Great help needed to build a plane!

[redsonfire]

Hi all!

I'll start with a short intro of myself. I'm so glad to have found this forum with most of you as Singaporeans, it's like a relief. I'm a Singaporean as well, 16 next year.

I have always taken an interest in aviation - but due to my airsickness I hate being in planes! So looking onto Youtube I've seen these videos by Peter Michel and his A380 planes. Very interesting stuff indeed. Especially his big Eithad A380.

So I'll talk more about the help I need. Right now, I know basically nothing about planes, the motors, engines, etc. I don't even know what's ailerons, throttle etc but I'm very keen to learn. I'm a beginner so please forgive me!

However, me and my friend plan on reading up on how to scratchbuild a plane - like what Viper1990 does. We'll write a construction manual out, how do we approach the construction and also what we need to buy etc.

OK, so here goes. My fascination only lies in civilian planes due to their ability to lift so many people off the ground, so I want to scratchbuild a A380 plane during the December holidays next year, after my O levels.

So - how do I start reading everything up? From where? What's the main gist of building a A380 plane? What's the rough cost of building a plane? I actually fancy the material of what Peter Michel uses in his planes, it doesn't look so plastic and it looks like a real plane, just that it's scaled down.

I wonder how the mechanics behind the RC planes and also the real planes work. If anyone is able to help me with a step-by-step guide on how to scratchbuild a A380 plane, that would be greatly appreciated.

My ambitions are very big, but please don't shoot me down, I'm really into this and I really want to make it a good one.

So - if you got any suggestions and tips on how to get started etc - do tell!

Cheers,

Charles.

[Niven]

i wld say to scratch build a airplane will depend alot on ur craftmanship...
if ur that patient and have the talent to do so...
ur 1st or 2nd build wld be very nice alr....
and the cost..... wun be alot... shld be less than 100 for diy hot wire and materials...
but to maiden it and to add electronics... it wld be alot more....
and if u wan to maiden it urself... and u have no experience...
i wld recommend u start scratch-building some planes that take less than half a day to build...
not only it trains u how to fly... it also improve on ur craftmanship....
do let the dh-ians know if u wan to learn how to fly first... maybe they can direct u to learn on simulators or scratch-building some of the simpler plane builds to learn hw to fly and to build first...
there is no short-cut in this hobby...
i tried taking short-cuts... but onli to learn it the hard way... which is to crash.... if u can afford crashing ur a380 in the first 10 seconds u maiden it... by all means do it...
it hurts more to crash something u built urself than to use $$ to buy the kit... so yeah...

[zxyong]

You can scratch build those flat foam planes for training purpose while building your nice and scale A380.

You mentioned that you know nothing about planes. You can start by reading up internet for basic airplane control surfaces, how airplane works etc.

RC planes are fairly close and its like a scale-down version of real planes. Concept is the same. Except it doesn't carry useful stuff, its mostly a fly for fun thing.

Electronics and radio gear wise, you could get a cheap transmitter or lend from your frens if they have it to try flying in simulators first. It will give you a feel of it. Dont buy the electronics parts at all first. Make sure you really wanna get into this hobby before spending alot.

BTW, you wanted to build a static model or a flyable RC plane?

[redsonfire]

I want to fly a flyable RC plane.

What's the point of building a static model when I can just walk into a shop and buy it? Besides it can't fly so it makes not much sense at all.

Yes I've started reading on how airplanes work. Interesting stuff.

I'm just wondering how do you configure your trasmitter since you're scratchbuilding the plane? I'm quite vague on how to start and all.

How do you go about making the scaled down fuselage, wings etc. I also have no idea.

[rockinanko]

I want to fly a flyable RC plane.

What's the point of building a static model when I can just walk into a shop and buy it? Besides it can't fly so it makes not much sense at all.

Yes I've started reading on how airplanes work. Interesting stuff.

I'm just wondering how do you configure your trasmitter since you're scratchbuilding the plane? I'm quite vague on how to start and all.

How do you go about making the scaled down fuselage, wings etc. I also have no idea.

whatz the point of building a static model???

hehe, you'll be surprise how much information on 'how to' you can learn from static building my friend!

no, i'm not saying it's a must to know how to do static before building a flyable one. but the knowledge of using various tools, materials & construction understanding will leap frog you faster in your quest to build your first flyable.

i'm a newbie in RC planes too, only 7 months into the hobby. mind, you know hpow many times i'm 'forced' into rebuilding my crashed foamies!? countless!

i believe if i don't have any modeling static skills of any kind, i might have given up on this long ago after numerous crashes! now i'm not afraid of fixing any crashes, in fact i made the repaired plane even more robust & stronger than it was since new!

you'll know what i mean when you get to fix your first crash... no need touch wood, this is how we all started this hobby, learn how to fix, fix... FIX!

[kaon]

After assembling a FlyFly F86 (1.4m foam EDF plane), I'm sure I don't have the patience, time, skill to try to scratch build like that viper1990 - B787 thread.

If you have never scratch built a plane, and especially if you have never assembled a kit plane, I think it may save you time and stress if you try assembling a kit first.

I don't know if you are trying to save money or just want the challenge of scratch building.
If you are trying to save money, scratch build may not be cheaper esp. when you count the cost of your time. If you want the challenge, then you will get it.

Don't know if Skyhobbies has started yet, but last I heard the 1.5m foam A380 was coming soon.

Needless to say, if you have never flown RC plane before, you need to learn on simulator and cheaper planes before you fly your big scratch-built scale plane.

(I have never scratch built any plane, so you can discount the authority of my suggestions accordingly.)

