Foam Kite
This model was just for fun but it shows the material which is minicel
Thoughts on human-powered flapping flight.
I incorporate my experiments into my everyday life. I carry little wings with me everywhere I go and swing them around with the natural motion of my body to see how they work in the air.
The only thing that is better than Home Depot for sparking ideas is a forest. Try swinging leaves and branches and feathers around in the air.
A flying goose looks like the shoulders of a flying person.
The 4 winged dinosaur makes me think that birds might have started off as full bodied creatures and only lost their leg wings once they began to soar.
Leg wings might be fused into a tail.
Otto Leilenthall's gliders make you think that something must have gone wrong in between Leilenthall's flights and the Wright Brothers -- the engine, I guess.
My theory is that Wilbur Wright knew that wing-warping would lead toward smaller and more flexible wings and eventually to human powered flight, but he died before he could steer things that way.
If it wasn't for ailerions there wouldn't have been world wars.
Wing warping is basically "undulation" which is the way fish swim through water and animals run on land. I'm not sure how the Wrights got a patent on it but it's funny that they only made a little bit of money off it because they could have sued everybody for walking.
Corkscrew wingtips.
Adaptive wings should be made out of one material. Two materials will eventually separate from one another.
Instead of screws and bolts use knots.
Vary shape and density, to go between rigid and bendy.
Try holding everyday objects with you as you go on long walks. The repetitive motion of your body always reveals something interesting about the object.
Fruits and vegetables are chiral and have gyroscopic qualities that depend on their springyness.
EVERYTHING is a materials problem.
Incrementally varry the qualities of materials. .
links:
http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/people/kazuho/link-e.htm
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Birdish_20Flying_20Suit
http://www.geocities.com/humanpoweredplane/contactus.htm
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=flapping+flight+biomechanics+aviation
http://www.ihpva.org/
http://www.acp-composites.com/ACP-CAT.HTM
