How To’s

Here’s a quick little project that will go a long way toward keeping your latest aircraft looking good, whether you are finishing up the latest ARF or swapping a servo in a model you have built from a kit or plans.

For those people who are new to the hobby, the simplest things can cause a great deal of confusion. I have recently noticed that a lot of newcomers are baffled by the assortment of pushrod connectors available. So in an attempt to fill this void, I've put together this little article in hopes of shedding some light on the subject.

As I approach my 50th birthday and reflect on the 35-plus years I have been flying RC models, I have decided to make things a little easier for myself. Somewhere around my fifth year in the hobby, I acquired a field box. In it, I stored just about everything I needed to fly my glow-powered aircraft fuel, starter motor, 12V battery, tools, spare props, glow plugs, etc. It was not light, even for a young man! As I became more involved with electric flight but still flew glow models, things got more complicated. I had to take even more things to the field: chargers, flight batteries, etc. The field box got heavier; I actually had two! When I kicked the fossilfuel habit, things were easier for a time. Assuming that I always used my car battery as a source for my charger power at the field, the flight box was significantly lighter when I exclusively flew E-power.

Most modelers consider the Dremel tool to be a must-have accessory for the workshop. They use them for any number of routine tasks, from trimming music wire to sanding, drilling, grinding and shaping. Many modelers I have talked to don’t ask their Dremels for much more than that though, and this is a shame.

This engine test stand was featured in the December 2010 issue of Fly RC magazine. It was designed for glow and gas engines of all sizes and can be quickly made out of 3/4 plywood cut to shape on a table saw. It is designed with replaceable mounting plates that double up the firewall to ensure maximum stability and long term flexibility.

  Enter your model’s wing area and weight below to calculate the wing loading and wing cube loading.   Wing Area: sq.in. Weight: oz. Wing Loading: oz./sq.ft. Wing Cube Loading:   Typical WCL Values for Models Slow flyers …

These simple foam floats are very easy to make in an evening and are suitable for many lightweight park flyer type models. Their design is based loosely on work done by Chuck Cunningham many years ago, and have proven quite successful on the Electrifly FlyLite that I reviewed, and recently revisited, in Fly RC.

Here are many variables that can be adjusted when configuring an electric power system, and the choices are growing given the avalanche of new motors and batteries coming to market.

Once I finish building an airplane, I immediately build a stand for it. Why? Because such a stand stabilizes the fuselage and makes it easy to attach the wing, or connect the servo wires, etc., and it also protects the plane from your workbench. Whenever you set a fuselage down anywhere, you invite problems. When the fuselage lies inverted, the fin and rudder, the canopy and cowl and the glow plug are stressed as you jiggle the plane around while you prepare it for flight. An inexpensive, easy-to-make PVC pipe stand eliminates the chance of your having these problems.

Every now and then, I hear a little voice that commands me to do things. My little voice came up with a winner recently. I had a Multiplex Acromaster kit waiting to be assembled. I noted that the fuselage and wings are actually made in a clamshell fashion with hollows inside to save weight. Furthermore, the Elapor foam glows very nicely when illuminated from within.

In the January 2008 issue, we looked at a quick and easy way tomake a balsa cowl. Now let’s build a set of wheel pants.Beyond the basic satisfaction of crafting airplane parts out of rawmaterials with your own hands, there are two main reasons to buildthese parts out of balsa: the obvious reason is that there may not be acommercial product available to suit your needs. This is usually thecase with scratch-built projects and often when building from plans.Also, while kits usually have fiberglass or vacuum-formed plastic components,you might want to dress up a more basic model that didn’tinclude such accessories.

3D A style of flying fixed-wing RC aircraft that involves maneuvers where the plane hovers and flies below its minimum stalling speed, with the plane depending on the power of its motor rather than on lift from its …

The basic construction of typical wooden structures for airplanes is quite simple. The most important concept to consider is the accuracy of the structure. Be it a wing, tail, or fuselage, each piece must be built according to …