calebep

Not sure if this is the place to post this but what is a SPAD airplane, I know what the WWI Spad is, but I've seen where people are refering to their "SPAD Mustang" etc. I am assuming it is a type of construction but saw nothing about it in the glossary....

agexpert

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Something like Simple Plastic Aircraft Design. They are typically built from Coroplast, (corrugated plastic sheets), and gutter pipe.

More info here:

http://www.spadtothebone.com

They have free plans and advice.

Be warned. Although many of them can fly pretty well, if poorly built, they can be very hard to manage and not worth the time you spent building one.

I have not built one yet, but I think it might be fun to try. Everyone needs an 'all-weather' plane.

Enjoy!!

calebep

I thought it was something like that, thanks for the reply

britbrat

The real advantage of SPADs is the toughness & the very low airframe price.

I have several SPADs in my arsenal & I enjoy flying them, but they are very imprecise flying machines. They make lousy primary trainers, but once you can keep all of the balls up in the air they make good advanced trainers, because they have so many built-in bad habits.

They are really great for wildly dangerous flying exercises, rather than for beginners.

elenasgrumpy

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I've never had one, but did get to watch a guy fly one once. It was pretty much as Britbrat described. He was constantly telling me what a terrible flying thing it was as he flew the snot out of it! I was kind of thinking " how can I tell" he was really putting it threw it's paces & looked to be having no problem with it, but like I said he never stopped commenting on how badly it was behaving. He was obviously a very experienced flyer, so I tend to believe it's just like Britbrat said, a great exercise plane for an allready accomplished flyer, but I sure wouldn't want to try to learn how to fly all over again on one![:@]

dwc

I learned to fly on a SPAD Debonair a few years back and I thought it flew great but I didn't have anything to compare it to. Since then I've built at least a dozen other SPADs and I thought they all flew great. Finally a couple years ago I flew my first Balsa planes: a 60 size trainer and an Uproar and I thought they flew great too but to me they didn't fly any differently from the equivalent Spad models so I think I'm going to stick with the Spads because I like how quick they build and how tough they are. Your mileage may vary.
Dan

elenasgrumpy

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I like that.

Globemaster3c17

calebep, there is a forum on here for SPADs. There's also an entire forum only for spads at spadworld.net Check them out, they are a lot of fun.

RhyanO

I respectfully disagree on the statements that SPAD type aircraft are difficult to fly. I have built and flown two of them and, I think that they both flew very well. I think that if a person takes the time to build the airframe correctly and with some care (not just slap it together), then the plane will fly very much like its balsa counterpart.

Ryan

MinnFlyer

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Stupid
Plastic
Aeronautical
Disaster

Just kidding!!!

Actually, a spad is great, especially for learning landings on. They can take a helluva lot of abuse, and takes a lot of the nervousness out of flying low.

elenasgrumpy

My Feedback: (4)

Laughing!!

Fastsky

I built 2 and 1 for a friend that wanted one to use it to learn to fly on. After reading the posts about some of the problems such as elevator and rudder being too small, and aileron flutter, I used one of the the plans of a low wing. Then I measured the elevators and rudders of my larger planes and used the alargest measurement for them. I used balsa and individual servos for the ailerons to prevent the flutter problem. I upped the size to a 66" wing span. Made it a tail dragger but it handled as well as a trike gear because of the length. The plane flew quite well and the wing was very tough. Even floated a fair bit when the engine dead sticked. The thin drain pipe on all 3 planes developed cracks around the landing gear mounting. I wasn't really happy about the looks of the planes though and went back to balsa. I have seen pics of some that look really good but the plans call for different thicknesses of the cor plast which aren't available here. So I am strictly balsa user now. [8D]

RAGII

I personally like SPAD aircraft for improving my skills. I have built several and as long as you take your time, they fly great. What I like about them is the are tough and inexpensive. I found a local sign shop that would sell me 4x8 sheet of Coroplast and Menards carries the light weight drain pipe. For `$20 I can have enough material for 2-3 planes that can usually be built in a matter of a few nights. Because of this I can be more aggressive in my flying w/o thee fear of crashing. I found it helps me greatly improve skills as I can try new things and find myself being more willing to try things that I might otherwise be afraid of. They are not the sexiest planes out there but I feel they can serve a purpose.

Rob

3388sam

I got back into flying after a 9 year break with a SPAD. Flies just great, cheap, almost indestructible (thay really do take a beating and keep on flying) and when I did finally break the fuse, I just got a new piece of PVC drain pipe and I was flying it next weekend.
Now I fly a Goldberg SU26 and TF 1/7 P-51, but bring the SPAD along and combat fly it every weekend- I just can't give it up!
Any time I want to play around with some new maneuvers- Grab the SPAD and try it out on the SPAD before I put one of the others into the ground.

carrellh

If you haven't already found it, here's the link to the RCU SPAD forum
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_178/tt.htm

One of our club members built two SPADs. One is a sport plane and the other is a 3D plane. I don't remember what either was called or where he go the plans. He loves the sport plane and hates the 3D plane. He thinks the wings of the 3D plane are not stiff enough so they twist and flex under strain but he's not absolutely sure. He doesn't know if he made a mistake in the construction or if the plans were not a great design. He eventually pulled out his equipment and trashed the airframe. As mentioned earlier, the airframe only cost a few bucks and some time so he just chalked it up to experience.