Hey guys,I'm gonna do my first scratch build this winter.I'm thinking a 40 size ugly stick,(what you think of that plane for a first scratch build?)anyway I got a plan but I can't open it because it's a DFX file.Is there a download out there so I can open it? if there is any other tips you can give me for this build?I would be greatfull.
Thanks

Do a Google search for "free dxf viewer". There are a few programs that will open and view it and possibly some trial versions of CAD programs. Then you have to find someone with a CAD program and large format printer/plotter. I've tried using my regular printer and "tiling" the pages but it always ends up tweaked.

You might consider just ordering the paper plans from RCM:

http://rcmmagazine.com/store/store-p...pFtVWwdEE2a3A6

Well I got a download and all went well until I tryed to open it and it said file format not licensed.any ideas? yes I might order the plans from rcm if things don't work out with this file,they are like $18.00+s/h I was just seeing what I could get for free first.

Ok heres what I got when I tryed to open.File: uglystick40.zip

This file format is not licensed.
Contact Informative Graphics Corp. for licensing details.

First, if the file is a ZIP file, you need a program to unzip it. PKZip was the first of these and there is one called WinZip that also does a good job. I use Magelian which is a file management program and it will handle the zip files with ease.

As for a viewer, after you get the file unziped, the open an individual DXF file with most any Cad program. The free cad viewer is one example, but having looked at a lot of these "free plans" few if any are really ready to start building with. I've been using Rhino3d for a few years now and it will read most of these files. None that I saw would allow you to start cutting parts and have a set of plans that you could build from.

If you can get a clean DXF file, some blue print shops will print from a file for you. Probably at about the same cost as buying a proper set of plans.

For printing at home, you need an inkjet that will print from roll paper. Epson made a few different ones a few years back, the stylus Photo 870 and the photo 1270/1280 are a couple the first can pring 8 1/2" wide rol paper up to 120 inches long. THe 1270/1280 printers can print up to 13" wide and again up to 120 inches long. Youe CAD software has to support that though. Botom line, purchasing a set of plans with the manual for $20 or so is very good value. I have both of the printers above and the Roll paper cost about $0.50 a foot and we all know how much ink cost. I just printed out a set of ribs and main spars for a Ruperts Dad to day and I chewed up about 18ft of paper. $9.00 down the drain without ink or the cost of the software and I don't have the plans printed for assembly, just parts to cut.

Free usually isn't.

Don

For printing plans, I have had excellent results using Staples. From my drawing program (I use Deltacad, which is inexpensive and easy to use) I simply make sure the layout on the drawing will fit inside the 36 inch max width they offer. I then use the Cutepdf printing program (its free from Adobe) to create a PDF file of the drawing. Just put in a custom papersize that will fit your plans. The last set of plans I had printed had two sheets, one 60 inches long and the other 84 inches long. Staples charges by the Square foot for large format printing, and the total cost for me was $18. No S&H charges. Don't use the online ordering or you get charged more. Go directly to the store, take your pdf file on a thumb drive, and they'll take care of you.

Brad

bkdavey - I am pretty sure that Fedex-Kinko's offers a very similar service. And you have a choice of paper to have it printed on, also.

If you are going to have someone like Staples or Kinkos print for you, or even a blueprint shop, make sure you get an exactsize print.

A good method is to draw and X and Y ruller on opposite corners of the drawing and then make sure that the print hasn't shrunk, expanded, or skewed when printed.

Don

CampGems
I like that idea, I think I'll add that to all by borders!
Thanks,
Charlie

Ugly stick is an excellent first build. Flat wing and the fuz builds flat as well.

They fly well too.

I should be able to convert it to a .PDF for you. PM me if you're interested. You can take the .PDF to Kinkos and print it.

I like the X - Y thing. I was almost finished with my P - 47 build when I questioned the size of the re print I had done to save my originals. Would 3 corners, X - Y - Z work better? Gives 3 dimensions to measure then.

Bingo, the Z wouldn't really apply for the 2D drawing. When you do the side view of the fuselage, Y on the drawing is Z in a 3D world, IE height.

While on the subject of the rullers, a border line around the drawing is also a good tool. This picks up skew in the feed quicker than the rullers will. The rullers will tell you the sizing is correct, the lines will tell you that it printed straight.

My first plane that I had built in 35 years was from a set of Magazine fulsize plans. I purchased a roll of velimum and traced the plans into a set I could work with. I couldn't bring myself to gluing on these plans so I took them to the local blueprint shop. They coppied them to get the smallest Sq ft of drawing and I was happy. That was until I got home and discovered that one end of the wing pannels had skewed, either on the copy or on the print. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't work around it, but that convinced me to put some tell tails on the drawing to make sure all was right.

This was three years ago last January. I built the plane right away, but it sat idle until I gathered up enough skill and confidance to give it a try. I had two mishaps with the plane. With the first, the radio quit listening on take off and then suddenly turned back on just in time to kill the engine, go airborne and then land in the pond behind our field. I just got it rebuilt about a month back and a couple weeks back the RX battery opened up. I watched the plane do lazy circles for several minutes before it crashed int the brim around the pond. The wing was damaged beyond repair, the the fuselage is fine other than some torn covering.

I spent the last couple days getting the wing into a CAD drawing. I mentioned before that I have a Epson Printer that will take roll paper and can print up to 129" in length. I printed out a set of ribs and the main spar this morning. Then I found I didn't have the right size balsa, so I changed the rib pattern from 3"x36 sheet to 4x36" I found that I could squeeze a fourth rib onto a sheet. I printed out my new rib set, four sheets of balsa for ribs and two for the main spar. 3M77 adheasiveed them and stuck them on the balsa. Off to the band saw and rough cut the ribs, to the disk sander and sanded to the fine line of the print. Hand sand the bunch lightly to get all exactly the same. This whole process took me just under three hours. So much faster than my first one where I made a template, then cut ribs from it. Rough aligned and pined the bunch together and sanded and sanded and sanded to get them the same. I must have been close to 1/4" off in height compaired to the plans when I finished the first time. Today, there was less than 0.0101" differences. A quick light sanding with 280 on a board put them all the same.

If you take a drawing and convert it to PDF format, don't add line width to the drawing. My Rhino 3D drawings have no width to the lines, and when printed give me a line just a couple thousandths wide on the paper. Next best thing to a laser cutter. The line on paper is narrow enough that a razor blade takes it out if it cut on the center of the line.

I've got a couple sticks to cut, $200 worth of balsa from Lone Star Balsa just a month before their fire and I don't have the sizes I need. At least I have pieces I can rip to size. I may have the wing less ailerons assembled tomorrow night.

If I had time, I would build me a CNC router capable of handeling a 12" x 48" piece and then Straight from the drawing to the finished pieces. I've got just about all the hardware, but not the time to build it, unless I stop flying for several months. Naw, won't do that.

Don

Bingo, I forgot to mention this. My dad worked at Republic Avaiation in Evansville, In. durring the war. They produced most if not all of the P47 Thunderbolts. I was very young then, 3 to 4 years old. I still remember seeing flights of them leaving the production line and heading to the "front" My mom used to tell me about me getting all upset because the neighborhood kids were throwing rocks "at my daddy's airplanes".

I have yet to build a scale model. When I do, I'll make it a P47.

Don