[Babylon5]

I just heard my friend bought a F18 EDF jet, plug and play for less than 100bucks at LHS.
The electronics include a ESC, EDF and motor plus 4 pre-install servos and a 3s 1800mah LIPO thrown in.
If you buy the electronics alone they would probably add to more than 100 bucks. Virtually the foam F18 is actually free(comes pre-painted) matter of speaking at less than 100 bucks.
With this kind deal I would rather just buy off the shelf rather than spent so much time cutting, sanding the foam materials to built a jet models.

That is just my humble opinion.


Cheers

[redsonfire]

Thanks for your replies everyone - and thanks for your patience with me as well!

Well I've very much rather give the scratchbuild a good go, I'm very free during the holidays next year -so for now I'm rather intent on learning how to build one so I will not waste time finding out how next year.

The pleasure in scratchbuilding is much more as compared to buying it off the shelves. You get a better sense of accomplishment

So my question is: how to you curve the foam into the fuselage, how do you fit all the engines together such that it becomes a RC plane? It's very mind boggling stuff.

Does anyone have a step-by-step guide on scratchbuilding a plane?

[joe yap]

I just heard my friend bought a F18 EDF jet, plug and play for less than 100bucks at LHS.
The electronics include a ESC, EDF and motor plus 4 pre-install servos and a 3s 1800mah LIPO thrown in.
If you buy the electronics alone they would probably add to more than 100 bucks. Virtually the foam F18 is actually free(comes pre-painted) matter of speaking at less than 100 bucks.
With this kind deal I would rather just buy off the shelf rather than spent so much time cutting, sanding the foam materials to built a jet models.

That is just my humble opinion.


Cheers

Yes, but can you buy one of this??? The knowledge and skill to build ANY planes of your desire is PRICELESS..........

[blueangel]

Your goals are quite specific - you wanted to build a passenger A380 jet liner.

So your "engine" is none other than buying 2 or 4 EDF fan units.

With EDF fan unit, you need to build the engine from foam and fit the EDF fan unit into it.

Once you got the idea how to carve the foam to fit the EDF fan, you are probably ready to take care of the fuselage, wings, etc.

Fuselage simply is made hollow so that you can fit in your battery and receiver. It doesn't matter what the inside looks like, as long it can hold the equipment, easy access for you to remove and replace battery.

I guess, a hatch at belly which you can lift off, or on top of fuselage.

However I never carve any foam or build any planes from scratch, but these are the fundamentals you need to take care of before you even started drawing out the blueprints.

There are alot of building threads, but personally, I think they are very difficult to do, for my standard.. Just go simple and try it out.

[kaon]

Does anyone have a step-by-step guide on scratchbuilding a plane?

There is a subforum here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/foamies-scratchbuilt-428/

[Babylon5]

Yes, but can you buy one of this??? The knowledge and skill to build ANY planes of your desire is PRICELESS..........

I believe the plug and play jet models can be extended to any models including the one you have shown. It is just a matter of time. Well, if you can't wait, scratch built by all means. It's your own time anyway ...nothing wrong with that.

What I am trying to make a point is that the price of plug and play RC models are coming down so low that it saves a lot of time and is appealing to a number of buyers who have little or no time to built the models....not forgetting the mess(foam dust, scraps, painting) that could result from such scratch building activities.

Again it is up to individual choices.

Cheers

[redsonfire]

Apparently I just thought about it - 4 engines (the fans on the wings) cost double as compared to 2. As I'm skint being a student, I'll probably scratchbuild a Boeing 777 then.

I'm just wondering, I think I could start now by making the wings/fuselage/vertical stablizer etc. Is it feasible? How do you choose your measurements for your wingspan/fuselage etc - is there a program which you can scale it to whatever you want?

Well, I think it would be better if I could actually start making the fuselage/wings/fin now. Just that I don't fit everything in first. Get the shape and then when next year comes, I'll buy the stuff to fit all in. So basically it'll be more of a 'static model' to be a EDF plane.

I can take my own time as well - so is it a feasible idea?

The next question is, how come could you all make the wings/fin/fuselage so accurately. What is the technique to model them? Can anyone teach me how?

Cheers!

[kaon]

Apparently I just thought about it - 4 engines (the fans on the wings) cost double as compared to 2. As I'm skint being a student, I'll probably scratchbuild a Boeing 777 then.
...
The next question is, how come could you all make the wings/fin/fuselage so accurately. What is the technique to model them? Can anyone teach me how?

Uhh... have you looked at viper's thread on scratch building the 787? Just follow his description lor. I know he had the autocad drawings of 787, so he could make measurements easily.

[joe yap]

I believe the plug and play jet models can be extended to any models including the one you have shown. It is just a matter of time. Well, if you can't wait, scratch built by all means. It's your own time anyway ...nothing wrong with that.

What I am trying to make a point is that the price of plug and play RC models are coming down so low that it saves a lot of time and is appealing to a number of buyers who have little or no time to built the models....not forgetting the mess(foam dust, scraps, painting) that could result from such scratch building activities.

Again it is up to individual choices.

Cheers

Yes, but this is only what your eyes can see on the surface. Take a look at this example.

The Bird of time glider is a 1970s design. Around the year I was born. I'm now already 36 years old, and the ARF version I bought weighs 60+oz. I took the original plans and built one myself, and it weighs only half as much.

I'm not against ARF as I also own some myself. But you should know that, designers usually go around compromising thier original design from plans to kit, by redesigning the construction method for production to save labour cost, which stands a large bulk of the total costs. The end products usually weighs a lot more than the original.

Also, my electric pylon racer, which won the race 2 years ago, is a scratchbuilt, derived from an original design meant for brushed motor setup.

Yes, I agree that it is up to individual. For cases like yours, you are already contented with flying with what the market has to offer. But many people like me, who has endless dream model designs and imagination, and not easily contented with ARFs, will have to use our own skills and knowledge to fulfill our desires.