Build Your Own RC Airplane from a Kit or Plans
Building your own RC airplane is easy and fun
E-flite 4-Site aerobatic RTF model airplane
Flying radio control airplanes is a hobby enjoyed by model aircraft pilots everywhere. The introduction of affordable ready to fly RC models, whether made from traditional construction materials of balsa and plywood or employing the latest build methods using foam or fiberglass, allow a fresh segment of the aspiring modeler population to join the hobby. This new crop of RC pilots is eager to fly, but the idea to build your own RC airplane, such as the Blackburn, may never have crossed their minds.
SE-5A balsa airplane kit
Until the late 1990s, when the first almost ready to fly and ready to fly RC aircraft started becoming available, modelers had to construct their own RC airplanes to have something to fly. Building a model was really part of the hobby and a foundation of the AMA. Many RC pilots derived as much satisfaction from making their own airplanes as they did from flying their new models. Building skills varied, but one could be certain when attending a model air show or visiting the local RC club airfield that all the airplanes you saw were made by the owners.
What a lot of modelers did not fully realize was that many prospective RC pilots wanted to participate in the hobby, but either did not have the skills needed to build your own RC airplane kit, or perhaps lacked the time or inclination to take up this task. But these potential fellow pilots needed something to fly.
ARF RC model airplane ad from 1998
The RC model industry did not initially see this future market for ready to fly model airplanes, so there were few RTF or ARF aircraft available. Their cost was high, quality varied, and the models did not fly all that well. RC pilots already involved in the hobby, who perhaps had an untimely crash and a lack of time to make a new model, took advantage of these early ready to fly models.
Model airplane technology advanced and prescient business people saw that people were having less and less time to pursue hobbies. Pilots still enjoyed flying their RC models, but there was significantly less time available in the week for them to build your own RC airplanes. The introduction of truly well built, high quality ARF and RTF radio control models coincided perfectly with this “need to fly but no time to build” trend.
All RC pilots today have an RTF model somewhere in their fleet. This is a good thing, as RTF airplanes range from giant scale to micro indoor models. Prices are such that modern ready to fly RC models are completely affordable and can improve your flying skills, as you can now practice flight maneuvers with a far wider variety of aircraft.
Even in a world of ready build RC aircraft, there are still valid reasons for knowing how to build your own RC airplane. There must be a large market before a manufacturer will offer a RTF model. Thus the range in RTF models available for sale is necessarily limited. This is less of a factor with kit aircraft. Once you know how to build your own RC airplane from a kit, not only can you access a wider scope of modeling subjects, but you can modify the basic kit as desired to come up with a personalized version of the aircraft.
1912 Blackburn Type D monoplane fuselage CAD plan
The Blackburn monoplane is easy to build from plans
After you build own an RC airplane from a kit, the next step is to build a model from a set of construction plans. Building from plans is not at all difficult once you can construct a model from a kit. The only extra steps constructing a plan built model involve studying the drawing to come up with a build sequence and a list of materials. You will have to cut out all the wood parts from the plan information. The phrase used to describe this action is “kitting the plan” before the actual model construction begins.
The main advantage of building your own RC airplane from plans is entry into a much wider world of available modeling subjects. Note that photos from a visit to an airplane museum can provide great ideas for your future projects. Plans can be drawn up for far less cost as compared to bringing a RTF or kit RC plane to market. Quality model airplane plans exist from the 1930s, and can be successfully adapted to radio control electric flight. Plans can make unique and one of a kind models easily available to the RC pilot.
The final step is drawing up a set of your own RC plans. And who knows, maybe you can get these plans published some day. It is a lot easier than you think, and it all starts with knowing how to build your own RC airplane.