Balsa ft

[Robot_Child]

Has anyone tried to make a flight test plane outa balsa? Like instead of foam balsa wood. I’m kinda thinking of doing that

 

[Bo123]

Has anyone tried to make a flight test plane outa balsa? Like instead of foam balsa wood. I’m kinda thinking of doing that

People have done it and it should be possible.

 

[Tench745]

Entirely possible. You'll probably be using balsa sheet thinner than the 3/16" that foamboard is, so you will probably need to engineer some sort of structure to add strength to the balsa sheeting.

 

[Robot_Child]

Yea could do like a cross beam under it. A challenge that I see is that balsa has a grain and foam doesn’t. Also balsa made good is stronger than foam. I think there would be leeway to have holes in it and just cover it with covering. How thick of balsa do y’all think?

 

[Piotrsko]

I have built balsa sheet biplane RC gliders back in the day when one could get shapes fairly cheap: tapered 1/4" sheet about 3inches wide and 36" long. Stuck a 1/4" square spruce spar at the high point, 3/16" doubled profile fuselage, was one of my best flying planes