Hey, everybody can You tell me the pros and cons of using balsa wood and foam board, not the cardboard stuff. Tell me what you guys would prefer. If you guys have tried foam board can you post pics?

For what? Electrics? I've flown with both foam and balsa. The balsa planes that I've flown are very light but also very fragile. The foam board planes have a bit of resilience to them.

I prefer neither because, as I said, I fly both. Now, I did buy several EPP Foam boards to play around with. This stuff is pretty tough, but flexible and requires some strengthening to keep rigid. But, carbon rods do the trick for that.

I think that most pilots will say the same thing.. that they probably don't have a specific preference, and it all depends on the type of flying they plan on doing.

CGr.

Hey CG, where did you get your EPP foam?

Gene.. I bought it on line about two years ago or so. I don't recall where, but I can certainly look on the box when I get home and let you know.

CGr.

Iaggre with CGR. Neither is necessarilly better. Both have their place and advantages for certain types of structures. For a little electric flat foamie them foam board is the obvious winner. For a .60 size, scale airplane then balsa and plywood or would be the better choices. It really depends on what you are building to determine what material is the best choice.

With the foam board, what type of glue do you use? Hot glue? Super glue?

You have to be careful with glue and foam. There is Foam Safe CA which works great, but you can also use Epoxy. Either one works ok, but make sure if you CA you get the foam-safe stuff. (CA = Cyanoacrylate = Superglue)


CGr.

Oh, and a few things i've learnt from dealing with foam is get scrap then see if your paint or glue melts it. Safest way!

Gene.. I got the EPP foam from:

RCFoam
4975-3G Clark Howell Highway
Atlanta,GA 30349

The invoice states: 9mm White Depron

www.rcfoam.com

My mistake, it's not EPP but Depron. Very good stuff. When they sent it, it included some sample sheets of some other Depron.

Hope this works for ya.

CGr.

What type of planes have you built with the foam board?

I have not built anything from it. I bought it with all the best intentions, but have not had a lot of time to dedicate to "scratch building" a foamie. But, I have all this 9mm Depron that really needs to be put to use. So, I plan on building something with it. What, I don't know. But, if you have seen my thread on the Baby Trouble Maker, you will see that I also have several electric motors/esc's that need a home.

Shining examples of a product that is begging for a project. Hey.. if you have any ideas, other than sending you the sheets... I am open to suggestions.

CGr.

Have you ever heard of the website "buildafoamie.com" some of the creations are interesting. I was thinking about trying one out.

No I have not. But, that sounds like a place I would like to check out. I'll look over there tomorrow. Thanks for the head's up.

CGr.

No problem, if you turn out to actually build one keep me posted. I'd love to see how you build one

There may or may not be some build threads on the watt flyer forum? A number of the guys I fly with have been building there own foamies, everything from deltas to 3-D profiles. It isn't hard to do. My own electrics are old 1/2A kits I have found and just used the electric motors. One of them is an old kit {no longer made} called the Baby Turkey that uses a foam core wing with a balsa LE and TE and balsa caps glued to the foam as wing ribs. Very cool little plane. I have it finished except for the covering. I haven't decided what type of covering to use at this point.

Cool, post some pics when your finished.

I'll disagree with CGR...

I'll take Balsa over foam any day.

I can take a plane that is almost totally destroyed and put it back together in better than new shape, with only a bit of work, and the balsa supply materials an LHS has in stock. Once done, it is almost impossible to tell the plane was ever damaged.

A foamy on the other hand looks rather ragged after a few flights and damage takes it's toll in short order.

The skills you learn working with Balsa, serve you for many types of planes.

Foams cheaper than balsa wood right? Isnt it lighter too?

Well, Opjose, my Brio 10 came apart in so many splinters, I could not figure out the front from the rear except for the covering. It hit the tree limbs then the ground and that was that. I've crunched in a few foam built planes and had hardly any damage.. a little tape or foam safe CA and that was that.

I gotta admit, though, that Brio 10 did fly very nicely, and much better than the foamies, but different, and I'm sure you understand what I mean by different. The Brio 10 was a true pattern plane, but much smaller and lighter than a 2 meter glow/gas plane but flew very similarly.

CGr.

