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How To Build an RC Airplane
First, read the manual very carefully! (Oh, really?) I'm joking of course. I saw one guide starting this way. This is a dumb way to start a guide. First, I'm not going to talk about building an RC airplane from ARF kit at all.
I'll talk about building from scratch.
Doing this you can create any kind of design you wish. No restrictions. Of course this guide is not going to be specific, but I'll provide links to few of those that contain the specifics you need.
Let's Start With Design
Chances are you already have an idea what kind of RC airplane you want to build. Otherwise choosing the design is the first thing you want to do. If you are very advanced hobbyist you may even design your RC aircraft yourself. But perhaps a very advanced hobbyist wouldn't be reading this guide. So your better option is to find existing design and I recommend it to be simple.
Here are some places where you can find free and relatively easy to build plans:
There is also another route: you can choose an existing RC airplane from any web store and then search plans for it on Google or your favorite search engine. Many of the good models have their names well known and plans for them can be found easily. Sometimes the plans will not be free, but won't be expensive for sure.
Sizing and Budgeting
No kidding, you do need to plan your budget. The bigger and more complex your RC airplane is going to be, the more money you are going to need. Even when building yourself "from scratch" it's easy to cross the $100 mark. When downloading plans you may find some hints about the building cost at the websites offering the plans. If there are none, perhaps you can search for this model being sold as ready-to-fly kit and get some idea about the cost.
Here are also some ideas about how much RC airplanes can cost and how you can save some cash.
Choose the right size at the beginning as well. Do you want it big, small or medium? Don't hesitate to scale the plans if they are not in the size you wish. Some basic math will do the work, although there is an easier way to do it - you can place the plans in a vector drawing software like CorewDraw or InkScape (free) and scale it there. Then you'll be able to measure all the parts without the need to re-calculate the sizes yourself. Be careful to import the drawing in real size from the beginning.
You may even build really big RC aircraft if you can afford it and can do it.
Materials You Need
While the ready RC airplanes are often build from plastic or balsa wood, you don't need to use the same materials. Many of the hobbyists build the fuselage and wings from foam. Foam from used food packages will sometimes do the work. The large RC airplanes which need to be stronger can be made of composite materials like fibreglass or carbon.
Of course you need also an engine which most probably you are not going to build yourself. Electronics and radio system are another thing too.
If you want your airplane to look really good (I know you do), you will need also some kind of finishing and covering. You can cover it with plastic film such like monokote. Another great idea is to cover the aircraft with pre-painted fabric.
This article goes into much greater details about the materials.
Building The Body
When talking about foam airplanes I really meant it. Look at this wonderful instructable which will show you how exactly you can make one. As you can see the fuselage (the body of the airplane) can be really simple.
Some will prefer to build a body which looks more like a real airplane's fuselage and possibly holds the gears inside. Such ones better be built from balsa or other more durable material. It's unlikely that you'll be able to make a curved surface so just join the different "walls" and leave the edges like shown in this video.
Here you can buy
Obviously for more detailed instructions you should look at the plans you downloaded. If you don't have plans you'll have to use your imagination but try it on paper first before wasting more expensive material.
The Engine and Electronics
Unless you are a skilled engineer you are just going to buy the engine. You can choose from electric powered and gas powered engines. The gas powered engines can be 2-stroker and 4-stroke just like the car engines.
Here is a great guide on RC powering if you want to know more.
The electronics normally consist of a transmitter, a receiver, a speed controller, a batery or an ESC. Perhaps this guide explains the things best (I wish their pictures weren't missing).
Of course there are many little things, tricks and secrets you can learn but I suggest you go ahead and try building your first simple RC without reading everything you can find. The real learning will come by doing and you can always search for specific information on specific problems.
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User comments:
mohd salah at Feb, 11 '11 11:07
thank you but i need a simple idea about making RC plane . i am from Egypt and here believe me we don't have too much facilities to do this awesome work . all what i have motors like in children small cars and vans .
sorry for my bad english
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Bhagya at Mar, 10 '11 13:16
same here :(
I'm from SL
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