Balsa planes

flyingcat

Junior Member
Hey flitetest. I love your show and everything you guys do. I have always wanted to build the mikeys fpv v3 that you reviewed and the baby blender but i cant build any of them because there is no dollar tree foam here (Australia) or even depron for that matter, and i know that people in Britain have also had the same problem, so i was thinking, why not do some balsa scratch builds? balsa is available every where and it would mean a lot more people would be able to watch and build from your videos if the scratch builds were all balsa. i am actually part way through building a balsa version of the baby blender and will post pics if it when its finished. also core flute is globally available so why not use that for some smaller planes?

thanks. :)
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
I doubt that FT will go 100% balsa, but agree it would be great to see some balsa building.

G
who prefers balsa
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
I have always heard that BALSA IS FLYING BETTER!
I agree as i have used foam to most kind of models from tiny 40 gram (2 oz) models up to twin engine 6 ft span models.
My balsa models fly better and longer than the foam planes - but foam is better if you have to land among thornes as sometimes needed when sloping.
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
I love flying balsa. It's something I can't put my finger on. A pain to repair though, as I'm experiencing at the moment with a plane I managed to land firmly (but not overly hard) on its wheels on long grass after an aileron servo (HXT900) failure...
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
.. I managed to land firmly (but not overly hard) on its wheels on long grass after an aileron servo (HXT900) failure...
Dont land on long grass if you have landing gears on the plane ;-)
I would like to see a picture of the plane. I think balsa is a lot easier to repair with a nice result.
 
The beauty of balsa repairs is that they are often hidden beneath covering. Non transparent covering will hide a multitude of sins. With foam, all your transgressions are openly displayed in the form of scabby looking glue lines and tape.
 

pgerts

Old age member
Mentor
The beauty of balsa repairs is that they are often hidden beneath covering. Non transparent covering will hide a multitude of sins. With foam, all your transgressions are openly displayed in the form of scabby looking glue lines and tape.
The beauty of balsa repairs does not need to be hidden.
100_0130-1000.JPG

Take a look at theMargarita from HobbyKing
senorita-sub2(1).jpg
 

baronbernie

Member
Having built a few balsa planes and did not really enjoy them, find that foam planes are much lighter and more enjoyable to fix. Maybe this is why I enjoy foam building so much.
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Here's what I'm doing at this very moment...

Maidened my Maxford Stearman in wind. This is what I'm doing because of that:
 

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MrClean

Well-known member
Chopping off a bay I hope.

Not a big fan of full wing cubs. But that's an old Modelnet story that I'll leave alone for now.
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
I love full wing cubs, with flaps and floats that just hang in the air like a balloon. I like the short take off and landing capability. Never cared for the extra speed of a clipped wing.
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Mr. Clean is a self-admitted Cub Hater. I don't know where I saw this, maybe on one of the SPAD sites. Its ok, though. We are tolerant of people's beliefs, here. ;)
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
How is it possible to hate cubs? That's like hating baseball and apple pie....wait....I hate baseball. Hmmmmmm....
 

JollySwagman

Junior Member
Hey flitetest. I love your show and everything you guys do. I have always wanted to build the mikeys fpv v3 that you reviewed and the baby blender but i cant build any of them because there is no dollar tree foam here (Australia) or even depron for that matter, and i know that people in Britain have also had the same problem, so i was thinking, why not do some balsa scratch builds? balsa is available every where and it would mean a lot more people would be able to watch and build from your videos if the scratch builds were all balsa. i am actually part way through building a balsa version of the baby blender and will post pics if it when its finished. also core flute is globally available so why not use that for some smaller planes?

thanks. :)
Hi, (or should I say G'Day?)
I'd like to see some balsa planes on FT too but you can get stuff similar to DollarTree foamboard at art supplies shops.
I get 32" x 40" boards (aren't we supposed to be metric??) for about $8-$10 each in Sydney. There's depron available in Sydney too but way up on the North Shore but there's online suppliers too (add "site:.au" to your Google searches to get .au only sites)