincoln401]

It shouldn't be too hard to add pushher motors to the nacelles too. Also maybe consider thrust lines and a staged motor release. (Could have initial motors set for climb, and others for sustainment.)

[@Mike-oz4cv]

Staged motors would only help if he has excess thrust/power.

[@CapTheNPC2]

8:48 That flight was absolutely BEAUTIFUL

[@Hondanissanman]

An absolutely brilliant experiment with rubber power NICE 1👌.

[@gryfandjane]

Fascinating stuff, James! As a flight-mad kid in the 1960s, I went through a pretty fair batch of rubber-powered balsa aircraft, which no doubt planted the seed for my later RC activities. There’s a lot of enjoyment in extracting maximum performance from minimal equipment. And yeah, when I saw the thumbnail for this vid, my first question was, “How is he going to release all those motors at once?” Nice solution! Now you can attack the issue shared with EVs… maximum range with minimum charge time. ;-) Cheers as always from Missouri, USA.

[@julianlauterfeld6273]

Thank you for making the Website with the plans 😊 now I have a good project to build with my little brothers 😁

[@Project-Air]

That’s awesome to hear! I hope you have fun with it!

[@dbdbgriggs]

I’m a rubber powered freeflight guy, and this is pretty interesting. First though, you’re leaving tons of rubber performance on the table. It appears you are using 1/4” tanII super sport (the good stuff), so from the turns per inch of loop table we get 69, and assuming your loop length is 18” that’s a maximum of over 1200 turns per motor. The torque skyrockets as you near max turns but even winding to 80% you should be safe at around 1000 turns per motor, more than 3x what you said you were using. You might consider fewer motors and bigger props, but the winder you are using won’t handle a cross section much more than you have.

[@MangeSoderling]

He does not seem to have any lubricant either

[@joshyeliezondo3299]

THIS PROJECT IS SOOOO COOOL!!!!!!!

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic work, James!!! 😃 Looking forward to see what you do next! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@BritishBeeMan]

Would 4 much larger slower turning and thus longer running proper be a better option?

[@MangeSoderling]

Yes

[@ToyFreddy.]

Amazing job it looks like the Wright Brothers aeroplane

[@lilithhiddenvillain5086]

That noise from the on board cam sounded great

[@peterjarnes25]

You get 10000 thumbs up on this one buddy! Terrific engineering!

[@volofly2011]

Nicely done! Love your persistence and adaptability. Try, determine result, adjust, try again until you succeed. That's how the Brothers did it. Many of us have continued this engineering method and you are doing well too. Keep up the good work and inspiring others.

[@Juderocks0]

Mark my words, this video will get 10 mil views.

[@Makn121]

DIY is my favorite form of art. That's why I love these your excellent videos. Keep up the good work James👍

[@madeintexas3d442]

You should try counter rotating props for each side. That seems to be a simple mod that might improve stability.

[@drsinfre6028]

Awesome dude!! Im thinking about increase the flying time, so, could that plane flight with only 4 propellers? cause alternating the propeller block when the first 4 run out of energy, release the other 4... Could work? Hugs from Canary Islands!

[@benjaminmiller3620]

Drag from the stationary props could become a problem don't you think? Longer elastics would help, but the ways he runs them currently, he would have to add longer spars, which adds more weight. I wonder how much a tiny 90° bevel gear at each prop would weigh? It would let him run a much longer elastic under the wing, and if it's a torque reduction, he could beef them up as well, and get longer runtime that way too.

[@mrsmith4662]

Great project. I can't believe the record is only about 30 seconds. A bit of inovation and I'm sure that Project Air can win it.

[@willjhcave]

It made a lovely sound when all props were spinning

[@Project-Air]

It did!

[@youkilledtony]

Really cool! How come you're not using a single servo for pin release? I imagine you could have one servo for the pins, and use two more for control surfaces (rudder and elevators, or even elevons) for a total of three servos, to add some control and potentially increase fight time.

[@Project-Air]

Check out my new Project Air kits here! store.projectair.co.uk

[@StrikeEagIe]

Oh hell yeah i’ve been waiting for this

[@veyrenwolf6530]

hell yeah! this sounds really cool (also maybe pin the comment? :) )

[@niclash]

GutFeeling(tm) says that pulling (rather than rotational) tension is more energy efficient, and can easy add more stored energy into the system.

[@corbinschuster2664]

Awesome video, well done!

[@Alan_Hans__]

Link returns to this video :(

[@TechsScience]

Excellent video 👏

[@timtaylor1365]

The key is the rubber band tension... you're on to something with making your own but can you make them stronger? Congratulations on your great achievements.

[@RpattoYT]

Had a random thought about rubber band planes. Could you try attaching a band to an adjustable rail or screw shaft, geared up to the rotation of the prop and use the rotation to stretch the band as it unwinds? The purpose of this would be to increase the efficiently at which the planes uses the stored energy, perhaps extracting a little more than it otherwise would and maybe increasing the time a loft.

