BMatthews

This thread replaces the previous sticky threads and puts all the information into one place. To keep it simple, quick to access and uncluttered it is locked against replying. If you have a question about any of the information please start a new discussion thread with your question.

If you find that a link is not working or find some new resource that is worthy of being included please PM the information to BMatthews or Da_Rock and we will follow up.


Links in this post were tested on Dec 20, 2009. Please PM as directed above if you find any that are not working.

Links to Free Plans-

http://plans.am.free.fr/ Site is in french but it won't be hard to figure out ( the best spitfire plans!!!)

http://www.nefkom.net/elektroflug/download_e.htm - A page of links to other sites. Mostly free flight sport and scale but perhaps some could be used for conversions or scaled.

http://www.hobbys.com.br/plantas_zipadas.htm (spanish) - A collection of the same plans as found on http://plans.rcmodell.hu/ . And maybe a new one or two?

http://plans.rcmodell.hu/ - Joe's Airplane Model Plans page. Lots of good stuff for everyone from small to big and trainers to scale.

http://www.theplanpage.com - Old historical model plans. Mostly rubber and gas free flight. Many would be good for electric conversions.

http://www.mat.uc.pt/~pedro/aeromodelismo/Planos.html (spanish)

http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/li...os/planos.html (spanish) The site has the plans split into categories. It's easy to figure out where to go by just looking or trying out the options.

http://www.e-aeromodelismo.com.ar/Planos/Planos.htm (spanish) - a wide variety of nice plans. Some familiar and others unique to Europe. Split into categories. Everything from small free flight to big RC scale.

http://corsair.flugmodellbau.de/file...an/Bauplan.htm (german) another site that looks like it copied all the files from Joe's. But like many there may be a few new things from the locals.

http://my.pclink.com/~dfritzke/ - An eclectic collection of nostalgia RC plans mixed in with the odd bit of control line and free flight. It's an ever changing melange so drop by often and pickup anything you take a fancy to and save it since it may not be there the next time. Jr Falcon anyone?

http://www.tdmsoftware.com/majewski/...anrequest.html - a few plans from other sources re-done in CAD. You need to tell him a little about yourself to get the plan.

http://www.balsadust.net/thomas.vogel/Plans/ - Start on the left by clicking on the RC tag and follow through to get to the category you want. For the most part it seems to be another copy of the material I originally saw on Joe's site.

http://www.profili2.com/eng/default_plans.htm - a great collection. Some will be familiar from other sites but there's also a lot of unique stuff. Not organized by category so just wade through. MANY files to look at. There are thumbnails though so you don't need to download the file to see what it is.

http://www.parkjets.com - It's a busy webpage. The link to the free depron jet plans is about half way down the page on the left.

www.RippinFoamies.com - some nice indoor and outdoor depron foamies.

http://www.pldaniels.com/flying/index.html?page=plans - a couple of originals the site owner is sharing. Smaller sport designs.

http://www.willingtons.com/mymac/Plans_Download.htm - Some more copies of the stuff from Joe's site but with a good smattering of plans I have not seen anywhere else.

http://smoothair.rchomepage.com/plans.htm - Some interesting rubber scale models that may be useful as a basis for RC combat plans or light electric conversions.

http://agert.homelinux.org/~fredrik/flyg/ritningar - another appearance of the regulars along with a few that look to be from somewhere else. Well worth checking out.

http://plans.aerofred.com - a pretty good site but requires registration to gain entry. It's well worth it though if you're a planaholic. A lot of the usual common stuff but a lot of plans not seen elsewhere

http://ironelephant.blogspot.com/ - omostly old timer scale rubber models but one gas Great Lakes. The rubber models would be good for scaling into lightweight electrics or for the outlines.

http://borgpics.ulmb.com/Files/RC%20Plans/index.html - a few different options along with things like field boxes, benches, test stands, etc.

http://www.starcadplans.net/ - One of the oldest plans sites out there. He now requires registration to gain entry but StarCAD has some plans you won't find elsewhere. Worth the effort.

WARNING- This site requires registration http://freercplans.com/ - I didn't register but it seems to have a good variety of plans avaiable.

http://www.onerateads.com/RC-520.htm - A page of links. No real plans but there's some CAD building blocks that may be useful and links to a lot of other interesting stuff.

http://cineastv.forumeiros.com/banco...a-mil-t706.htm It's in Portuguese or Spanish but it's pretty simple to figure out what to do. Some familiar from above and some new.

http://aviationshoppe.com/airplane_p...ls.php?file=17 Lots of CAD files instead of simply images. - added 2012/03/27

http://www.mnbigbirds.com/Andersen%20Plans.htm Dave Anderson has graciously posted his plans for free for a lot of superb big scale jobs. -added 2013/08/30

