I spent a lot of time searching through many forums and posts before posting here, so please don't yell at me if my question is already out there somewhere:

Does anybody have any experience with designing or building solid balsa sheet profile "foamies"? If someone out there made a kit or ARF, I would be thrilled, but left to my own devices, I have been known to experiment.

Basically, I am tired of my Great Pains and Phase 3 foamies fragging at the slightest hint of a rough touch down, and came up with the notion that I would trace around a Phase 3 Edge 540 profile foamie to make patterns, and then take solid balsa sheet, (or thin lite ply), to duplicate the design in, (possibly covering with Monokote to finish).

My hope is that after strategically drilling lightening holes, wherever possible, that I will come up with a plane that doesn’t weight significantly more than the average profile foamy, but will be a heck of a lot tougher and more durable.

I see lots of guys out there doing built up fuses and wings, so I know that works, but I want to try to come up with something that is quicker to build, light, and durable, which hopefully flies well too.

I see a lot of bigger nitro planes that have flat balsa tail feathers that are drilled for lightness, plenty rigid, and weigh practically nothing after being covered with heat shrink.

Please respond with your thoughts, experiences, pictures, plans, links, etc. I am eager to hear about others with similar wishes.

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to this.

Sincerely,

Sax2ter