seanb

i was wondering if anyone had a program that could help me. i just started in rc aircraft and have recently finished a Goldberg Tiger 2. the weather is not cooperating with me learning to fly, so i wanted to start bulding a miniture version of the Tiger 2. i have been scanning the full size plans into my computer -i was thinking i would resize the plans to exactly half there original size print out the sections and tape them together. this process is a bit crude and quite time consuming. does anyone have any suggestions?

Deadstik

My Feedback: (8)

Sean,

Kinko's is your friend. Just take the plans in to them and tell them you want a 50% (or whatever size you want) copy. They will take the full size and make your sized copy for you. If you want to pay extra they will scan the plan in and give you a digital copy so you can take it home and print out any size Tiger you want using a program such as Bipe's excellent Tileprint.

Hope this helps,

Deadstik.....[8D]

rrragmanliam

My Feedback: (1)

I'll second the tileprint option. Get the plan digitised. Get the tile print program, And you can scale it to any size you want. And you will have a program that you will use many times.


Darren

BMatthews

Kinkos is one way around the problem if you REALLY need the whole plan reduced. But since you already have the plan for reference you only really need the parts of the plan that are needed for building the smaller version over and for cutting out parts. For that a simple reduction capable photo copier will work. For example the wing can be printed on just one strip of pages and if you can use 8.5 x 14 legal size in the photocopier you'll only need 3 of them joined end to end. That's one sub plan. The fuselage can be one more strip of 2 or 3 pages and the tail feathers on one each. Parts can be reduced on a number of separate ones that don't need any joining at all. This is how you would want to do it anyway. Photocopiers pretty much always introduce a little distortion of some form and by minimizing the number of joints you can get pretty good results.

Now for another issue. 1/2 size is going to give you a 30.5 inch span and only 170 sq inches. With any of the 049's to 061's that's going to be a real hotrod of a model. You'd be far better off scaling to 0.6 for a span of 36.6. That would give you a wing area of 245 which is still a sporty but not crazy size of model. If you're thinking trainer speeds still then I'd suggest a 40 inch/60inch size ratio for a 40 inch span and area if 296 sq inches. With the Norvel 061 that would be a nice size that would do some stunts at full throttle and full control throws yet it would also slow down nicely for training and landings. Either the 061 or the new AME or Norvel 049's or the older Cox engines will work fine in the 36 inch size. The Norvel option has the advantage of coming with a throttle unless you're lucky enough to find one of the Cox engines with the throttle sleeve on it.

To get the best out of this size of model you're going to want to get a second airborne radio flightpack that uses smaller servos and battery pack then the stuff in the big Tiger. The 36 inch and 40 inch Tiger Cub options will both fly better if the weight can be kept to 16 to 18 oz for the 36 and 19 to 22 for the 40 incher. With the 1/2A stuff it's not really the size that matters within reason but the overall weight the engine has to lift. Then again for pleasent trainer like performance a low wing loading really helps. The lighter it is the more aerobatic as well for later when you increase the control throws. The servos and stuff do not need to be the super small new parkflyer stuff. Mid size servos like the Hitec HS81 or the slightly smaller HS55 or HS60 will work fine. In fact for this size model and depending on the speeds the truly micro stuff may not have the torque needed for the workload. Lots of us here use the 81's with excellent results. They are tough enough to handle a bit of rough handling and survive crashing better, are only slightly heavier than the lighter suitable alternatives and yet are WAY lighter and smaller than the standard size options. For a battery pack either 200 to 270 mah nicads or 400mah NiMH packs are light, compact yet let you get in a good 6 to 8 flights during a day.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

If you don't want to drive across town to KINKOS, or take the time to get set up for computer assisted drafting, there is a simpler way that dates back to the pyramids. Break the basic shape of the plane in question down to it's basic components, and then decide on what you are going to use for either a multiplier or a divider to convert the original to your resized drawing. For example, the photo of the bipe that I'm building showed the wing at roughly 8" of span. I wanted a span of 24", so all I had to do was apply a multiplier of three to all the dimensions that were in the photo. Using graph paper with 1/4"x 1/4" squares is helpful if you don't trust your eyes for what looks about right. The GOLDBERG TIGER is an excellent choice to do this exercise with too!

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I was thinking of doing the tiger instead of the 4 star for the contest ,,I may bug you for a copy of those myself,,I just yesterday went to Office Depot and did the copy and tape together thing for 60% of the 4 star, took like a 1/2 hour to do now I have them all taped together and have to go make copies of that so I can cut out parts....I can make copies if anyone in the Crew thats coming to the meet wants one let me know.....Rog

seanb

well good news-my girlfriend has a nice Mac computer (G5) she has able to show me how to resize. i am a pc guy so that Mac gives me a hard time. anyway i have scaled it down to exactly 50% of the original and it is printing as we speak off the other computer. i have already picked up the wood and some tracing paper for templates. just got to put the plan together and start tracing templates. as for the wing ribs i have to scan the actual sheet that the original ribs came from and go through the same process.(i didnt know why i was saving all those wood scraps, but i am glad i did because some of the parts are not on the plan and would have been difficult to reproduce). anyway i will probably start a new thread in the next couple of days that keeps up with the project. i think this will be fun!

Andrew

Bruce and CP --

Nicely done -- great advice from both of you.

If you have access to Excel or another of the spreadsheet programs and a little experience, you can enter the basic dimensions of your original plane -- fuse length, width, height, rudder dimensions, stab dimension, etc. , then by changing your multiplier and using a simple relative formula, you can easily look at multiple configurations with a couple of keystrokes.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Well, you're light years ahead of me ANDREW! I'm at the stage of computereze comprehension and ability where I can only be amazed by guys like you who can just push a few a buttons and do your kind of magic!
I think SEANBs' choice of projects is good, because the TIGER is a great looking plane that is made up from very simple lines. I'm partial to GOLDBERG styling.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Bruce was right with the size problem %50 is too small...even the electric parkflyer tiger is 39 inches wingspan, I looked it up at Tower and that it %65 of full size..Rog

seanb

yes it will be rather small and i can make the wingspan a tad wider, but if a heilcopter the size of a finch can fly-well an airplane with a 30 inch span can fly but yes it will probably have to be electric guys let me just say that i am brand new to rc planes and i could use any suggestions. i also want to say that the 50% plans are ready. i have already built the horizontal stabilizer and cut the fusalage sides. i dont know much about rc planes and absolutly nothing about small scale planes(what does 1/2A mean anyhow?) what i do know is that i can replicate this plane at 50% and i can do it well. if i have to i can add an inch or two to each side of the wing but other than that i am committed to 50% my question is this--can it fly? (there have got to be smaller rc planes out there) will it have to be electric or will say a cox .010 work? any help would be more than welcome and will post pictures of my progress tomorrow evening. i love a challenging project!