Build Your Own RC Model Airplane
Modern construction materials speed build of your own RC plane
Modelers have enjoyed building and flying their own model airplanes since the beginning of the 20th century. Early modelers were limited to the construction materials and methods of the day which produced free flight rubber band powered models built from bamboo, balsa and doped tissue and silk coverings.
Micro film free flight airplane echoes early model construction methods
Model aircraft construction technology and methods advanced over the years which greatly facilitated the process of building your own RC model airplane. In addition to the traditional construction methods using balsa and plywood, modelers today who build their own RC model aircraft can use foam, cyanoacrylate (CA) glues for an almost instant bond, and light weight carbon reinforcement materials.
Today’s generation of affordable and high quality ready to fly RC model aircraft and balsa park flyers provide an attractive option for the busy RC pilot to own and fly a wide variety of aircraft. Having the ability to build your own RC aircraft from plans is a great option to the modeling hobby. The good news is that the skills needed to build your own RC model are easy to acquire. All it takes is a small amount of time and a willingness to learn.
The first step in building your own RC model is constructing a model from a well designed model airplane kit. By well designed, the kit should have a full set of laser cut balsa and plywood parts, as well as a complete set of plans and an illustrated construction manual. I would recommend a trainer type aircraft with a wingspan of around 30 inches or so for your first RC airplane kit, as the smaller micro sized aircraft can be slightly harder to construct for the new modeler.
The Focke Wulff Bremen is a great reason to learn to build your own RC models from an airplane plan
You will quickly find that the building of any RC model airplane follows certain patterns regarding wing, fuselage and tail construction. Some plans, like the profile Robin II, are very easy to construct. After successfully building your own RC airplane from a kit, you can then graduate to building an RC model from a set of construction plans. A super easy model to build from plans is the Chickadee. The 44 inch wingspan Chickadee is not only trouble-free to build from plans, but flies exceptionally well.
Blackburn monoplane in flight
A great aspect of learning how to build your own RC model from airplane plans is the ability to construct and fly a large variety of model aircraft. It takes time and expense to market an RC model airplane kit, let alone a ready to fly model. Thus, you are limited as to the RC model airplanes you can own if you rely on kits and ARFs. Developing the skill to build your own RC models from plans opens an incredibly large world of model RC aircraft to fly.
In addition to the indoor RC model aircraft plans available on this website, to include the free download of the Finch micro RC airplane, Chickadee and the 1912 Blackburn monoplane, there are many additional model aircraft plans available from the various model airplane magazines. For example, Quiet and Electric Flight International magazine has an excellent quality full size pull-out model airplane plan in each monthly issue.
TurboCAD training for RC plane plans made easy
The final step in knowing how to build your own RC aircraft is the option of preparing your own original model airplane design. With the availability of powerful and affordable computer aided design programs such as TurboCAD, the RC model airplane hobbyist has all the tools at their disposal to design and draw plans for an original aircraft. As described here, it is really quite easy to sketch out an original model aircraft design and then draft a set of construction plans. Learn also the technique of using an existing successful design, like the Pietenpol, as a template for another model such as the Fokker D.VIII.
You will find that learning a CAD program can be done if you invest the effort. TurboCAD video training distills the first few years of my work learning TurboCAD to draw RC model plans and will save you hours of study. TurboCAD is very intuitive. Once you get over the initial learning curve, you will be amazed at just how quickly you can prepare original plans to build your own RC aircraft.
TurboCAD allows you to easily modify an existing model airplane design. In a matter of minutes using TurboCAD, I took the 44 inch wingspan Chickadee and drew a 20 inch version, that I renamed the Finch, for the ParkZone line of micro RC equipment. A nice side benefit of knowing how to build your own RC model aircraft is the much shorter period of time needed to construct these smaller indoor RC models. You can build the Finch in a day.
TurboCAD made scaling the 20" wingspan Finch (left) from the 44" wingspan Chickadee (right) a two minute job
In summary, gaining the easily learned skills to build your own RC aircraft will greatly expand the types of models you can fly, as well as your enjoyment of this great hobby.