Hey guys!I'm new to the site and building and flying r/c aircraft, but I've been reading up on this stuff for awhile now, and I've been sketching out designs for awhile too. Here's my situation: I lost my job and have no money, but I do have a strong engineering and aviation sense about me. Obviously some money will have to be spent, but my question is: how could I go about building a homebrew airplane (either prop, ducted [although I hate electric craft], or turbine) as cheaply as possible. I live in the central valley of california, so wind can become an issue at times, so a plane with good thrust to weight ratio would be best, and I can get my hands on all kinds of scrap, so am I just looney for thinking this is possible. If it is then I kinda like the idea of building r/c aircraft from screap. Any ideas???

Welcome to RCU.

In my opinion, your best bet would probably be something like a SPAD or a foamie. As far as what kinds of scrap you are going to get a hold of, it would have to be light obviously, so if you're talking about scrap wood, then most all of that is going to be pine and pretty heavy by modeling standards.

It would have to be a prop plane, as the words ducted fan, turbine, and cheap aren't really used in the same sentence.

Take a look at the SPADforum here on RCU. The make planes from old signs and the likes. The do end up to be heavey and don't preform as well as a good balsa built plane.

My suggestion it to make contact with the local club and get some instructions. When you tell them your delima over the job, I wouldn't be susprised that a couple offers for a used trainer didn't popup at a price that would be way below what you could build one for. Learning to build and learning to fly without help is most likely going to lead to a much more expensive intor to the hobby. A good, known design 40 size trainer ( 60 in span) at around 5 lbs is what you should shoot for. Isuggest a good brand kit as it will have the hardware that you would need to buy on a do it yourself design. When you start buying landing gears, motor mounts, hinges, push rods, horns, nuts and bolts, etc, it can add up to more than a kit would cost you that had the stuff included. Again, most club members who have been flying for any time have a collection of these parts that you may be able to buy for a very reasonable price if you decided that you have to design your own plane.

Welcome to the hobby.

Don

Have you paid a visit to your local club? http://www.exeterthunderhawks.com/

One of the members is on here pretty frequently. Go to a couple meetings, hang out and get some advice would be my recommendation.

Unfortunately even scratch building airplanes can get expensive. You can keep costs down if you are resourceful though. Of course, never cut costs at the expense of safety.

Exeter?? Even after looking at the map I'm not sure where it is?? I did spot some of the guys I have met at different events in the photo though.
I would do what Don and Chuck mentioned and get out there to the club {I'm sure you can find it} and talk to some of the guys. When I made my move here I gave away a lot of gear and planes, it's hard to beat free!!! I noticed they had SPADS on there site too. Any time there is an election going on you will see a bunch of new SPADS at the field in all sizes, some of those vote for me signs are pretty big!
Most clubs even have free flying instructions [bring your own fuel] using a club trainer with a club buddy box.
Free is a good thing and doesn't cost much. [At first!!]

I two would have to vote for SPAD construction for you for now. A lot of the material is either very inexpensive or free. You can see exactly what we are talking about at www.spadtothebone.com

Oh, and due to the extraweight the planes carry around I think it actually makes them fly better in windy/gusty conditions than their lighter balsa counterparts.

wow, your just in luck. your just a few minuts from the Exeter Thunderhawks on spruce and close to one of the biggest spad addicts on the west coast!. I will be at the field sometime on monday. email or pm me and I will let you know. BTW I am the club pres and an instructor

check out the SPAD threads on this forum

Grey Beard, your from Mariposa right? well Exeter is south/ east of Visailia. up against the foothills. its a really small but freindly town. lots of orange groves

Like Mariposa is a big city. Don't blink going through on your way to Yosemite or you missed it!! I traveled 99 a lot but your club map didn't show 99 so I was lost. Me getting lost isn't anything new though. I did notice some faces I thought I may have met at some of the fly in's though. Could have been at some of the races??
You didn't mention if your club had an instructor and club trainer for new people. My Central Valley Model Flyers club [field was in Planada, another thriving city] kept a trainer and buddy box there for teaching. The Merced club had several instructors but the students needed there own plane. Not sure what the Fresno club has but I know they have several instructors too. Fresno is a very nice field and has some great guys there too.
The Mariposa club is no longer in operation, it went under about two years before I moved, lack of members will kill a club every time!!

Exeter is almost the gateway to the giant redwood forest, Sequia national park. I am the pres this year at the club. we have two instructors, I just happen to be one of them, its on our webpage. usually the newbe has to bring there plane but I do keep a spad trainer ready to go to train somebody that doesnt have one yet. There are a couple of gus that race and race in Fresno. some have been doing it along time. exeter is south of hiway198, 198 T's into 99 at Visalia

I hope this new guy chimes in here soon!

I may have to toss a plane in the back of my truck the next time I'm working in the Visalia area and stop by your field. We've got our jet rally in Fresno on 9/17-9/19 and a warbird fly-in 3 weeks after that. Both should be fun with a lot of nice airplanes.

I got a load of grapes in Exeter once, took'm to Lake Charles La.

awe man, the jet rally on the 18th? bummer. I am going to Livermore for a combat competition. we will be having one at our field on nov 14. if you have never seen combat, your in for a treat! we do have a couple of guys that race who race uo there from our club . I will post the jet rally on our club website. that sounds cool. now what about this new r/c guy??? wheres he at??? we are all yacking on his thread and he is AWOL. LOL

http://www.instructables.com/id/Foam_RC_Airplane/

http://www.remote-control-rc-hobby.com/rc_hobby.html

http://www.budgetrc.com/

These should get you started[8D]

The OP sounded like a kid so airplanes may have been a passing thought, you know how fast that could be!! ZIP and it's off to the next thought.
That warbird fly in at Fresno sounds like fun. There was a point in time when Vegas was the meca for RC, those days are long gone and other then an IMAC or two with an electric day tossed in there isn't much in the scale events going on, not even a good IMAA show, no racing or combat at all close to hand.
I do miss all the clubs and events in Calif. a lot, guess it shows.

