Boomerang1

Does anyone still just hack it & see if it flys or has the world gone CAD crazy?

I'm a true scratch builder (I draw my own plans with my own mistakes, not copy other's mistakes) and still use the TLAR engineering principals. Am I the last dinosaur or are others out there still just having a lash? - John.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I suppose it would depend. I cad drew up a ME109. But I hacked a ugly stick. You dont really need plans for that. Its fun to just throw something together and see what happens. We get engineering students at our club field every now and then and what they come up with can be pretty funny. And other times, I am amazed it flys. The last one was a 5 lb plane that had to be able to carry 5 lbs.
Edwin

blikseme300

My Feedback: (118)

CAD is for sissies!

I have done scratch planes using the white melamine of my workbench or the prints off a plotter. No matter which method, your creativity is still challenged.

I have done things like having a prop and a cowl only and designing a plane behind this. It was a Extra cowl and I ended with something that resembled a Skybolt. The wingspan was 70".

Smaller planes, including .010 control line, are knocked out on the wood itself, TLAR style. Building is FUN. Nothing gets close to the sense of accomplishment when your creation flies. Ahhh, the ARF crowd will never understand.

Bliksem

Highflight

My Feedback: (4)

Starting with a blank sheet of velum, some straight edges and French curves is fun sometimes, but CAD is much faster, more accurate, and doesn't require an old guy to hunch over a table for hours until his back goes out... again.

Going back to drafting plans on a table from CAD would be like getting rid of my Motorola DROID and going back to a "cell phone".

Sorry, ain't gonna' do it.

Avaiojet

John,

You're not alone.

Nothing in this space is CAD. Some are scratch built from my drawings. The Paige Gee Bee Z was extreamly altered to scale outlines.

I'll get them done one day.[sm=bananahead.gif]

Charles

dreadnaut

My Feedback: (5)

I do not hack when it comes to aircraft. I will occasionally "hack" a tool or process if a better way to do something strikes me in the middle of a project. I rarely have the budget for the waste that comes from lack of planning. It doesn't have to be CAD. It can be done on an old fashioned drawing board. For me the planning is an important part of scratch building. I use CAD for most of my planning, but always have a pencil and straight edge handy to check a potential "hack" before I execute it.

flyngfrog

I've built a couple of planes from scratch: one fly the other didn't. I must confess, mostly of my scratch building is modifications of kits, sometimes making of plans and new pieces of crashed planes.
Any way, the final product is really different of the original and flys different: if you change the wing geometry from square to sweep back, like an F-86 and it works, and the only thing you keep from the original is the ribs, I think is scratch building... at least, it is fun to have a different plane.

cougdave

I have drawn them up on paper, but after fifteen years of CAD, I am just so much faster with it than paper. I am planning to do a model plan on paper again, just for kicks. Something about the hand drawn plans, and all the eraser booger, and the black hand (I am a lefty, so I drag my hand over my pencil marks) that bring back memories of the good old days. It will either be a 1/2 A type model, or a big lazy floater for evening flying. (Unless one of my simple scale projects looks like it would be more fun hand drawn.) I use a bit of TLAR, but I check out my numbers to see if it has a chance of flying before I commit materials to the design. (Paper is cheaper than Balsa)

Good Luck, and safe flying,
Dave

ARUP

I use a pencil on paper to draw my plans in lieu of computer (I don't have the software or skills). If I had the money and time to learn I'd be interested in the Solid Works program. I can loft formers and such about as quick as anyone with a computer but the computer output will look nicer and won't have sweat and tear stains!

DeferredDefect

I usually draw a rough sketch of the frame, and build from that. I can't stand drawing up full plans.

Boomerang1

Glad to see I'm not alone!

Don't get me wrong, I'll use a computer to do some tasks (I'm not a complete luddite) but
for me I just like to draw something up within a scale outline & build it. I do like scale models.

I think once you get a bit of experience a complete dud is rare.

My last bit of 'practical engineering' was building a balsa glider to find the CG for an EDF delta.

It worked!

I'll second that. I've had a few plans published & drawing plans good enough for anyone to build from seems almost as much work as building the model. I'll stick to chicken scratches on butcher's paper! - John.

glowhead

Just finished a non-CAD airplane. I posted under "another scratch flies" Very light weight construction, all balsa.

Tall Paul

Traced the outline of the PZ T-28 to poster board, made a flat foamie plane from that.
Then using the layout of the T-28, did an AD-5W.

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

Mini Cap 232 Airplane built with NO C.A.D. Truly Scratch built.

Wingspan: 25"
Weight: 8 oz
Wing Loading : 6.56
Motor: Rimfire 250 Brushless
Lipo: 2S 300 mAh 7.4v 20C
Prop: 7x6 SF
ESC: Silver Series 8A Brushless 5V /1A BEC
Radio: 4 Ch HiTec Laser
Ailerion: 2 mini servos
Rudder: 1 mini servo
Elevator: 1 mini servo
Throttle: ESC

CochiseSignal8

I was pulling old wallhangers from the rafters. Cleaned up a mockup scratch plane i built ?how many years ago & took these pics. Skunkworks Twin nitro .25 Procratinator...thrust vectoring..high alpha...NOT. Didn't keep the drawings.
covering's pretty bad.....
Csig

lflf

My Feedback: (1)

