Help! Designing my first rc airplane. Need some help:)

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
You need a much sharper knife than your Swiss Army
1703275571770.jpeg
 

Shurik-1960

Well-known member
Your material makes excellent lightweight wings on a foam cutting machine, which must be reinforced with charcoal. Your knife is very funny! Have you tried chopping with an axe? There are inexpensive very sharp stationery knives. I cut out all the models with these knives.
In a hardware store, I advise you to buy a 3mm thick foam tile without a pattern, white or blue for the ceiling. This is an excellent material for modeling and in our Lerya Merlen it costs 50 cents a pack of 10 sheets. This is enough for me for 3 models with a span of up to 1 meter.
 
Last edited:

quorneng

Master member
ItanMark
There are two basic ways of using foam to make a plane
Cut out the shape you want from blocks of foam or build up the shape required using thin foam sheets .

Block foam tends to be really light so it needs reinforcing in some way to arrive at a strong and stiff enough structure.
Sheet foam is heavier and iit may be paper covered but is stronger and stiffer. To keep the weight down the final structure tends to be more hollow. With the appropriate design It is possible that a built up sheet foam structure can be strong and stiff enough to need no further reinforcing.
The Flight Test planes available on this site are intended to use their own "maker board" sheet foam.

With careful design along with some experience and skill it is possible to make quite complex planes from thin sheet foam.
21Apr18.JPG

A Cessna Skymaster. My own design not a kit and all built up from sheet foam just 3mm thick. To be fair I had built many simpler foam & balsa planes before I tackled this. ;)
Take 'own design' at a steady pace learning as you go but expect some disappointments along the way.
I hope this helps.
 

ItanMark

Member
Hello everyone! Sorry for not giving any updates for so long, i was just enjoying Christmas holidays. Bow i’m getting back to work. I am going to buy all of the following components from this site: rc-factory.eu
1x Flysky FS-i6
1x Volta X2212/1000 motor
1x 20A ESC
1x Volta 1500mAh 3S LiPo
I have a couple of questions:
1. Since someone here said, that different 2212 motors have different thrust, is that volta motor going to be enough?
2. Does anyone here have any experience with the brands that i listed or the rc-factory company?, and if so, is there anything i should know about befor buying the stuff?
 
Last edited:

Shurik-1960

Well-known member
Dear novice pilot. New modelers appear on this site almost every day with the same questions. I will summarize all the suggestions and answers : 1. The motor is selected depending on the flight weight of the future model in the calculation of 1:1 (trainer) 1:2 (aerobatic acrobatic). 1:1.5 FPV... 2. Based on the maximum power consumed by the motor, a voltage regulator is selected 3. The difference between the recommended flight weight of the model and the actual weight of the airframe+ motor+ regulator+ servomechanisms + additional devices = the weight of the battery, which is selected by current output (1S, 2S,3S,4S ...). Therefore, when creating a model, I adhere to the CULTURE of AIRFRAME WEIGHT: minimum airframe weight with maximum strength. Motors with seemingly the same number have different traction: different magnets and their number, different winding and different wire quality. As a rule, good engines are of well-known brands.Yellow Chinese engines rarely pull 50% of the declared characteristics.Have a good flight.
 

ItanMark

Member
Just got my components! Excited as a kid on Christmas!
Also, got a question:
It says in the flysky fs-i6 manual, that it can monutor receiver voltage. Is that any useful? Bc i know that battery voltage is useful to know…
IMG_7522.jpeg
 

Shurik-1960

Well-known member
Congratulations on your purchase.Ahead of you is the first flight, which will remain deep in your memory with a lot of adrenaline and delight.
 

Piotrsko

Master member
Battery voltage isn't rocket science. Charge it to full then let it run on the ground until it beeps or stuff gets erratic using some method of keeping time. Your phone should have an app for that. Ditto for the airborne pack. Except move the servos every so often. I used to get 4hours constant use out of the transmitter, ten flights out of the airborne pack.
 

ItanMark

Member
Battery voltage isn't rocket science. Charge it to full then let it run on the ground until it beeps or stuff gets erratic using some method of keeping time. Your phone should have an app for that. Ditto for the airborne pack. Except move the servos every so often. I used to get 4hours constant use out of the transmitter, ten flights out of the airborne pack.
I’n sorry. I think i did not form my question right:) I was asking: I know that battery voltage matters, and i found out that my remote can show me my receiver voltage. So, the auestion is - is knowing receiver voltage any useful?
 

ItanMark

Member
Also, I still have not settled on the type of foam I will use - i know that I was asking something similar before. I know, that i`m going to use sheet foam. In the local store they have 2 types of it: one light but kinda fragile, and the other one heavier, but stronger. I`m leaning towards the stronger one, but i really need help to choose.
 

