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My second scratch built balsawood plane. This is actually a slope glider, but I made it as an electric glider. Excellent flyer.
Link to plans: https://aerofred.com/details.php?image_id=96129
Well, there is not much to say about this, I was waiting for weather to calm down a little.
Finally, sun came out and I have prepared to record maiden flight.
It was a windy day, but this model can manage that.
I had great help from friend of mine who flies mini quad racers, and he recorded great video by chasing me in the air.
Scratch build RC airplane tutorial - Part 3 - Paint
I thought that Part 3 will be maiden flight, but weather in Croatia didn't allow me to go at the field and make one.
So I have decided to do a simple paint job on this model.
Maiden flight will come very soon since it is recorded yesterday , and I need some time to put it all together.
First, let's do the canopy. Cut canopy from template and transfer it to any type of self adhesive covering you gave. I had blue one that fits just nice. Make sure that you cut mirrored canopy for the right side the other side
Let's continue by marking parts that will be painted with masking tape.
I have decided that I will paint only leading edges of the wing, wingtips and vertical stabilizer tip.
The best result you can achieve is by using paint roller.
Paint used is water based red paint. You can use any water based paint for making your airplane look nice.
You will need 2 layers of paint. Since this is water based paint, it dries pretty quick. Second layer can be applied after 30 minutes.
30 minutes after putting second layer of paint, remove the masking tape and your model is ready to dominate the sky.
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First, sand the control surface edges to 45 degrees, both ailerons and elevators.
If you don't like sanding, you can do that with sharp hobby knife.
Do the same 45 degree bevel on wing where control surfaces hinge. Sand the leading edge of the wing to round.
Now, you need to make a groove in the wing for wing spar.
Grove can be made with dremmel rotary tool or just by cutting the V shaped groove with your hobby knife.
For wing spar best to use is carbon tube 4-5 mm diameter. If you can't find that, you can also use balsa square rod, or purchase plastic arrow at hunting and fishing shop and cut to size.
Mix some 5 minute epoxy glue and fill the groove with it.
And finally put the spar in the groove.
Be sure that wing is on flat surface, use some wax paper to cover it and put flat weight on the wing. I use books, but you can use anything you like.
Finally, when glue cures after 30 minutes, add transparent packing tape over wing spar.
Time to hinge control surfaces. I use tape hinges because they are cheapest solution, and hold very well. Be sure to put tape on both sides of control surfaces. In the next picture you can see how it should be done, and second picture shows final result on elevators.
Continue on assembling main fuselage. first glue those 2 longer doublers to fuselage intake sides and then glue in the fuselage sides itself.
You can use UhuPor glue or hot glue.
Prepare the hatch, glue hatch doublers from inside, but be careful not to put glue on part where hatch closes.
Continue with rest of the fuselage parts. Don't glue the bottom fuselage with hatch yet. We will need to install electronics before that. before closing
I have prepared motor mount from 3mm plywood. Mark motor holes and drill 1mm holes. Add a drop of CA on those holes. I use self tapering screws to fix the motor to motor mount.
Next is fixing the motor to the motor mount and gluing it to the fuselage with 5 min epoxy glue.
I use some scrap balsa pieces to reinforce the motor mount with fuselage.
While glue cures, prepare the servos. Be sure to center servos first and then mount servo horns.
After that, mark openings in fuselage for servos, cut them out and glue them in with hot glue.
Most boring part is (for me) connecting control surfaces to servos.
Use carbon rods, steel rods, anything you have, I use rods from old umbrella. Make Z-bends with pliers for servos, and use stoppers on horns for ailerons and elevator. This will take a lot of time, and final result is shown on following pictures.
After you finish that up, power on the servos and your radio, and center all control surfaces.
Now it's time to put that last fuselage piece with hatch on and glue it.
Only thing left is vertical stabilizer. on this model it's rather big, so I use 2 techniques for gluing it. First, I glue it with UhuPor, and second, I put some hot glue to it's sides as seen on the picture.
Finally, add packing tape to the leading edges of the wing and those wing tips, since they have tendency to break during landings in grass.
Final part is to glue U shaped intake at the front of the fuselage.
You can then sand all what you think still needs sanding, and you are ready to fly.
Full video of building this model is available here:
First, you have to decide which airplane you will build.
There are a lot of plans available on https://rcflug.ch/plans/ but since this is beginners guide, I have decided to build most simple plane, F-16 from Tomhe.
Plans can be downloaded from this LINK.
Plan is in PDF format, my suggestion is that you download full version, not tiled one, tiling will be made through Adobe reader during printin.
All you have to do is select "Print", select your printer, click on "Poster" and check "Cut marks".
When printed, prepare a hobby knife, metal ruler and some tape. You have to cut all printed papers where marked with Cut marks, and after that, connect all tiled papers into one big template.
It is now time to cut all the parts out of template. this takes some time, be patient and cut everything precisely.
When you cut all the parts, it is time to transfer them to depron boars.
For this airplane, you will need 2 sheets of depron or similar materilal, 6 mm thick and they usually come in size of 1000 mm x 500 mm.
You will notice that wing part is too big for one sheet of depron. So just cut it in half that it fits the size of depron, use some tape to fix template to depron, and pencil to draw around template.
Later, you will glue those 2 parts together.
This takes some time, mind that your knife should be always sharp, otherwise this foam board will be hard to precisely cut.
And finally, when you cut all the pieces, you can test fit everything, just to check that you don't miss something.
I have recorded all steps in this video, next video and blog post are coming soon.
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