New guy needs help
 

Hi guys, first off I am not new to RC. I have been flying for 15 years. I am new to building when their are plans but no wood. That brings me to my question...How diffuicult would it be to build an airplane with just plans for reference? I have a very old airplane that i want to build, I have the plans, but no precut wood. I am not used to this kind of building. In other words, I have only built airplanes from kits before. Sorry if this is a dumb question... Thanks for any help

P.s. It is a Royal Cessna Citation airplane

RE: New guy needs help
 

Cutting the ribs seems to be the most tedious part. But then once you've worked out a method that doesn't take long either. I made a template out of aluminum sheet and after that it only took a single evening to cut out and sand a set of ribs.

If you think of it as a two step process of 1) making the pieces and 2) putting them together it shouldn't be much different than the kit building you've done.

RE: New guy needs help
 

Ordinarily, I tell people that plans-building isn't much different than building a kit. You have to cut out more of the pieces, but it all goes together pretty much the same. The only problem is, Royal kits are a little different. They tend to have a lot of little balsa blocks, all perfectly shaped and sized. No reason you can't cut them out yourself, but it'd help to have a good bench sander to make them nice and square, and I'd bet you'll still end up doing a lot of trial-and-error fitting. Might be worth it, though.

RE: New guy needs help
 

Welcome to the world of scratch-building. It's a lot of fun.

Royal kits do typically have a lot of small blocks and pieces to be glued together and shaped with a plane or sanding block. Since you're, in effect, designing your own kit, you can do it your own way which may be easier. Royal kits/plans make very pretty airplanes.

First thing is to obtain a cheap source of good wood. Check Balsa USA, Lone Star, and Superior Balsa.

Look over the plans and determine, as best you can, what sizes and amounts of wood you need. Develop a bill of material.

Make your own kit. Cut whatever shape parts you need. Sort the rest of it by size.
Some parts will be used as is, like stringers and sheets. Other parts, like ribs, will need to be cut. I use a 1/16" plywood template for this.

Now you're ready to build. I recommend starting on the tail surfaces first, then the wing and finally the fuselage. Go slowly to avoid building yourself into a corner, i.e. glueing in the firewall before installing the engine mount blind nuts.

Good luck with it and keep us posted.

Dr.1

RE: New guy needs help
 

Best method I've found for shaping parts is to make a couple of duplicates of the plans. Glue the rib template (or former or whatever) to a rough cut piece of wood. Sand it to shape with a belt or disk sander. Works great - especially when you are dealing with different shaped ribs at every station (i.e. elliptical or tapered wings).