Shurik-1960

Well-known member
The full charge for the 3S battery is 12.6 volts, the allowed discharge is 11.1-11.2 volts. The voltage information on the receiver will allow you to make a decision in time to return closer to the takeoff point and land.
 

Shurik-1960

Well-known member
I always try to use a light foam. After finishing work on the model, I make a fitting with colored tape with a model iron. Foam covered with adhesive tape becomes very durable and bends easily . When making curved planes, I paste transparent adhesive tape on the foam over the entire surface and bend it in the right direction.Then I remove the transparent tape.
 

quorneng

Master member
ItanMark
According to this German web site the Volta X2210/1000 motor has a max rating of 250W, that would be 22A on a fully charged 3s LiPo. It the prop fitted to the motor that determines the Watts it draws. I note you have a 20A ESC so this will be the Amp limit rather than what the motor is capable of. You might be well advised to get a 30A ESC. Overload a motor a bit and it gets hot. Over load an ESC and it fails!
It is the weight of your plane that largely determines how much power you need. You need considerably more power to do aerobatics than to just gently cruise around.
A power to weight of 100W/lb would be perfectly adequate for a basic plane so unless you anticipate building particularly big and heavy (over 2lbs ready to fly) your motor and battery would be suitable.
A lot will come down to how well you can build in the foam of your choice.
I hope this helps.
 

ItanMark

Member
ItanMark
According to this German web site the Volta X2210/1000 motor has a max rating of 250W, that would be 22A on a fully charged 3s LiPo. It the prop fitted to the motor that determines the Watts it draws. I note you have a 20A ESC so this will be the Amp limit rather than what the motor is capable of. You might be well advised to get a 30A ESC. Overload a motor a bit and it gets hot. Over load an ESC and it fails!
It is the weight of your plane that largely determines how much power you need. You need considerably more power to do aerobatics than to just gently cruise around.
A power to weight of 100W/lb would be perfectly adequate for a basic plane so unless you anticipate building particularly big and heavy (over 2lbs ready to fly) your motor and battery would be suitable.
A lot will come down to how well you can build in the foam of your choice.
I hope this helps.
I actually got an 30 amp esc so it’s fine:)
That helps, thanks
Also, by the way, isn’t 250:12.6 more like 19?
 

ItanMark

Member
I always try to use a light foam. After finishing work on the model, I make a fitting with colored tape with a model iron. Foam covered with adhesive tape becomes very durable and bends easily . When making curved planes, I paste transparent adhesive tape on the foam over the entire surface and bend it in the right direction.Then I remove the transparent tape.
I always try to use a light foam. After finishing work on the model, I make a fitting with colored tape with a model iron. Foam covered with adhesive tape becomes very durable and bends easily . When making curved planes, I paste transparent adhesive tape on the foam over the entire surface and bend it in the right direction.Then I remove the transparent tape.
Ok. So ima use adhesive tape. Also, that’s quite an impressive plane!
 

ItanMark

Member
Hello everybody! I have got a question: What angle should the wing and the horizontal stabilizer be in in relation to the fuselage? Also, i asume that the angle i measured using the wing chord, but i`m not sure, ho is it for the fuselage.
 

Tench745

Master member
Hello everybody! I have got a question: What angle should the wing and the horizontal stabilizer be in in relation to the fuselage? Also, i asume that the angle i measured using the wing chord, but i`m not sure, ho is it for the fuselage.
From an aerodynamic standpoint, the wing and tail don't care what angle the fuselage is at, they care more about what their angle is relative to each other.
On many of the FT airplanes the bottom skin of the wing and the horizontal stabilizer are both horizontal. This puts the chord-line of the wing (a line from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the airfoil) at a slightly positive angle of incidence.

Assume that when flying level, your horizontal stabilizer will be parallel with the horizon. Use that as a reference to figure out the angle where the fuselage will look right when flying straight and level. A fuselage that looks too nose high or too nose low in level flight makes it really hard to tell whether the plane is about to stall.

Edit: If I didn't explain it well enough, I can draw up some diagrams to communicate it a little better.
 

Tench745

Master member
Also, got a question:
It says in the flysky fs-i6 manual, that it can monutor receiver voltage. Is that any useful? Bc i know that battery voltage is useful to know…
Receiver voltage isn't the most useful thing to monitor on an electric plane, because the receiver usually gets its power from the flight battery through some kind of voltage regulator, either a BEC built into the ESC or a stand-alone BEC. If you notice the receiver voltage dropping then the battery is probably dead enough that the motor has already quit.

It is more useful on gas/nitro powered planes which have a receiver battery that might not get recharged for multiple flights. Potentially useful in a glider as well, for the same reasons.
 
Last edited: