hi, i'm a total newbie, and i am designing my plane from scratch, look at the picture below, would this be a good way of controling my ailerons, i mean the vertical shaft is the servo, and the other 2 shafts go out the wings to the ailerons. also would it be alright to make my ailerons out of solid balsa??? and would balsa cement attach metal to balsa, as i am thinking of using aluminium rods to be the shafts going form my gears to my ailerons.

please leave your comments

David

this would wor, but there are much easyer ways to do it.yes you can use solid bulsa for the ailerons. when glueing bulsa to metal use epoxy because this would provide more strength,but you will have to decide wether to use 30 mins or 5mins epoxy depending the stress level

Don't over-engineer things. Controlling two ailerons with one servo is done all the time; just look around and you'll see quite a few examples. I've posted the most common way below.

For the "torque rods", the rods attached to the ailerons, you'll have to drill a hole into the leading edge of the aileron, then put a 90 degree bend in the rod. Epoxy the short leg into the hole in the aileron.

Dennis-

Eagle, are you buddies with vikas1974?

You are both from Down Under, and both trying to Design and Scratch Build an airplane, and if I may be so bold, you are also both totally clueless. (I don't mean to be rude, but your questions blatently point out that you know nothing about airplane construction).

I would HIGHLY recommend that you get an inexpensive kit and learn the basics before attempting anything on your own.

MinnFlyer you are totally correct, i know i should start with a kit, but i'm stubborn, and i like the idea of the challenge. you are also correct in saying that i am totally clueless as i have never built anything like this before. i dont know too much about aeroplane construction. i plan to build this model which is almost totally scratch built, i am going off a plan which is for a rubber band powered glider, and i am doubling the plans and making it totally rc but only using the plans for shape and size etc, the internal parts of each part are going to be totally different.

i had an idea, would using timer rods work better than aluminium rods as i can use balsa cement to attach it to my ailerons.


eagle4

there is a lot of work when changing a plane from rubber to rc. the plane may not carry the weight you will be adding onto it, because you may even have to add more weight to get the c of g right

eagle4

these are your CONTROL surfaces we are talking about here m8, if this thing gets off the ground and they decide to go................. well **** up your in trouble..


Take DBCherry's advice and don't even think about using anything other than epoxy, balsa cement is just for that BALSA and is strong when gluing balsa to balsa but not very good at much else...

i wish you the best of luck and hope you have fun, although i agree with MinnFlyer there ain't nothing wrong with building ya own plane i guess but please listen here we build these things day in day out (laterally) and we have seen them crash and somtimes even hurt people..

safety first unless you happen to be phillybaby then sticky tape will do fine

eagle4,

Go with a known flying design, build a cheap kit, I guess you also don't know how to fly, that makes the effort of scracth building meaningless. It will be scratch faster than you think.

Even with an ARF when you are putting together you can make mistakes, as beginner you have a great chance to do so, for the last 3 months I am reading the beginner forum, wrong placement of diheadreal brace, allignment problems with the stab, glue/CA/epoxy in the aileron rods. clunk problems with fuel tank, hinges lots of things.

With an ARF as an trainer you will learn how things like servos, engine, fuel tank works, plus you have a very great chance to crash it in first flight if you learn to fly on your own, get help, if for your location restricts your access to ARF's than build the kit.

You will learn so much about building, working with balsa, covering, hinges, allignment, when you are building the kit. But for the trainer I don't think it is worth either.

Scratch building your first plane and learning to fly with it will not work. Not that easy.

I used to built rubber powered balsa planes, glow powered RC ones are a lot different, in strength fuel proofing and realibility. Your idea will work in theory but not in the real RC enviroment it might work for a while but if you have a slightest encounter with ground that gear system will not work and will not be fixable. since the gear alignment is changed.

RC planes do carsh, mostly due to pilot error but also due to failure of components, keep it simple and basic, don't add another reason for a crash.

First work on the pilot part of the crash with a Trainer.

Good luck, this hobby is great and if you have good start it is not a hobby, it becomes a habbit.