0.o!!! WoW!

Sorry I went MIA guys. I've got a lot on my plate right now, but I assure you that r/c aircraft is a permanant hobby, not just a passing thought. Just some background on me so you crazy old guys can get an idea of my distraction factor; I've been a computer junkie since I was 13, so (naturally) I'm "Mr. family and friends' computer trouble-shooting/repair guy", I work for an independant video game developer ("Phail Safe InteractiveLLC") as the lead 3D Modeler/3D Level designer/3D Animator, I'm a U.S. Army soldier (PV2) and I'm working on getting information moved around for my Staff Sergeant and aiding in the recruitment of this guy I know, attempting to find a new job and place to live, I'm also a college student at C.O.S. with a major in Computer Science and this semester I'm taking two programming classes (Programming in Visual Basic and Programming in Java), so you can see why I'm frequently absent for streches of time.

As a 22 year old I can really appreciate the gravity of financial situations placed on all the local clubs. I've contacted the Exeter Thunder Hawks before (approx. 2 years ago) and at the time the factor that scared me off was the AMA membership fees. I thought I'd build my own planes, buy radios, and fly around my property (there's a lot of it), but I do understand that there's no substituting for experience and that a good instructor is worth his/her weight in gold. I also just want to let you guys know that I'm not looking for handouts. I may not have money to give at this time, but I'll do crap-work in exchange for knowlege and instruction. I'm wiling to donate my time to sweeping and checking runways for debris, cleaning up after events, etc. I'd feel terrible if someone just gave away parts/equipment to me and I crashed their plane (I know crashes WILL eventually happen, I just want it to happen to my stuff), but at the same time I'm not too proud to accept kind gestures.

I've been e-mailing drafter and I told him how awesome and kind the r/c flying community is. I'm proud to call myself a member of that community, and I'd like to help were I can. My 1st passion was aircraft. Ever since I can remember; I've always been facinated by them, so just being around them is ectasy for me, even if I'm just sweeping the runway. I know I just tossed a lot of information and personal history at you guys, but I hope it's informative. I've got a lot more learning to do, but I look forward to it.


P.S: I will be at the Exeter Field Sunday evening with Drafter, and possibly Monday as well. So I look forward to meeting some of you guys.


-Built

If you can make it, come up to the Fresno club next weekend for the jet rally and prepare to be amazed. The best day will most likely be Saturday. www.frcm.org

Sounds like metric tons of fun, I LOVE r/c jets. I may be up there, but I make no promises. My Staff Sgtis up in fresno so maybe I can make it a dual-purpose trip. IDK, we'll see.

Build a SPAD. Cheap and fun airframes.

Well I met Adam at the field a little while ago, we finaly caught up to each other. I showed him the spad trainer, gave him a brief control lesson, got the buddie box dialed int and took it off. I gave him the sticks after 4 mistaked high and let him go, wow,he did great. then deadstick, out of fuel. landed it, prepped it and up and away, he flew like he had been flying for months, so we started the approches, he did great. I could tell he is a natural. on the 3rd flight, he was doing touch and goes. now he is taking off, flying around very good, (Im getting a little jeolous, LOL) and landing. Wow. he was flying the whole time on the box. a real natural pilot. I probably could have signd his solo, I want him to get on it again a couple of more flights, deadstick and startup procedues.

I really like my Debonair and it's the go to model when conditions aren't so great. And I enjoy flying it. It's kind of a dog but if you know it's limitations it can be a blast to fly. One thing I notice, when guys decide the winds aren't so good and stay home, I find I have the field to myself.

I have built both, and yes they are great. Adam saw the value of spads, it got thrown around a couple of times on the ground, straightend the gear once and back in the air

No need to get envious Andy! I still have a TON of learning to do, besides you're leaving out the part where my flight was REALLY jerky at the start and how I broke one of your props Seriously though, that was a BLAST!!! I had that trainer dancing up there, and I only took the risk of trying some rudder-intensive manuevers because it's a SPAD. I'm gonna have to build a few of those trainers for myself, because I was really resisting the urge to push that plane until I found it's limit.

Hey Adam, no envy at all, just a figure of speach! It was nice to see somebody grasp flying as well as you did.

To the OP:

The topic of doing this hobby on the cheap comes up often. The truth is that this hobby is going to cost money. You can pay up front for good stuff and pay the fees for club and AMA dues, or you can pay in back for broken and lost equipment and time spent repairing. If you cost out everything it takes to get going in the hobby, airframes actually are not that big a deal. Even if the airframe is free (the built part), you still need an engine and electronics and a place to fly. That said, buying a used beginner setup from a trustworthy club member can save you some money, and paying the club and AMA membership so that you can get training and take care of your equipment will save you alot more. Electric park flyers are an even cheaper option, but they don't perform like a standard model does.

Get a 40 size Ultra Stick for about 109$, OS LA 46 for 70$ and a cheap Futaba 4 channel for 114$. Stick building may cost you more in time and materials. Just a thought. Good Luck.