F/A-18 Dollar tree Build from Steve Shumate plans

Flynn

Member
Hi guys, I've loved the F-18 since I was a little boy and after building the FT F-22 and having a lot of fun, I was looking for something more. I wanted something with more of a three dimensional look. I came across the "plans" one day and I figured I'd see what I could do. The plans have the basic views, top and side so I started laying them out like a swappable build.
 

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Flynn

Member
I started with the main fuselage. These plans have the body of the plane in two parts. I laid the side view down, traced that out. I measured the foam board to get the distance for the bottom piece. After the bottom was traced, I flipped the side and traced that. I have a template for the nose, which told me that the sides of the main fuse needed to be on top of the bottom piece. B fold style I believe.
 

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Flynn

Member
Sorry about not posting an update. This weekend has been a rollercoaster. I worked 15 hours of OT this weekend, we had a family member pass away and a baby's christening. I did make more progress, it'll just be a couple days before I can post it
 

mudman1959

Active member
f18.jpg


I built one of these several years back... I did some mods to it to make the wing removable and did not make the forward mount strong enough and it broke in flight after just pulling out of a dive. The wing survived but the fuselage was a complete loss. I never did build another one but I still have the wing and the cutouts from the plans to build one again someday... It flew great, just keep it lite. Posting a short video and a photo of it for you... Mudman1959
 

Flynn

Member
Sorry guys, been a rough week.

So I did the AFT section as the front. Laid out the sides and the bottom, with 3/16" space for the fold. I needed to round the back sides and the bottom so I removed the paper to curve it nicely.

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I put the wing on and thought it looked "ok". I've flown the F-22 with a flat wing and it flies "ok". I thought I could put a small airfoil in the wing.

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I basically did the spar at 40% and used the Versa wing design, just scaled it down to meet my needs. It's awesome to use the building skills I've learned to add to the plans.

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The Spar is just one foam strip cut to 1/2" wide and a small piece at the body end to give it some taper.

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I also figured I'd leave the ailerons attached. For me the paint sticks better to the minwaxed plane, so less things I have to tape the better.

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AND!

I just got these from Hobbyking. I have no idea if they will even work, but I was maybe going to use them on this project. We'll see how much the plane weighs.

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. . . more to come!