[seanohue]

This is something I have wanted to do for the longest time but have never had the opportunity to do so. I want to build one for this thing called senior project where my school lets us out for 2 weeks in may to do something. The guidelines are so wide its almost difficult to think of things. The main thing is the project must take about 50 hrs to complete (25 hrs a week). Well, in the shower today I thought about making one of these. They should take at least a week to build and I bet I can get my parents to put up the money for them. So if you have built one of these before, share how long it took and about how much money you spent. I really wanted to build a jet engine aircraft (F-16 would be sweet

) but I don't know how much that would cost.

 

[trains are bad]

If you've never flown anything, you are going to want something more tame than a jet if you don't want to see it explode into balsa shards 5 seconds into a flight. You should probably start at something like an ugly stik or PT40.

I think my PT60 (first plane) took at least a couple/few weeks. One thing I would caution is to remember that you are bulding an airplane and not a speaker or a bridge...even excess glue adds weight!

Nowadays I build fairly sporty electrics out of surplus election signs at about $0 a piece. I fly them hard and crash them harder.

 

[vagarach]

Oh yes, I have! I built a SIG Kadet Mark II from a builder's kit (sticks and sheets and that's it).

The approximate build time is 60-80 hours for a beginner. I've been told I'm a perfectionist and I am exceedingly careful, so along with school and other things, from date of purchase to build complete took 4 months, working only on weekends for 11-12 hours a day. 2 months to build the frame up, and covering took another 2, which for covering is not a normal time. I also opted for the more complicated and difficult construction methods given in certain parts of the plans to achieve a more rounded and neat look, so you can shave time by skipping parts like this. The Kadet is also a serious old-school trainer plane, slightly harder to fly but is more capable than the current de-facto trainers. A picture of my plane:

and I think you can see why covering took so long, I had to first design the patterns, then make them, then cut out the pattern from the covering material, then iron it on while making sure the surface was perfectly smooth and bubble free, in addition to making sure the multiple colours didn't overlap too much at the seams.

Here's a little look at the costs:

$120 for the plane, $240 for a 4 channel hi-tech radio with servos and receiver, $160 for a 0.4 cu.in. Webra racing engine (too much power for a trainer, but it can be used on the inevitable second or third plane you absolutely *must* have for no reason

), $60 for three coloured rolls of covering, and I'd say $300 for miscellaneous (a veritable TON) items, such as propellers, push rod linkages, exacto knives, blades, cyanoacrilate, aliphatic resin, wheels, nose cone, rubber bands, and the list does not end.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy it, for I truly did.

[edit] On the jets, forget it. Your parents will probably laugh at the price, which is near the $10000 mark. These are reserved for those who truly know what they are doing. Highly explosive fuel, 7-10 channel radios, digital servos in redundant numbers, exotic construction materials, and so on. Everyone wants one, but it takes dedication and skill to get one in the air. This hobby is also a money pit

. Total I would say that I've spent would be close to $2000 CAD, which is serious money. You can do it on the cheap if your plane isn't to fly and just to build and sit pretty.

 

[pne]

I've never built a model plane, but if you are looking for something to simulate a jet engine there are electric models which use duct fans.

 

[seanohue]

thats not too bad, and I think I can definitely make this work as a project. Where is a good place to buy all this stuff? I like that design vagarach, where can I find it? I was also looking at some WWII replica planes, like this corsair http://www.towerhobbies.com/products...opa0101_n.html would that be difficult to fly?

 

[trains are bad]

Tower Hobby is a good place to buy online.

And yes, that corsair will be too much to handle unless you are just very gifted, fast learning, and lucky. I know nobody wants to hear it; everybody wants to build a replica plane thier first time. Buy a trainer.

 

[mrarroyo]

This post brought back memories over 30 years old. The glue going everywhere, your finger tips looking funny do to all the glue stuck to them, my mother upset for the mess I had left on the kitchen table (even though I put plenty of newspapers below). So after several days when you take your pride and joy you crash it on the first 15 seconds

Back home to repair and try again next weekend. At the end of the day a lot of fun.

 

[seanohue]

So then what would be something to look for in a stable plane? Something with a large wingspan and I imagine a larger plane would also be easier to control right?

 

[vagarach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanohue thats not too bad, and I think I can definitely make this work as a project. Where is a good place to buy all this stuff? I like that design vagarach, where can I find it? I was also looking at some WWII replica planes, like this corsair http://www.towerhobbies.com/products...opa0101_n.html would that be difficult to fly?

Like I said, I designed that design from scratch, with a drawing board and french curves, and the papers are all packed away in some box

. A WWII plane will eat you for breakfast, as they are finicky and not entirely stable--blink and it's buried 3ft. in the ground. Just getting one off the ground in one piece will take a year or so of practice. That corsair? fuggedaboudit. Tail wheel = nose over on take off. You are correct, a nice wingspan and a good size plane will make things easier.

The PT40, and the Kadet LT-40 (a more modern kadet) are both good. Almost every plane on this pagehttp://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0093p?&C=AAB will suit your needs excellently. It is imperative that you realise your current flying abilities, even a trainer on the first 3-4 flights will be a handful. 5 minutes feels like 15. There are two brilliant forums with the nicest people (second only to head-fi

) around: www.rcuniverse.com and www.rcgroups.com, and they will be glad to answer even the most stupid or simple questions you may have as to the details. The best place however is your local hobby shop. Prices will be 10% higher, but the advice you'll get for free is worth far more than that, so support your LHS if at all possible. Of course you can keep asking here too!

 

[Samgotit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanohue I was also looking at some WWII replica planes, like this corsair http://www.towerhobbies.com/products...opa0101_n.html would that be difficult to fly?

Aesthetically, that is one of the most beautiful machines ever built.

My dream is to restore one and strafe Starbucks.

 

[Ingo]

Oh... Both of my grandfathers were heavily into R/C planes. I used to go to the AMPS airstrip with one of them when I was a young kid. I flew my grandpas trainer with a buddy-cord to an experienced pilot several times. I was pretty talented with it. The guy even let me fly his super-chipmonk a few times. The only thing I never did was land. My other grandpa has a R/C flight sim on his PC. I'm so good on that thing... wooo eeee!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samgotit Aesthetically, that is one of the most beautiful machines ever built. My dream is to restore one and strafe Starbucks.

That's sooooo weird. That's my dream TOO!

No, but seriously, I laughed aloud... and I'm all by myself... it was pretty funny.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

You can make miniature RC jet aircraft, but miniature jets are extremely expensive. Think a thousand or so for one jet.

EDIT: Here are the microjets
http://www.microjeteng.com/products.html

 

[JahJahBinks]

I saw a video of someone who spent $60000 on a model plane, 20 seconds after take off it crashed.

 

[Born2bwire]

Nowadays I build the planes just for the sake of building. I haven't flown any planes in probably two years. I like doing the Guillow's kits myself. They're cheap and fun to do. If you just want to build for a project, get one of the Guillow's kits. Specifically, one of the kits that are in the $30 range. They go as cheap as $5, but the lower end ones are die cut and on the $5 kits you even have to cut out the formers by hand. The last kit I bought was a SE5a and that was laser cut. You don't need as much building materials and tools as you would for a full blown R/C plane and the stuff that you do buy you can use on an R/C kit (minus the dope).

One thing though, either an R/C kit or one of the free-flight kits, get a good work surface going. What I did was I got a board of 1/2" sheathing at the hardware store and covered it with an inch of cork and installed some folding legs onto it. So that gave me a self-healing working surface that I could build a 60" wing on that I could put pins in or cut up.