An nice 2m span Turbo Porter plan by our own member Bo Denmark- EDITED 26-08-20 Original link is dead. But the plan is available at Aerofred. It is the first design on the page this link takes you to.. https://aerofred.com/search.php?sear...20PC6%20Porter

A site with a lot of vintage Free Flight sport and scale models that would adapt very neatly to RC electric power. Up over 5000 plans of all types at this point. www.outerzone.co.uk

NEW SITE added Jan 2016. A site with a number of medium to larger "cut and fold" scale designs made from foam board and possibly adaptable to Depron. If scaled down smaller copies in dollar store foam board could be done as well. http://rcfbaircraft.my-free.website/



Full size aircraft 3views and drawings-

http://www.airwar.ru/other/drawe.html

http://www.vought.com/heritage/html/down.html

http://www.seawings.co.uk/planspage.htm - Some nice drawings of all flying boats and seaplanes. Good stuff!

http://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/ - This site has a number of bitmaps available for viewing at reduced size or you can become a member and download the full resolution drawings. The 3views for aircraft are all just simple 3 views for the ones I checked out but if you're casually looking for a new subject to model it's a good first glance at what a lot of oddball aircraft look like. In particular they have a very good collection of WW1 drawings.

Printing assistance software options-

http://www.blackflight.com/ - Tileprint

MORE TOOLS AND GOOD STUFF IN PART 2 BELOW!

BMatthews

Part 2

Online calculators and simulators-

Foilsim 2-
a handy real time calculator that allows you to set up a wing then fly it at various speeds. Requires Java as a plugin app in your browser.
Online version- http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/foil2.html
Downloadable and installable version- http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/FoilSim/index.html

Servo torque calculators-
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/limeybob/Servotorque1.html
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/eflight/calcs_servo.htm

CG and Neutral Point calculators-
http://adamone.rchomepage.com/cg_calc.htm
http://www.geistware.com/rcmodeling/cg_super_calc.htm
This one is especially tailored for Canards- http://adamone.rchomepage.com/cg_canard.htm

Wing Loading Calculator-
http://adamone.rchomepage.com/design.htm#calculate

Mean Aerodynamic Chord - http://pagesperso-orange.fr/scherrer...glish/mce.html
Calculates the Mean Aerodynamic Chord (MAC) of swept and/or multi taper wings as well as simple wings.

Links to articles and downloadable material-

How Big The Tail- http://www.eaa62.org/technotes/tail.htm
An online article discussing some of the factors in sizing the horizontal and vertical tails.

Panknin wing twist for swept flying wings- http://www.b2streamlines.com/Panknin.html
Includes a link to the Excel spreadsheet calculator version for us math challenged folk. If you do not have Microsoft Office then the spreadsheet can be opened and run using the freely downloadable Open Office product from http://www.office-suite.org

A page of links related to flying wings- http://www.b2streamlines.com/winglinks.html

Michael Selig's airfoil site- http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/a..._database.html
If you can't find your airfoil of choice here then it's likely not worth using

Martin Hepperle's website with lots of good model aeronautical related material-
http://www.mh-aerotools.de/airfoils/index.htm

Model Aircraft Design Step-by-Step-
http://airfieldmodels.com/informatio...aft_design.htm

Link to a list of which aerofoils are used on full size aircraft.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~akmit...foil_usage.htm

Covert deflection angle to inches or inches to angle- http://www.aeroperfect.com/degree.html
Downloadable spreadsheet utility file.

Page of downloadable spreadsheets for calculating a lot of aspects. While these are said to be glider specific they should work fine for power models too. Included are two flying wing specific items. http://www.tailwindgliders.com/Files.html#Articles

Airfoil analysis and plotting software-

XFLR5 is an analysis tool for airfoils, wings and planes operating at low Reynolds Numbers. This package includes the original X-Foil. http://xflr5.sourceforge.net/xflr5.htm

Profili 2- airfoil plotter which includes X-foil. Accessing the X-foil plugin requires paying for the unlocking code. Basic plotting functions are free. http://www.profili2.com/eng/default.htm

Compufoil- One of the favourites and with excellent foam cutting template support; http://www.compufoil.com/index.shtml

Winfoil- http://www.winfoil.com/default.htm

Some NACA airfoil generators. Also Plotfoil. - http://www.jrdaly.rchomepage.com/software.html

Aeroplot- a free to download and use plotter that uses .dat files.
http://www.adaptivecnc.com/AeroPlot/Aero%20Plot.htm


Other items-

Digital controlled hot wire foam cutter- http://epp540.com/index.php?option=c...d=19&Itemid=43

http://www.ffscale.co.uk./ - a page of free flight stuff. There are links to some free flight plans that may serve as oulines for adaptation to RC of some form. There is also a number of technique article links that should serve at any size or model type.

A page with links to most of the sites selling commercially printed plans from magazines and many manufacturers as well as some noted designers that market their own plans.
http://www.kitcutters.com/PlanSuppliers.htm#Jerry