Hello,

So I am wanting to find a good set of plans to start building a plane. But before I go further, let me put a little background out there

I am 25 years old, and have little to no experience with RC planes. I do own a DJI phantom 3 professional and have a fair amount of experience flying it successfully. I have flown a small foam trainer before, and I also understand the basics/physics of flight and have seriously contemplated getting my private pilots license and going through paragliding training.

Also to note, for one circumstance or another, I have a God awful amount of wood working equipment. Table saw, band saw, jig saw, router, all sanders, scroll saw, drill press, you name it, ive got it. and anything I don't personally have access to, I have a friend that could literally build anything in the world out of wood and I could easily go barrow a tool

• As you might expect I am into wood working.

The other day, my grand mother moved and I had to help her clean out her shed - I discovered 2 small nitro engines and this is where the idea came to build a model plane.

• HB .12 RC engine made in Germany fresh out of box, clean, I got it started and broken in on table top.
• MAX OS .20 missing muffler

I would really like to utilize these engines as they were my grandfathers and I think they are cool.

If you guys could help me find a model plane that would fit those I would be grateful

1. needs to be the right size for the engine
2. must have most pieces out of balsa wood (I look wood work, not foam and plastic)
3. needs to not be a super advanced plane to fly, although I am open to training more before I fly this one
4. needs to be fairly in depth (I like something that can occupy my interest for a long time rather than an afternoon build)
5. last woodworking project I did was a hand made wood strip canoe.
6. where would I find a muffler for the max os?

I would look at ordering a Sig LT25, good instructions, straight forward build, your larger motor is just big enough... and they fly well.


It would be a good first kit.

The Great Planes PT-20 is another good option. But it sounds like you want to scratch build. A Joe Bridi Crafty .20 is a great flyer all around but is made for beginners. Those are RC planes. If you do some digging, there are plenty of control line and free flight planes that engine will work on. That will save you a considerably amount of money on the other stuff you'll need to be able to fly. Even with a free engine (yours isn't, as it will cost you something to get a muffler), getting started in RC is still at least a $300 proposition. This is a great hobby, but you need to understand it is an actual hobby, not just toys. Saying you want to build a plane on a lark is a lot like saying you'd like to build a table just so you can have a piece of furniture you made for yourself. It sounds like a cool thing, but the skills needed to get there will make it not worth it if the goal is just to take a shot at it one time and move on.

Nice engines Newob, If you google free rcm plans you will find another forum where posters have most of the plans ever made for the magazine. You should find a fun and challenging build. Our mIllwright at work gave me an OS exact to yours today, but no muffler either, he also gave me a Fox 19, but it looks like neither one will run again, I am going to post pics in the Glow power section later this week and see what the more knowledgable have to say.

Calvi

The Falcon 56 is easy to build and is probably the best flying R/C airplane in history http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2424

Newob The OS 20 you have is a much older variant that did not use mufflers. The lack of backpressure for for pressurizing the fuel tank was made up for by a slight decrease in the diameter of carb throat. In addition the articulated baffle design was intended to keep the glow plug lit during idle. This design for many earlier engine throttled designs worked well. This is why your engine has that screw hole boss in the middle of the exhaust. Also note that throttle arm is actually a carefully trimmed plastic servo arm. The original arm was metal.

The example I illustrated is not an OS engine but one of virtually identical design I have handy to photograph.

John

Good for you for wanting to build. I would suggest you find a used 40 size engine. Look on ebay. I say this because a bigger plane is easier to fly and carries the weight of the radio gear better. Then build a kit or two to get the feel of what wood grade to use where needed, You can find almost new radios from folks wanting to upgrade their older stuff. There are a better selection of 40 sized kits. After a kit or two then look at a scratch build. Before you go to a lot of trouble to build a plane for granpa's motors make sure they run.

For a first scratch build look at the STIK series of planes. Great flying models and a good way to ease into scratch building. The Sweet Stik is one of the best models you can have and they are not a complicated build. Want harder? Build a Sig Senior Kadet. Its all sticks and is a higher skill level. Get a few plans builds under your belt, buy a model design book and scratch out your own design. Its a ton of fun to see your design moving around the sky. Good luck.

Hi Newob,
Its nice to see someone that actually wants to build.
I would suggest starting with Kit, like a Sig Kadet, LT20, or LT 40.
I do not doubt your wood working abilities. The reason I suggest a kit, is that depending on the type of plane you are building, there are some things that need to be done in a certain sequence. There also parts of the construction that may not be obvious by looking at plans.
Once you've built a kit, your scratch build will be easier than if you started right out with a scratch build.
I would also suggest starting out using a new engine. It sounds like you do not know the history of the engines you have. They may have problems. It is very frustrating to maiden a plane with a temperamental engine. Once you have a little experience with running a 2 cycle engine, you can then play with the ones you found and maybe put them on you next kit or scratch build.
I am not trying to discourage you from scratch building. i just want you experience to be as successful as possible and this is my advice based on my experience.

This is my background in case you are curious
I got into RC seriously about 4 years ago, although I did play around a little bit with an ARF when I was in my 20's (about 30 years ago).
To date, I have built 5 kits, and am currently working on my first scratch build (1/2 a Pacer).
My wood working skills are average, but I am continuing to improve.

good luck to you

Given your wood working tools and experience I would get some wood and some plans and start building. That gives you infinitely more choices than kits (almost gone in that size) plus it's really fun and you can do it.

These days http://outerzone.co.uk/ is a great way to get plans, also AMA Model Aviation and Model Airplane News plans service. Flying Models is in transition right now but should be back in business soon. Your little HB 12 should be a good engine for all kinds of planes. Randy Randolph designed dozens of good looking, good flying, simply constructed models perfect for those engines. His plans are available at all the sources I mentioned. Semperfi, Chips (MAN), Nacho (FM), Dime (AMA), Miss Diamond (MAN) are a few that come to mind. Old Ken Willard designs are great too. There are many others too; browse and ask questions here.

I have an old OS Max 20 just like yours. The OS 702 muffler was designed to fit the 15, 20 and 25 of the time and it works great. The throttle arm on mine looks exactly like yours. It is a great engine. Engines like this are available on ebay pretty cheaply because not many people use them anymore, but they are excellent. They have the great advantage for a scratch builder that it is easy to build planes for them and have a blast with them.

one piece of advice before you start building I would take the plans to a local copy facility like stapes business center and have them make a 100% copy of the plans so that you can use them on the building board and still have the original plans like new in case you want to remake the plane or have to remake broken parts. I also make templates of parts in kits that are not drawn on the plans. things like ribs that can be broken but easily replaced if you can recreate them and glue them side by side against the broken part

I think OP may have lost interest? This seems to be his first, last and only post to this point....

Hello, check these links:

http://www.rcfair.com/en/blogs/view_entry/13065/
http://www.rcfair.com/en/blogs/view_entry/13194/

These are about guys building airplanes from scratch. I hope you'll find helpful info here. Good luck!