Greetings!
I'm an American living in Taiwan, where there is no Dollar Tree and thus no DTFB. And Flite Test doesn't ship here, so everything I do is scratch built. We do not have paper-backed foam board here at all, but we do have 5mm and 3mm paperless board.
I teach STEM at an international school here, and for two years I have been teaching a Flight Science class where we learn about the principles of flight by scratch-building FT planes (EZ Glider and Sparrow) using Experimental Airlines's technique of laminating the paperless foam with packing tape.
Today I'm showing off the start of my pet project: the MICRO Sportster. It is scaled down Mini Sportster for ultimate cuteness!
Because the foam here is 5mm (slightly larger than 3/16") and 3mm (significantly smaller), there's always a certain amount of adjustment that has to be done to make FT plans fit. In this case, however, I've taken the standard Mini Sportster plans and shrunken them down to 63% of the original: the difference between 3mm and 4.7625mm (3/16 in). What results is an almost half-scale Mini Sportster that is incredibly adorable!
The first step I did was to print out the Mini Sportster A-plans at 63% scale, and then tape them together and glue them to card stock. We get large sheets of pretty sturdy card stock from the local stationery store... in fact, everything I build with comes from the local stationery store, which are popular stores all over Taiwan. Every public school has at least a couple nearby, so supplies are pretty easy to come by.
This is what the plans look like after they've been printed, pasted, and cut out.
For size reference, there's a glue stick in there, and the measurements at the bottom of my cutting mat are centimeters. Spoiler Alert: It's small.
I'm doing everything by hand, so cutting out accurately is exceedingly important, particularly at this scale. A little misalignment makes a big difference when your whole airplane is is only 37cm wingspan and 30cm long!
Here's a view of the two gauges and the tiny tiny Micro Power Pod in my hand. Aren't they just blinking adorable??
For decorating, since the whole thing is going to be covered in packing tape, all the color goes directly on the foam. Using only ball-point pen, permanent black marker, and a yellow dry-erase marker, this is the color scheme I've come up with (so far) for the plane. Ironically, the yellow marker was purchased on my last trip to the US... at a Dollar Tree.
It's very interesting to be working at this scale, and while I don't even know if it's going to be possible for it to fly, since the Reynolds value for the wing is affected by wing area, I hope at least to show it to my students as an example of what can be achieved with foam board when using great patience and care.
I will update with more pictures as the build progresses, and I would love any feedback you have on my little pet project!
I'm an American living in Taiwan, where there is no Dollar Tree and thus no DTFB. And Flite Test doesn't ship here, so everything I do is scratch built. We do not have paper-backed foam board here at all, but we do have 5mm and 3mm paperless board.
I teach STEM at an international school here, and for two years I have been teaching a Flight Science class where we learn about the principles of flight by scratch-building FT planes (EZ Glider and Sparrow) using Experimental Airlines's technique of laminating the paperless foam with packing tape.
Today I'm showing off the start of my pet project: the MICRO Sportster. It is scaled down Mini Sportster for ultimate cuteness!
Because the foam here is 5mm (slightly larger than 3/16") and 3mm (significantly smaller), there's always a certain amount of adjustment that has to be done to make FT plans fit. In this case, however, I've taken the standard Mini Sportster plans and shrunken them down to 63% of the original: the difference between 3mm and 4.7625mm (3/16 in). What results is an almost half-scale Mini Sportster that is incredibly adorable!
The first step I did was to print out the Mini Sportster A-plans at 63% scale, and then tape them together and glue them to card stock. We get large sheets of pretty sturdy card stock from the local stationery store... in fact, everything I build with comes from the local stationery store, which are popular stores all over Taiwan. Every public school has at least a couple nearby, so supplies are pretty easy to come by.
This is what the plans look like after they've been printed, pasted, and cut out.
For size reference, there's a glue stick in there, and the measurements at the bottom of my cutting mat are centimeters. Spoiler Alert: It's small.
I'm doing everything by hand, so cutting out accurately is exceedingly important, particularly at this scale. A little misalignment makes a big difference when your whole airplane is is only 37cm wingspan and 30cm long!
Here's a view of the two gauges and the tiny tiny Micro Power Pod in my hand. Aren't they just blinking adorable??
For decorating, since the whole thing is going to be covered in packing tape, all the color goes directly on the foam. Using only ball-point pen, permanent black marker, and a yellow dry-erase marker, this is the color scheme I've come up with (so far) for the plane. Ironically, the yellow marker was purchased on my last trip to the US... at a Dollar Tree.
It's very interesting to be working at this scale, and while I don't even know if it's going to be possible for it to fly, since the Reynolds value for the wing is affected by wing area, I hope at least to show it to my students as an example of what can be achieved with foam board when using great patience and care.
I will update with more pictures as the build progresses, and I would love any feedback you have on my little pet project!
