This happened when the aileron hinge came loose!! Broken prop,broken servo wheels, and nose gear bent,one broken wing dowel and that's it!! SPAD airplanes are the best!! It will take me an hour max,to get it back in the air!! You think balsa can take a hit like that and be rebuilt in an hour?? My MDS .48 was buried to the firewall. Engine was fine,just a little carb cleaner. www.spadtothebone.com those of you who like flying more than building try and see what you think!

Well the advantage of a balsa plane is that one can glue in some proper hinges that don't come loose... so you wouldn't have been repairing that plane anyway...

Actually,the aileron hinge failed because of flutter! I installed Robart hinge points in the ailerons and no problems. Do you honestly think balsa would take a hit like like that.... It cost me about $10 (max) and an hour of time to repair it.

I have to agree that a wooden plane would probably be toast after such a hit... but sometimes the spad community seems to think they invented the hot water...

That is a good one!! Yeah I know there is always a favorite of everyone.I just like the spad concept,it is a lot more "flying,than building" .I also like the fact you can experiment ,and if it does not work,you are not out of much money. I had a balsa(had!) I just came across the spad site and gave it a try. It is a great concept,for those who like to experiment ,building wise and flying wise.

its funny that when someone crashes his plane, and isn't tore up about it, the answer is basicly this - you should have built one that would have tore up.

I guess its just wrong to be excited about being able to build a plane in a couple of hours, thats tough as nails, is easy to repair, and costs a fraction what a balsa plane does. Wait a minute, it sounds like that we might be having FUN! Is that so wrong?

Hey cool...it's great that the Spad guys are recognized as a "community" buy traditionalists...Thanks man!

An interesting side note...I flew balsa planes for 20 years...approx 40 airplanes over that time...and had several "proper" hinge failures, resulting in catostrophic and expensive endings. 300+ Spads and counting now...and haven't had a hinge failure yet...I like the odds, and it's good to know that if it does happen, I can build a whole new plane for the cost of a pack of "proper" hinges, and in less time than it would take to slot and install them. Our hobby is options, personal preferences, and choices...and personally, I don't look at anything as being "proper" or "right" ...just whatever floats your boat.

I just like building, and working with wood...for me that's half of the hobby. I guess it's just the way I was brought up. I spent countless hours in the basement besides my father just looking at how he did stuff. I don't mind working 12 months on a plane (or even longer), but I have to admit that I probably feel worse when I loose one compared to you spad-lovers...

That kinda crash in no fun at all.
With balsa you get to watch all of those little bitty pieces flying everywhere!!!!!
It's all fun, whatever it's made of.

Larry

In all honesty, it doesn't bother me to crash a plane anymore, a spad at least. It just means i've freed up gear for my next project. Funny how reckless i get with a plane when i have something new in mind.

I love to build, now I do it all the time! I also experiment alot more. Right now, Working on a foam KI-61 Can't complaint really, but if I nose it in, I'll be bummed - then in a few days, I'll have another one or a new design again.

It took me a year or so to make my P-51 the way I wanted it 1/7 scale-Gold Edition, it took me a day to build a CoroStang and a Mig 7 - I can't complain one bit. But In all honesty, I loved the crash pic .....even better when the plane is flying pretty the following day or so.

To get back to the topic, NO a balsa plane would NOT recover form that crash without A LOT of painstaking hours and a lot of dust and ca! Oh well..back to my KI-61 wings, enjoy guys.

We, the community of Spadonia, I think, have taken the traditional art of RC aircraft and expanded it to, not a higher level, but a different level. Our views and ambitions are different than the average balsa boy. We strive on the love of flight and play on our sense of imagination to create new ways of accomplishing old task. SPADs are a different hobby. Spadionians have our own traditions (in the making). We are a new society. And we love what we do. You may want to cast the first stone, but remember your petty anger will only make us strive harder and accomplish more.

I'm just a newbee here but what is spad ???
maybe it can be useful to keep my husky's in the kennel loll...
Honnestly does a spad plane look as good as balsa ?? just asking never seen one ..

the old guy

Old guy,
If you really want to know if SPADS look good, then go to this web site and go to the showcase. I think you will be surprised.

http://spadtothebone.com

Well have to admit 3 or 4 of them didnt look to bad.. but some of them did look like a plywood with a motor lolll
Honnestly I'm going to look in to it, might be a cheaper approach

Thanks Nukes

SPAD is fine if you want something to fly NOW.

Don't expect to be building scale models from coroplast... if you try that, you get something like this: see picture...


Now don't get me wrong, like mentioned before by someone else, I look at Coroplast designs as an expansion of our great hobby too. I think it is fabulous what some of you guys box together in a couple of hours, but that's also where it's limitations are. If you want something more then just a box, things start getting complicated... About as complicated as a balsa plane I guess (correct me if I'm wrong).

not bad for a spad.

WOW!!! those are some fancy SPADS ....I thought you can't make a good looking scale plane with the stuff??LOL Those scale spads are built months before the balsa ones are even finished with the wing All kidding aside,balsa planes are nice,Spads are nice,balsa has a place and so does coroplast... Its all about art and fun!!! Hobbies are just that,a form of enjoyment and relaxation!! I just like the SPADS ,it is a lot cheaper to experiment with them ,than balsa. I just say "can't we all just fly along!"

The cap on the bottom is mine. Including flight trimming painting, and decaling, i have a whopping 30 hours or so in it.
I doubt you could frame a balsa one in that length of time, but, to each their own. I do like to fly right now, and, if it doesn't work, i haven't invested alot of work in it, and i can do something else.

I LOVE to fly NOW!!! I rarely start an airplane unless I can finish it the same day. My Spit was a little extream though...it took 6 hours to build...but I couldn't fly it until the spray paint dried over night ...but the cool part is that coroplast comes in green...so I only needed to paint half the camo scheme

What do you guys do with all these planes??? You must really have a hangar full of them if you build like 2 planes per week... or a container full of coroplast...

The little spit looks nice though tattoo... not bad at all for 6 hour project.

i have a garage full, many of which i don't have gear for. Its tough having 20 flight packs, and still having ideas. Crashing was a blessing. It freed up gear. Now, i don't crash much anymore, so, i am stuck pulling the gear out of perfectly good airplanes. If someone really likes one of my planes, i normally pull the gear out of it, and give it to them, it makes me and them both happy, and i get to build a new plane. Did i mention that i am addicted to coroplast? loll

Me to!!! I have 20 flight packs and 24 engines...I currently have 19 flyable airplanes.In the last 5 years i've built an estimated 300+ airplanes....I lost count in the first year @ 70 or so...many have been lost to the combat gods...and like Chris, I take the flight pack and engine out of one for the next project and then give the planes away. Sometimes I'll bring several to the field and tell everyone "that's the free pile" and they dissapear instantly Thanks for the compliments on the Spit!

I would like too see that on a busy sunny sunday afternoon... 15 people around the pile... fighting to get the best plane first... lol...

Could someone post a close up pic of this coroplast stuff? I know it must be something like layered cardboard but then plastic... If I can find some of the stuff this side off the big pond I might just give it a try...just to see how it works out. You use a hot glue gun to glue this stuff together? Correct?
Tattoo mentioned somewhere else that this is used for advertising purposes in the states, so it must be pretty common over there... not so here...

Got to give it a try to see what the fuss is all about, right...?

I find myself wondering, if SPADs and Coroplast is so wonderful, why isn't everyone using it exclusively, especially kit makers. It would seem to me that it would drive their costs WAY down...

What are it's limitations and why is the balsa and Monokote method still so popular? Not trying to pick a fight, just to get information. Might be a good next project...

Ed