Teenage Pilot 14

This thread is devoted to the tiny planes we make out of scratch wood, foam, even paper and fly with guts from micro RTF’s or mini radios like Plantraco’s really cool little sub-sub-sub-micro 3ch one. I wasn’t able to find a thread like this anywhere on this site so I thought one was needed. To start off, I recently built a 12” flying wing with a central vertical stab and later added a tail. I used 1/8” CellFoam 88 fo the whole thing and AHRF guts minus the actuator. I’ll post pics as soon as my camera decides to work but until then Sharky (so named for its resemblance to a shark…clever, eh?) will not be revealed…

Teenage Pilot 14

Pics are here:

Gymallo Guy

Way to go guy! You don't realize how much this experience will mean to you as time goes by. Not many young people work with their hands these days. Keep it up! The GymalloGuy

rcdogfighter13

if i had some experiense with rc then id build one.
but until then ill stick to the instruction booklet.
hey im a teenager too! im 13

Teenage Pilot 14

Dude, instructions suck. Hang around here for awhile and you'll see. Basically with these 2ch dual-motor things you can glue together a few chunks of foam and add the elecs and it'll fly. You won't get any experience with R/C unless you start somewhere, and this is about as safe a start as you can get. For further *encouragement* you can talk to some of the REAL micro veterans like Micro Builder and Ferndale Air Force. They OWN the world of micro R/C, along with many others.....

rcdogfighter13

lol
ok have u seen the micro racers or classroom fighters?
http://www.microflight.com/Online-Catalog

Teenage Pilot 14

Yup, I've seen those. Unfortunately I, too, am in grave need of cash. I just dropped $75.72 on a 4ch radio on eBay and I have exactly $4.62 left. Shipped with 2 micro servos. You'd only need 1 more for that ARF, the batts, ESC and a cheapo brushless motor.... Somethin' to think about considering the guy you talked to said $400+. I say you can get away with $150 or less...

Even though this post is off-topic, I'm glad this thread is going somewhere...

rcdogfighter13

how old are you?
im getting a job when i turn 14. you know because then i can aford my own stuff.

Teenage Pilot 14

Well, lemme put it this way: I'm about to turn 14 and I'm just about to change my username to Teenage Pilot 14... I make money by crawling on gas station floors picking up lost coins. I put them in a bank account and save and save and save and save and save until I can afford something, then I buy it

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

Nice work on the plane, TP13, and welcome to RCU, rcdogfighter13. Like GymalloGuy said, Its good to see young kids like you two getting into the hobby. I got into RC cars and trucks when I was 12 or 13, now 28, but only started RC planes around 4 or 5 years ago. Your generation is lucky, as electric RC planes are so incredibly available and cheap, wish I could've started toying with planes when I was your age.

I like to support the small family run rc shops, but for poor folks like you two (and me!!), unitedhobbies.com is a savior. Lots of product for cheap prices. Shipping can take a while if you go by ground, but the prices are worth it. And as for experience, you cant go wrong with just jumping in and getting your feet wet. My first few planes didnt fly worth a darn, but you cant do anything without learning something, even if you suck at it first I still build pleanty of planes that never go for more than a few feet before meeting the ground! And for the record, I think Neurotex has always been a far better builder than me, I've gotten lucky a few times and managed to produce something worthwhile, but he does it on a regular basis. Working with balsa is nearly a lost art.

Keep saving change, buy some balsa or foam and a 30 dollar plane and build!
Nick (who owns nothing )

Teenage Pilot 14

[&o][&o][&o][&o] The little 'family run business' that I liked most was Hobby Warehouse (Richfield MN). I went to find some stuff back early August and saw a big ole "Going Out Of Business Sale July 21" banner. That was the best store ever; they had EVERYTHING! With all the stuff I bought there I probably tacked on an extra 2+ months of the store's survival. You'd think that with the increasing popularity of RC because of all the people who buy an Aero Ace, like it, then go find something bigger like a Firebird or a Slo-V or something the little local shops would gain, no go out of business. Maybe it's the result of Googling for planes, then ordering one off awebsite and having it dropped right on the front doorstep. Then you take it out of the box, attach the wing, charge the batt, and go off and fly. No LHS needed[X(] As for working with balsa, I've tried it but when something made of twigs and tissue paper crashes on pavement it usually doesn't fare well. Balsa should be reserved for indoor flying, big huge outdoor planes, and builders who can make micros indestructable because an average builder like me comes along and buils a balsa plane and wrecks it and wants nothing more to do with wood is just another person killing off balsa-building.

Also, just for the record Nick, you've done WAY better than most people with balsa as shown by your gallery

Well, I'm off to build a plane out of the loads of balsa I have layin' around. There will be NO FOAM on thyis one at all. Pics should be ready within a couple days following the planes success[8D]

radiofreak88

first attempt at a scratch build micro scale plane. its a cessna 182. this is a basic foam plug that i used to make design changes as I refer to it as my P.O.T or proof of theory. Iplan on it being a carbon/ foam/ balsa fiberglass compositre plane. worried about weight but not really. at the point it is in now it will pull itself vertical at 3/4 throttle even with a solid foam core wrapped in a glue and paper skin with all electronics installed, all this with a cut down prop to nearly half its original size. but im having conflicting problems with the rig for the steerable nose gear as the push rod assembly takes the space traditionally used to house the battery. with it being a scale plane dont want to alter the outsed of the aircraft. but i drew up some idea sketches to fix the problem. it has a wingspan of only 18 inches. i plan on having features such as, steerable nose gear, scale cowling and wheel pants, working flaps, nav lights(maybe), and if that works out i have small enough equipment i might even make a scale cabin. i invision this thing to be a award worthy scale plane. but we'll see. i have nothing but time to work on this thing and i have confindence i will be able to achieve what i invision. the site keeps giving me errors when trying to post pictures so if ya want to see what i have done so far feel free to check out my gallery. btw total investment of this plane(airframe only) is 0.00$.. right on