What is S.P.A.D.

Hi wzak29
I'm glad you asked. It stands for Simple Plastic Airplane Design. It involves building model airplanes from a corrugated plastic material (like a cardboard box except it is plastic). This material is what sign companies use to make political and other signs. If you scroll down to the SPAD forum and look in the author column for villa, you will see photos of some of the planes I built. Free plans are available at spadtothebone.com. The website devoted to the SPAD plane is spadworld.net. It is a way to Fly R/C at a very low cost.

SPAD
There are some very fun airplanes in theis catergory. some come in heavy IMHO but NOT ALL OF 'EM. I like the SPADET and DEBONAIR for trainers just fine. SPA3D is a great 3d Trainer . The guy that does the PIZZA BOX flyer taught me to fly. I can think of no other plane that gives so much fun for so little cost! The HOR series .15 to whatever are good flyers. The .15 HOR is a good combat intro plane.
My Favorites are the DASPLASTICK and the giant ultrastick version (i forget its name).
The DEBONAIR is a great trainer a little faster and easier to build than a SPADET both handle the hard knock of training with ease.
The SIG LT 40 Cadet is my favorite trainer so the SPADET is my favorite SPAD trainer
The DASPLASTICK is a superb second plane it will use all the parts from your 40 size trainer keeping cost WAY down

Here is my spad Debonair converted to a tail dragger. Anytime you crash more and likly it won't take nothing more than some CA but if it hard crash, you can get just about all your stuff you need for a new plane in a hardware store

Ozmo is right that they are usually a bit heavier than a Balsa counter part, but will win hands down in durability and ease of construction and reconstruction. If you built a Spadet to plans it will be about 5.5 to 6lbs. Which is just fine for a 40/46 size engine. The Spadet is a copy of the LT 40 Kadet which is probably a little lighter. You can usually build a SPAD in the same time it takes you to assemble an ARF. Talk to your local sign shops for Coroplast. Usually around 15 bucks a 4X8 sheet. you need a set of plans, 2mm and 4mm coro, some hardware from an old deceased ARF, some glue, hold your tongue just right...and presto! New Plane! Usual cost of putting together a SPAD is 20 bucks if you reuse existing hardware that you have. Oops! almost forgot. Some PVC down spout as well, if you can find the right stuff. It's the square stuff with smooth sides no ribs. You are looking for 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 that you usually find at the True Value/ Ace stores. They typically don't have it at the big boxers. You don't have to have the PVC, but the coro is a must have or it's hard to build a Coro airplane. While your at the hardware store grab some yardsticks. Need them for the spar!
They are fun to build and fly and you can use the skills to fix Balsa planes. A buddy has a Alpha 60 which he tried to hanger under someones car. So it needed a new wing. Fuse was cracked, but easily fixable. It would of taken me a long time to rebuild the Balsa wing plus covering H9 wanted a 120 bucks for a wing! So I made a new coro wing in about 2 hours and she flies great! The wing is about a half a pound heavier than the original, but works like a charm.

SPAD's are a little heavier and not as pretty as a Balsa bird, but are just as fun to fly! Fun! that's the whole point of this exercise isn't it?

Come election time it's a feeding frenzy in some parts of this town. Some of the posters are really big and don't seem to stay up very long??

I wish you hadn't told me that! Now what will my friends think when they see Obama's mug on one of my planes?

Spads eh? yes the best flying plane for the least amount of money, easy and fast to build. almost any plane is possible. look at my site. the heavyer planes will fly better in the wind also. its a great way to get into RC

Well, it will give them something _______ the next time they are by the field.

Fill in your own blanks. I have my own thoughts.

CGr.

I built the Debonair a while back. It lasted about, oh, 10 flights. It just nosed over one day and crashed. I won't even speculate why. I have a pile of coroplast if someone wants to come and get it.. all free of charge.

CGr.

Hi CGRetired
Do you believe that crash was the fault of the Debonair? SPADS are certainly not for everyone. I have always thought that a SPAD Flying Lawnmower is an absolute natural for Coroplast, the corrugated plastic material used to make the SPAD planes. I once saw a balsa Flying Lawnmower roll over on a poor landing and it was totaled. In 4 years of flying mine it rolled over once or twice, with zero damage. Look at it at http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3476218/tm.htm which includes the free building instructions. But like your Debonair, my SPAD Flying Lawnmower finally crashed. I flew it hard for 4 years and it probably had close to 500 landings. Never did find the reason for the crash. I suspect a bad switch. I just got home from flying my SPAD 71" wing span J3-Cub. One of our members got within about 5 feet of my J3-Cub before he noticed that it was a SPAD. You can see it at
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4433841/tm.htm

I don't know what caused the crash. It just spun over, perhaps something bent or broke, or something. I didn't care nor did I look it over. When it went in, I just laughed, picked up the pieces, then flew something else. It was up and on the last of several orbits, none of which were very demanding, and it just spun out and crashed.

No, it was not a glitch because it did not behave like a glitch. It just nosed over and went in. Several people were there watching and no one had any idea why it did what it did.

I still have bunch of coroplast that I will give to anyone that wants to come and get it. And a few downspout lengths.

CGr.

Hi draftman1
Hope you will report on the other spad site about CGRetired, here, wanting to give away a bunch of coroplast and downspouts in New Jersey. The price is right.

Yup. I won't ship it without prior compensation, but someone can come and get it or pay shipping and I will get it out. It's not a lot, perhaps, oh, 30 or so square feet. Red, blue, white. It's probably better if someone wants it, come and get it. Shipping would probably be more than it's worth, but it's not sign stock, it's brand new, unused coroplast sheets of various sizes and shapes.

CGr.

Got it done Villa. I feal bad that CG had a bad experiance with spads. yes I have had unexplaned crashed, mainly dumb thumbs for me but I still keep on building and refineing. the full 4mil wing isnt really the best flyer. the full 2mil or the RNAF is the best. probably the worst thing I had to deal with was in a dive, the elevator wouldn pull the plane up, well, I make them stiffer with skewers and make sure the up elevator is being pulled by the servo instead of being pushed. well thanks CG and you will make a spadder happy with the free coro.