[@sperzieb00n]

a much lighter way to do that would be to use a second elastic band set up to just provide linear tension, or even an alternative setup of the rubber band, where the loop forms a triangle with one point on the prop and 2 on the body, so winding also makes use of linear tension.

[@MangeSoderling]

@@sperzieb00n or have a longer single band it is more efficient

[@Solve_sphere_technologies]

I love rubber band plans, but could you make a plane that is powered with cpu fans plzzz

[@alwayscensored6871]

Peter Shirol? Has made one. Made man carrying EV plane too.

[@Solve_sphere_technologies]

@@alwayscensored6871 Project air could make better version of it

[@mtranchi]

You forgot to add the recommended video at the end :)

[@bob2859]

Can't wait to see V2! Hoping to see a fusee or some other clever solution.

[@scott_forgot9875]

I love the way it sounds.

[@doverivermedia3937]

Your vids always put a big grin on my face. Love em. Reminds me of Sunday morning meet ups on the weaver Hills where we used to slope soar our sljngsby capstans. Happy days ... 🇬🇧

[@paperplanestutorial]

Amazing design. Thank you

[@madixj]

7:44 Is it just me, or does this sound exactly like breaking something in a lego game 😂

[@calebmcguire7968]

I thought this was Peter but I wasn't disappointed.

[@KlingbergWingMkII]

Two words - Rubber Lube - all rubber powered flyers use it for their models

[@ConsPopov]

Tom Scott sent us here! Nice one!

[@appalingbehaviour]

Sounds like a spitfire!

[@Rfernandes.]

Something I've noticed is that, bigger props with lower rpms are usually more efficient... instead of moving a bit of ar at a high speed, moving a bigger mass at lower speed should increase the runtime...

[@-mystic-93]

Yes, you have to balance it with the kind of rubber you have, though. Thickness/linear density, length, and quality all play a big roll. The condition's this rubber were being subjected to were not the best, no o-ring, no lubrication, and poor weather. What you are describing if perfect for F1D where it can take thousands of winds, but those planes are build for only the most controlled environments.

[@portlyoldman]

Hurrah. James again 😁😁

[@air-headedaviator1805]

This was actually quite impressive! I wouldn’t have expected such a flight from a rubber powered bird

[@b9y]

It actually sound like an old prop plane because of the rubber hitting the struts. Amazing!

[@P3chcic]

I personally want more videos on the RC car

[@tealruby582]

Met you in SF at a hostel 6 or so months back, and now you're in my recommended feed! Congrats on the huge success of this video.

[@appa609]

Actuator disk theory: You'll get much better efficiency driving one big propeller than many small ones.

[@briandavis577]

Soaking the rubber bands in castor oil helps out a lot. It improves their durability considerably.

[@masboyrc]

Awesome project, really nice 👍

[@henrywood5462]

YES!!!!! We need to build a rubber band powered boat in class so I’m just gonna take that rubber band power system

[@DonkeyBomB666]

The prize is the Guinness World record! Awesome video

[@engineeredlifeform]

Brings back memories of making Keil Craft rubber powered model aircraft with my dad, we made a Piper Comanche, a Piper Grasshopper, and of course, a Spitfire.

[@tonywright8294]

Never heard of Keil craft . It’s Keil Kraft.

[@ruffriki3264]

u look like one of them wright brothers throwing that plane

[@MegaMike7]

Challenge accepted. I think I’m going to revisit the micro thin indoor planes that use the thin plastic wrap for the wing coverings.

[@Mumbamumba]

I see a bright future for rubber band powered aviation.

[@andymuzzo8568]

Awesome work. It looks wild

[@Alexander_Sannikov]

this is definitely not the largest plane because in our aircraft modelling club back in 90's we had standard schematics for rubberband planes of approximately that size. the trick to storing more energy is definitely not using more rubberband engines, it's using much longer and much thicker rubberband threads. we used to have a glass fiber pole as a frame with length of about 2m and about 0.5cm^2 rubberband. another important thing is to make the prop foldable (backwards) so that once the plane reaches its height it folds and does not produce extra resistance. the engine works for about half a minute and its glide time depends on your skill and where you launch it, but it's on the magnitude of minutes.

Congratulation!!! This is fantastic!

[@peterwatkinson4656]

Brilliant, it reminds me of Howard Hughes' 'Spruce Goose' !

[@EpicParanormics]

Red Bull does this but in a glider form 😂 and a human runs and jumps and hangs on it’s neat to watch when your bored

[@pams.307]

Fantastic video

[@pinoyrcmaker72]

That is awesome build

[@jackwoodhead]

7:31 the burst of laughter haha

[@mjproebstle]

top plane design and flight! propellors that fold back would reduce drag at the end of the flight, and might lead to a more smooth landing. cheers!

[@Swaggyswisscheez]

what the heil. I was literally just searching for this kind of video yesterday. This is amazing!!!

[@UwU-Saggittarius19-19]

Imagine flying a rubber band airplane across the entire asian continent that would be awesome!

[@klassisch3039]

This dude needs more subs!! Love your videos!

[@shawntoadally]

I love the sound it makes