Yeah I still have my Brio 10. The landing gear area required a rebuild, just to keep it from coming apart.

However that's more of a fault/problem with the plane's design than with the materials used.

Notice how SHORT of a lifespan the Brio had?

I've also lost THREE Reactor 3D EP's with exactly the same problem... the wings folded at the fuse because of the REALLY LOUSY wing mounting system.
There is no CF or aluminum rod strengthening the wings on the Reactor 3D EP's!!!


Four weeks ago week I rebuilt my GP Big Stik .60. I crashed it ( on purpose! ) during a combat session in a club fun fly contest.
After 10 minutes of purposely trying to crash 12 planes into each other, no one could hit another plane! Finally the organizers asked me to try to "hit" a plane as it was landing.... it worked... but it also wrecked my Stik.

Crushed wing, completely broken fuse, ripped off gear, tail completely broken off. motor mount broken out.

I had picked up the pieces... ( I won another plane in that contest... too ) after the crash.

I figured I'd just buy a new airframe, but for yuks I removed the covering on the broken wing areas and all of the fuse.

Hmmm... ok, let's see if this goes back together... a few hours later mostly spent waiting for the epoxy to dry I had the plane rebuilt...
A bit of covering later... and it looks better than new... and has a bit of additional re-inforcement... I've since flown it again many times.

You can't tell it's ever been in a crash... and I did NOT have to buy ANYTHING from Great Planes or Tower to fix the plane... I just used Balsa scrap I had, and spare covering rolls and trim... I didn't match the original color exactly, but via some judicious patch application, the different shades look like they were put there purposely.


The first repairs I did looked horrible compared to what I've since learned ( largely thanks to these forums! )...

Foamies NEVER come out looking as good, unless you do something very drastic such as glassing them... which turns them into completely different material airframes.


Mr. N.

No. Balsa + hardwood is effectively cheaper and lighter.

With foam you must re-inforce the structures via various means to keep the plane from breaking apart. This adds to the costs and weights.

That is why my Typhoon 2 foamy is so relatively heavy ( with out it's battery pack ) compared to say my similiarly sized Balsa Reactor 3D EP.
The latter is about HALF the weight WITH motor and battery!

You can pick up Ply and balsa at any craft store too.

All too many novices are put off by trying to work with Balsa & Ply thinking that Foamies are easier to deal with vis-a-vis damage.

With a sander, and a few minor shop tools you can make almost any part anew out of ply/balsa... you can't do the same for foam.

I've taught a couple of people how to repair some of their plane's damage, and it's made them converts too.


Next up, I have to learn how to deal with Composits!

Ok so i think ill go with balsa for larger models and foam for smaller models

DEPENDS,
I usually go for the cheapest material but weight ALWAYS maters. Recently I have been making electric planes from de-papered $1.00 Handi Board from the dollar store.
The weight reduction is near 50% with the paper off. This has been a common practice with the "Lecky" scratch builders for some time. If its not actually 3mm or 4mm Depron its a very close second! Its the white foam paper covered poster board.

Just get it wet, spray with a common household cleaner,rewet if any dry areas visable, bag in a tash bag for a few hours or overnight and the paper peels right off.
It is very close to the same thickness as fan fold but is a nice solid white that is easy to color with felt tip pens. Cuts very nicely with a fresh exacto blade.

Balsa has a better compression performance than foam but foam can be MUCH less expensive.

Also keep in mind that most balsa breaks fit back together easily. This makes getting a good glue joint easier.
And if it is reglued straight it will be stronger than before it was broken.

Hi Mr. N,

Are you talking about the 1/4" thick Foam Board that has paper glued on both sides, the kind that is sold in Artist's supply stores ?

If so, I used it along with, and in place of Balsa Wood back in the 1970s & 1980s when good Balsa was in short supply. I built a WW II Twin Engine Fockwulf T.A. 154. The German equivalent of the British Mosquito. Two Webra .61 Speed engines for power. Foam Board was used mainly for the frame work and formers of the Fuselage. 1/8 Scale, 80" Span from the Harold Osborne Plans. Model shown is not mine, but this is what it looked like when finished. FW TA 154

Regards,
Ken AMA 1528

Thats pretty cool, would you mind posting some pics? would you mind telling me more about the plane, and how you built it?