ornithopters anyone? flapping wings for dummies.. well this dummy

[twistedsteelpony]

Anybody out there built an ornithopter?
I'm interested and I've seen a few rubberband powered kits but I'd like to build from plans
is it possible to control them?

Please post links plans and even just ideas for building a flapping wing aircraft

 

[earthsciteach]

There are RC ornithopters on the market. It might be a tall order to power a controllable one with a rubber band, but if the battery and receiver are small enough, I guess it would be possible.

There's a whole group dedicated to them on RC Groups. http://www.rcgroups.com/ornithopters-101/

 

[510thousandths]

There was a guy that was building them a few years ago that were pretty awesome..Don't know much about him or them other than the builder/designer died (in an accident IIRC) but I have been looking for plans ever since seeing his ornithopter...give me a few minutes and I will find a video...

 

[510thousandths]

Here's the video I remember...

 

[510thousandths]

Oops, sorry twisted, got excited when I saw ornithopter and then saw that you were looking for a rubber powered vehicle...Sorry....didn't mean to hijack the thread.

 

[altbob]

I love the idea of an ornithopter, but all the ones I see have a fairly high wingloading and it seems have to flap pretty hard to stay in the air. What I'd like to see is something with a big wingspan that can actually have a nice glide slope, soar and catch a thermal. That would be very cool....as long as you're building something...