All I do is "hack" it. I build a couple of planes every year, completely from scratch, and don't bother with drawing up plans or anything else. I just take a few basic ideas and go to town. Right now I'm building an "uglystik 500." It follows the dimensions of a quickie 500 pylon racer-50" wing span, 10" chord, 33" fuse, etc. All simple and of 3/16 and 3/32 balsa, a few 1/4 inch stiks, and the other stuff. Draw up my own airfoil on a stack of balsa and cut it out. I also build without a building board, have discovered a few tricks to hold the things together with wood weights, making tape, regular pins, clothes pins, etc, on a table top. These planes are very conventional, balsa, iron on covering, titebond for glue, and they fly very well. When I want another design I find a manual and basic dimensions on the internet and try one. Some would call it "lofting up" but maybe it is hacking. I no longer have the patience for plans and kits, and don't like to pay for an ARF, so I've come up with these methods that work for me. I keep a good store of used landing gear, tanks, and other stuff from past worn out or crashed airplanes and put it to use in a new one. Recycling so to speak. I get covering and balsa from tower, it could come from anywhere. I can build a plane for $30 covered. I have built many types of planes over the years doing it this way. ARFs are still a better deal if you add into it all your time because even a simple scratch built plane takes a lot of time and some expense to do as opposed to hiring some guy in a foreign country that will do it for $1 a day.

Flypaper 2

I enjoy drawing up plans as much as building. Something about having a creation grow on the paper. A crayon and a roll of butcher paper and I got'er made. The one in my avatar is one Here's the little foamy bipe called the Catsass that will fly around in knifedge with rudder only and steer with the elevator. I usually copy them onto Bristol board in case of an incident. Been doing it since the 60 so I hope I learned a bit. The square one is an experiment called the Butt Ugly for lack of a better name. It flies better that it looks.

Puff The Magic Dragon

My Feedback: (2)

I'm bad about modifying kits & ARF's on the fly. Sometimes the mod works, sometimes not. Right now I'm modifying a Nexstar. I have gone all electric because it is easier on my terrible back. I don't have to kneel over the electric on the ground, like a glow. Plug it in and throw it on the ground and I'm go to go. Having a bad back sucks out loud!!!!!(Fell Off Motor Grader).

CochiseSignal8

I hear ya! I crashed myself on a motocross bike so bad, they were gonnacut off my foot.Sometimes, I wish they did, with the pain & all. I started messing around with electric planes& heli's hoping they'd be easier. Then I buy this EDF foamy A-10 ARF, just to find out it's not the upgraded [brushless] version, & wont fly very well as is. No CNC here, gonna have tomakeall the adapter partsmanually. Don't think I've ever done so much machine workfor an RC plane!

whatwind

My Feedback: (1)

yes Hope to madin next Sunday

BeachNutz

I didn't use any plans for my foamie slope plans. All the plans Ineeded were in my head. You can get just about anything to fly. I know these planes are just foamies
and easy to design but still no plans, (well the ones in my head). Check out some of my build pictures.
http://ricksepulveda.com/RC/RC_NutZ.htm

digital_trucker

I've done it both ways, and both ways are great! To my mind, using TLAR on CAD is just as much of a hack job as using no plans at all. Back in the mid-80's I built a model powered by a Cox Queen Bee for full house control. The fuselage and tail were made of corrugated cardboard scavenged from paper boxes from a print shop where I worked, and the wing was built from balsa using the cracked rib method. I was a kid, and $$$ was hard to come by (some things never change, eh?). I used no plans at all, and the thing literally flew great right out of my hand with no trim needed. It kinda shocked a lot of the guys in the club at the time that it could maintain inverted flight with a flat-bottom airfoil, especially since the Cox QB is a bit heavy and underpowered. Nowadays I use CAD, mainly because it's easier for complex shapes.

...still have to see it in your mind first.

Chad H

Avaiojet/Charles,
that has got to be the coolest looking collection of models in production I have ever seen. Nice lookin shop just to sit in and get away from it all. I am a big golden age racer buff. Can you show us more pictures of your racer projects you are working on there with descriptions please?

Is that white fusulage a Wedell-Williams 44? I really like the look of Roscoe`s Gold 57 with that massive Hornet up front stuffed in a blistered cowl.

The Gee Bee Z is one of my top favourites. I like the proportions better over the R1-2. I have had a set of plans of Henry Haffke`s 72 inch span Z since I was about 18 or so (I`m 44 now..lol) and was finally was kicking around maybe building it soon. The cowl and pants I know are available for it. Or I was thinking of Wendell Hostetler's 81 inch (29%) one.

It looks like you might have more than one Z on the go there, please talk about them especially.

Here`s a few photo`s of a scratch built old timer I done a couple years ago, although non-scale. All wood, silk and dope finish, no decals

Thanks..................Chad.

Puff The Magic Dragon

My Feedback: (2)

Oh My, That Lancer is really awesome. I have always liked the Old Timers. Back in the 80's I built a small Quaker. It flew awesome. I have always wanted to build a Playboy Sr. By the way Orange is my favorite color.

Puff The Magic Dragon

My Feedback: (2)

Send your plans for the GeeBee to lazerworks in Texas. They will give you a price for laser cutting the parts. I bought the Laser Pack for the RCM Cessna Ag Wagon. I was very pleased with the quality.

Check Them Out.

http://www.lazer-works.com/list.html