Scratch Build Templates

[Scorp11157]

Ok so I have been building Ft models for a little over a year now and ashamed to say have only just started making lasting templates of my cut out plans . I think we all do it sometime . We have intentions of doing so but sometimes it is just quicker to mount the plans and then build the plane and viola we destroyed possible templates to quickly reproduce model again if we choose .

My question out to the community is to see if anyone would be interested in pre fab templates out of card stock we can purchase from flite test.. I know in my experience so far it is at least an extra 2 to 3 hour process( plus materials such as posterboard, tape , adhesive etc,) to create these plus the fact that you have cut out an airplane and then have to do it again for real. I know they say that convenience is the necessity to production. Inherently we like instant gratification and are partially lazy.

To me it would be worth having the ability to purchase pre cut out templates of my favorite planes to just skip the process and get strait to the building . when we weigh the time it takes to get the plans printed out, then trim the pages so we can tape them together , and then mount to card stock , laminate them with tape and spend the time to cut them out.

Being that I know we get inspiration from the community I believe so does flite test get inspired by us . So knowing this thread will eventually be viewed by flite test . Tell me/ them your thoughts on the idea. I for one would love to see it happen. Just another way we could support flite test for all they do for us. I wouldn't think it is to far of a stretch from a production standpoint , printed plans on card stock and they have the lazers for cutting.


On a side note share your experience on how you go about making your templates. if you have a quick way , products you use, process you go through to make it happen .

Mine goes something like this

1 Print out the plans
2 piece them together with tape after trimming plans
3 mount plans to card stock ( either with double sided tape from dollar store or adhesive spray)
4. Laminate pieces with packaging tape so they will last longer
5 cut out Parts
6 tape templates to foam board and use a needle to poke out design on board
7 connect lines on board and cut out
8 rinse wash and repeat... lol

What I end up with looks something like this ( my arrow templates)

Also a side tip , unless you want your wrists hurting from trying to handle a small needle. I made this with a split skewer and a T-pin

 

[Henry]

I use templates but I'm not quite as fastidious as you. I don't laminate them and I draw around the template with a mechanical pencil rather than use the pin holes.

It would be good to get a highly accurate set of templates, there's always a bit of slop introduced when making the templates plus transferring them to the foam board. Plus the time saving would be nice, but I'm not sure it's going to work out economically. They would cost the same as the kit.

 

[jtrops]

I make templates for the planes we build in our high school RC flying club. So far we have templates for: Tiny Trainer, Sparrow, and Arrow (also have a 300% Scout).

The last template I made was for the Arrow, and it took a little over half an hour to make.
I start by printing the full size plans, so I don't need to tile them. I do use PhotoShop to select only the parts that I will be needing for the template, and then arrange them so they fit on a piece of board. I don't make duplicate templates for pieces that are mirror images, we just flip the template to make the other side (wings, spars...).

Then I use spray adhesive to attach it to a piece of railroad board. After that I cut them out with scissors inside the lines so that when it is traced the line ends up in about the same place. I poke a pin through the corners for any interior cuts, and that's it.

Transferring the plan to foamboard takes a few minutes, and then I cut everything out with an X-Acto freehand foamboard cutter. The last Sparrow that I built was about 45 minutes from blank foamboard to plane. Of course it was another 20 minutes to get all of the rods, controls, and power connected and calibrated, but still an hour to have a flying plane is pretty cool. I'm not sure the speed build kit would be much faster (maybe 15 minutes).

I know that this probably seems a little sloppy with freehand cutting, but in practice it hasn't seemed to be a problem. The first TT template I made was done much more carefully with straight edges, and X-Acto knife, but aside from the extra time it took to make it there was really no difference in the end result. I had to make that template again because a student "borrowed" it, and I never saw it again.

 

[Scorp11157]

I use templates but I'm not quite as fastidious as you. I don't laminate them and I draw around the template with a mechanical pencil rather than use the pin holes.

It would be good to get a highly accurate set of templates, there's always a bit of slop introduced when making the templates plus transferring them to the foam board. Plus the time saving would be nice, but I'm not sure it's going to work out economically. They would cost the same as the kit.

I draw around the outside of my templates for out line , I use pin holes to put in cut and spar lines and anything inside the template