Balsa, thin ply and cardboard Twin Boom Pusher

[HappyRCFlyer]

My experience with this design began a while ago and have built and flown several out of foam and also full balsa. They all flew well, predictably, even a brand new creation, scaled or in the different materials, it was always the same plane, the go-to reliable and easy enough to fly including into the winds within reason. I am sharing the starting point all of those years ago of which you are urged to bust out your own upon:

Foamflyer's RC Airplanes

One of my latest versions of it is cardboard based with balsa and thin ply integrated along with. I also have a smaller version, full balsa profile format too.

The covering on it is a combination of Ultracoat Parklite for the opaque/blue and tinted Doculam for the rest.

I have and continue to build some sophisticated planes, lots more hours to build and more refined, this still is one I will bring along with regardless, it's just that kind of bird and I know regardless of what material you use and scale, you will fall in love with it too. My version/s take some creative liberty, so keep that in mind for those old school want to stick to the original format and plan purists for it's original design back in the day.

I do kit these, resell, etc., but it's a side business and it's a giant amount of time and nothing along profits are concerned to even talk about, you do it for the love of the hobby type of thing, ez to find me googling up Happy RC Flyer. One of our great people moderating here has a kit of it in his hands so prompting him into this post/new thread via private message and will be helping him along the way with his build upon.

 

[bisco]

that looks amazing, well done!

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Thanks!

 

[Piotrsko]

You are aware that the truism says: how do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start with a large fortune

Nice looking kit / plane

 

[LitterBug]

I recently received my kit. Been wanting to build something balsa for FPV and it looked like a good candidate being a pusher. Will add my build to this thread too, and hopefully FPV footage too.

Online build guide:

Build guide – Twin Boom Pusher – Happy RC Flyer

happyrcflyer.com

LB

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

You are aware that the truism says: how do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start with a large fortune

Nice looking kit / plane

Thanks, and it's really a love of the hobby more then any remote kind of thing you do to earn a living even with the best of them out there kit manufacturing wise.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

View attachment 256593

I recently received my kit. Been wanting to build something balsa for FPV and it looked like a good candidate being a pusher. Will add my build to this thread too, and hopefully FPV footage too.

Online build guide:

Build guide – Twin Boom Pusher – Happy RC Flyer

happyrcflyer.com

LB

I'm looking forward to seeing how you do putting this together. Are you going to be using the included Doculam on the covering or something else?

 

[LitterBug]

I'm looking forward to seeing how you do putting this together. Are you going to be using the included Doculam on the covering or something else?

I will use the Doculam for some if not all. May possibly use some red on the tail and control surfaces.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

I use a specialty paint to give it color and spray it on, on the adhesive side. I'm sharing how it can be done up not just for tinting, but also opaque and in this case, something conventional coverings can't do, with the faded red and yellow theme. I supplement the process by applying glue stick to the surfaces it's going to adhere too, something helpful more so with the thicker applied coats like this. Just tinted though the adhesive doesn't have a problem doing it's job and it's nice that you don't have to worry about the paint scratching or flaking off from the surface.

You have plenty of extra Doculam to play around with and try out different paints and the rest upon.

 

[Piotrsko]

Never thought about painting the inside, but that's what moneycoat and a lot other coverings use. As long as it gets gooey and somewhat sticky should work.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

You can scuff up the outside of it and paint it that way too. I haven't tried it yet but the Doculam can be covered in tissue for a vintage type of look, shown in the attachement. I still like using just regular tissue from time to time, mainly out of nostalgia since that's what I grew up with using, it's also something I recommend for people to practice with since you can lay it down with glue stick and remove it afterwards. On one of the twin boom photo's it shows an earlier format I did with the rounded nose/fuse format, the wing was covered in dollar store tissue.

 

[Piotrsko]

Ever try actual silk? Other than needing a hundred coats of paint* , I like it better than anything thermo set today. Well, except for thermo set polyester handkerchiefs. BABUSHKA if you're Polish.

*yep last one I did in silk took that many.

 

[bisco]

Do you need heating tools for silk?

 

[Piotrsko]

Yes and no. Ironing the wrinkles out, no. Shrinking stubborn wrinkles out: sometimes, but very low temp because dope paints melt at very low temps and make your mom mad for ruining her clothes iron. Silk was shrunk tight by misting with water

 

[bisco]

do you have to paint it?

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Ever try actual silk? Other than needing a hundred coats of paint* , I like it better than anything thermo set today. Well, except for thermo set polyester handkerchiefs. BABUSHKA if you're Polish.

*yep last one I did in silk took that many.

Not yet and see it's going to require so much paint, not likely in the future near by too. Fabric covering is in the realm of much larger planes to make practical, it's why it's used in full scale ones. I may tinker around with it later, just fabric, old t shirt stock in my mind here, for now, happy to play around with Doculam and make it more mainstream, sadly it was tossed away for ages when it was offered in kits in year on past, partially due to the wrong mil thickness, partially, nobody took the time out to best develop it for proper adhesion and the rest I suppose. Its really much like Monocoat, not a great deal of difference in using it, outside in my own I use, it's higher temp.

 

[Piotrsko]

Don't actually need a hundred coats of paint on fabric, only two works , BUT it just keeps getting better looking as you add coats. Full Size people carrying needs around 7 IIRC. Since I was doing this way back, Doculam kinda died because it was not colored and got expensive. Want a red Doculam airplane? Then you gotta rattle can with associated paint issues like a red paint flurry when it crashes. The adhesive was wet and required a non stick backing which was a turn off for many. Eventually around the first fuel crisis it got to be pricier than moneycoat which is fatal. Had to be careful, the Doculam would shrink break your airplane if you used the thick stuff and got it good and hot.

 

[HappyRCFlyer]

Going with just a tint, a can of spray paint can go a pretty far way. I need to stock up on more paint, I gave out the tinted covering that I didn't use for my own builds upon. Taking it to market as an option is not realistic though, it's pretty toxic fumes and you have to explain to people it's not going to be machine level along density since it's rattle can like that. Still, after applying it you can hardly tell it was done by hand like that.

From reports on back about people getting it in their kits back in the day, it was largely discarded and I think just for the fact, it was free, like they offer in tissue with many kits to this day which often don't get used for the same reason, or with tissue, not very good quality. I just wasn't happy spending a lot of money on tinted covering which is one of the reasons I started using it. I still have my favorite, Ultracoat on hand for use when ever along with, it's Park Lite version is the same mil and weight as the Doculam I use.