FliteTest scratch build plans

[Agent CAL]

I am planning on teaching a class on building foam board planes at my son's charter school. We are planning on building gliders and the Mighty Mini Speedster. I want to start from raw foam board with the kids to emphasize the ability to make great things from raw materials. My own kids have built and flown many foam board planes, tirelessly taping together printed sheets from the Flite Test website and cutting out the pieces. I would like to skip the taping of plans step in my class due to time limitations. Does anyone have any advice on how to short cut this step with minimal cost? We have looked into Office Max printing of the files for the plans but at 10 or 20 kids in the class the cost may be prohibitive. Any help would be great!

Michael Lawson
Sacramento Ca

 

[Snarls]

Make some reusable templates out of foamboard or even thin plywood if you can. Then you can easily place the templates on a fresh piece of foam and trace the pattern. For scores and bend locations you can make a notch or hole in the template to mark the beginning and end of the score or bend line.

 

[RAM]

...or move away from the speedster and let them build the FT flyer. More connect the dots

 

[Kurt0326]

There is a DIY poster board template article on the flite test site.
http://flitetest.com/articles/make-reusable-templates-from-plans

Also there is the tiny trainer chuck glider you could try out with the kids.

 

[Agent CAL]

That's funny, I didn't get an email notification for these replies.

@Kurt0326 I think the Tiny Trainer is definitely a go-to, as it's made precisely for these situations. As these are 9/10 year olds, I wanted to make sure the planes were as easy to fly as possible. We were looking into the mini speedster and the other mini (what was it I forgot) since they were 3 channel, and were under the "novice" section on the store.

Also, I heard on the podcast that there's a foam board pusher (a.k.a. Bixler ripoff lol) coming down the pipe, it sounds like that might be an option if we get some kids flying.

@Snarls We just got a space cleared to build demo planes and prepare in general, I'll try out the foam template idea. Thanks @Kurt0326 for that article, that'll be handy.

@RAM I noticed the original speed build kits were in the intermediate store section, does that mean anything? Or are they still a viable option for beginners? I haven't built one of those yet.


Btw the original post was my dad using my account, so this is me now...

 

[RAM]

You would have to ask FliteTest why they have it in the intermediate section. Josh Bixler used it as a trainer for Josh Scott in this video.

 

[SP0NZ]

The FT explorer is the pusher trainer (bixler type) plane. I saw it flying at Flite Fest. It looked like it flew really well when they were playing pass the transmitter with it. From what I saw, it will be a very popular plane when it comes out.

 

[Corbarrad]

I'm in the process of making a "tree hugger" version of the tiny trainer plans, ie fits onto one regular printer sheet and contains all the measurements you need to draw the plans directly onto foam board with the help of a straightedge (and maybe a compass).
I might make minimal adjustments to make the cutting process easier... If everything goes according to my normal modus operandi expect the plans to be out no later than christmas 2025...