Help! Can anyone give me some tips on how to build an aircraft from plans

TheNewZealandRyan

New member
Hi there,
Can I please have some tips and tricks on plan building? I haven't built before and wish to make a Sopwith Scout/Pup. Any help would be majorly appreciated.

Ryan
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
If referring to FT plans I ask can you get the plans printed because if not you will need to draw them out yourself manually.

With the plans you can go old school and clamp or otherwise secure the plans to the FB and push a pin through each intersection on the plans.

Remove the plans from the FB and using a pencil play join the dots on the FB.

From there just cut out the pieces and start assembling!

Have fun!
 

Forster

Slow, low and dirty.
Do you have a plan yet? Would you list the link? Probably easier to give advice if we know what you're building.
 

jamboree1

Active member
Have you watched any of Flite Test's build video's? You can start there, pick one of their simpler planes like the FT Flyer. Watch a few vid's and get the basic understanding on how they are built.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I will say that I print out the plans in tiled format, since they fit onto an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper, then trim it down using a paper trimmer, to the appropriate sizes using the guide marks. Once that's done, I use a spray tack/spray glue (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and Walmart sell it; I'm sure there are other craft/hobby stores that sell it as well) made by Elmer's, but there are multiple brands that put it into an aerosol can - and spray down the foam board, lay my sheets down as best I can to get them aligned on the foam board, and then start cutting out around the outlines.

I use a cheap flexible metal ruler along the long, straight lines for wing edges, primarily to help keep them as straight as possible; I think I picked it up from Harbor Freight? it's more of just a guide to keep everything as straight as I can get it for gluing together, and it works pretty well.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I think you said "building from plans" and a bunch of us thought you meant "building from FliteTest plans" - but you really meant plans for a balsa stick build.

Am I right? :unsure:
 

TheNewZealandRyan

New member
I think you said "building from plans" and a bunch of us thought you meant "building from FliteTest plans" - but you really meant plans for a balsa stick build.

Am I right? :unsure:
I meant for a Foamie. I found some plans for the Sopwith Scout/Pup and am going to print them soon. I just have to get my hands on some foam board before I get to building

Thanks to everyone who has helped as well

Ryan
 

TheNewZealandRyan

New member
Do you have a plan yet? Would you list the link? Probably easier to give advice if we know what you're building.
The plan is attached. I got it of Aerofred.com but it looks a little too angled in the top view of the fuselage and I was thinking I could alter it from a three view I saw in the March 'Aeroplane' Magazine.
 

Attachments

  • sopwith_pup_rtp.pdf
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DamoRC

Elite member
Mentor
Are you planning on building "FT Style"? Then I would just use one of the FT flat bottomed wings as a template.

DamoRC
 

Tench745

Master member
So what you're really asking, is how to build a foamy from a 3-view drawing. Because these plans you have are for a 18inch wingspan model built out of balsa, and on top of that are not intended for an RC model. Could you build a foam rc plane in this size from these plans? Maybe, but you'd have to know and/or learn one heck of a lot about what you're doing.
If, however you just used these plans as a 3-view to base a build off of you might do alright. Still, I'd recommend getting a few other builds under your belt before trying it unless you're up for a challenge. Either way, I'd recommend building it at either 150% or 200% the size indicated in those plans. For reference, the Mini Scout has a wingspan of 24".
 

jamboree1

Active member
As i understand with those Pup plans is they are not 100% accurate, you may have to improvise along the way