Designing and building!!!
 

Hi I would like to design my airplane but first I need to know what I should know before I start drawing... besides the model that I want ofcourse.So basically what I need to know is how to determine the measure that the wings should have with respect to the fuselage and all the info that you can share with me, I will appreciate it.

RE: Designing and building!!!
 

Welcome to the forum! I would recommend starting with some tried-and-true design parameters which you can then modify to suit your specific needs:

[link]http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/hobby/pmdesign.htm[/link]

Additionally, I would recommend looking at Turbocad (free program) for making and preserving your drawings. There are many building methods and materials to choose from. You can learn a great deal by reading the stickies in the building forums. Good luck with your future projects!

RE: Designing and building!!!
 

Hey thank you Whitecrest now I know forums work jajajaja. I have found some info that I think could be helpful; however, I also noticed that it use to be hard to understand because it has a lot of complicated things, but I will figure it out. Do you design?.

RE: Designing and building!!!
 

I have scratch-built using the basic design parameters as a starting point. After sorting out the power train issues, I have a configuration that flies very well. My drawings are pretty simple and easy to fabricate using hand tools. I personally prefer balsa construction and built-up wings. There are other materials and methods that will produce excellent results.

I would recommend keeping things very simple at first and on the small side. Ships in the 16-25 oz range can be built and powered economically and are easy to see in flight and able to handle a moderate wind with no problems. Once you have a flying model, it is easy to make incremental changes that improve performance.

RE: Designing and building!!!
 

Hey thanks you for the info you gave me last day, I really appreciate it. It's funny to me because now I have to learn a lot of thing but it doesn't matter because it is something that I really want to do and that feeling make things even easier... I hope so jajaja!!!
Do you use formulas or something like that when you are going to create an airplane?. Some people use to but some of them use to be complicated and other just need to know the percentage of the wing and then everything comes based on that, the fuselage, the rudder etc. Do you know something about it?

RE: Designing and building!!!
 

Best bible for designing models is (Basics of Model Aircraft Design) by Andy Lennon. Sold through Model Airplane News magazine. Look on the back page.

RE: Designing and building!!!
 

Welcome to build land, you are going to remain so far ahead of the curve if you stick with it, it will sicken you with how quickly you will advance, just because you make your own planes.

I'm very old school as a builder, both scratch and kit, and this part of the hobby is so, so much fun, you are in store for more then you realize in that matter.

Now, staying strictly old school, start out with chuck gliders, my material of choice there is foam plate stock and a hot glue gun to assemble it. You'll end up with some fun little planes to kick around the office or shop, but you will also learn a great deal quickly as to what proper dimensions to make everything at. What I've found, when thinking totally out of the box, I've defied traditional design parameters themselves, I've also been able to totally fine tune a pattern to use as a base for the full scale rc version as well. A favorite of mine in that arena, it takes use of the shape of the plate itself, a circle, that is the depressed, flat area of the plate, add a fin and something to get the COG correct, and you have a nice little chuck glider in seconds. Other planes, you really see what you are in for, for example, I did a p51, and it was tough to set the cog correctly, and when I did, it was not always stable, ie. that's why they designed it that way in the first place, to be manueverable.

Staying old school, the next stage I suggest getting a few balsa free flight kits under your belt, supplementing them with what ever you can find off of the shelf to build from scratch in the chuck glider, or free flight electric if you want to be more aggressive about it.

Once you are used to getting these free flight birds flying along fine, knowing what you are doing, moving onto RC will absorb everything you know, but now, you are thinking of control surfaces and additional hardware. It's not a huge transition, but it's one where you want to think more robust with the materials and design parameters, for a free flight plane cannot handle the extra weight and intertia from the gear inside.

When you have reached into the area, where you can build with impunity, then this part of the hobby really becomes fun, including with the pocket book. You have just circumvented the traditional, arf/rtf scene, you make your own replacement parts, and you fly what you "want" to, not just what you are ready for, or planes that are going to be too expensive to own and maintain, much less risk actual flight with.