More Balsa Wood Models/Building

[aidan01]

I really feel that Flitetest is missing out a large part of the hobby- Balsa Wood!

Foam is used almost exclusively on the show for building planes, but a large proportion of people much rather the balsa wood approach. Although building a plane out of balsa wood (or other types of wood) takes longer than alternative methods, many modellers (such as myself) have always used balsa wood to build planes from kits or plans etc and this aspect of the hobby, I feel, is not much represented on Flitetest and it would be great to see more balsa wood planes and possibly builds.

 

[rockyboy]

Come join the FF2017 Balsa Build Along / Build Off and help us grow this side of the Flite Test community!

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?30662-Flitefest-2017-Build-off

 

[CMS_1961]

I built with Balsa for many, many years as well. I do believe that the DTFB is great for beginners because it takes a beating for the most part. I think the guys at FliteTest do a great job with their designs and the goal of getting people in the hobby. I remember the old days as a newbie where you spend a lot of time and money building a balsa airplane and you make one mistake and auger it in to pieces!! Many people would just quit the hobby on their first crash!! Now days with foam like EPP and DTFB their is no great money or time loss and it is really fun!! If you crash build another one!! I can build an FT Arrow in about 20 minutes now!! If you really want to build something from balsa, you could convert any or all of the FliteTest designs into balsa wood yourself--it would be easy to do--the designs are proven in foam. They should work fine as balsa planes as well. Not bashing balsa, but the foam is fun and easy to work with and no comparison when you crash......foam is much more forgiving than balsa in most cases.

 

[kacknor]

I'm not speaking against balsa, but the point of Flight Test is to draw more people into the hobby by learning the joys of flight! Giving away plans using DTFB and selling inexpensive kits and power packs is the easiest way to do that. It teaches building, flying and repair as equal parts of the sport in a most cost and time effective way.

Personally, I didn't have a mentor, or a trainer. I built my first plane and crashed the heck out of it and quite a few others. $2 or $3 worth of foam was a lot easier to do that with than days or weeks of balsa and monocoat.

I am now buying used wood planes, and repairing them, specifically sailplanes. I still have foam board planes. Also Depron, beer cooler, and now wood and carbon. All from a foam board starting point.

Two years ago I couldn't fly. Today I installed and programmed the radio flight modes for a Pulsar 3.6 REF.

Not a bad deal I think.

JD

 

[JacobVR]

It's ashame you can hardly find rc kit planes any more they are all eather almost ready to fly or ready to fly which takes out the fun and satisfaction of building your own airplane

 

[rockyboy]

It might be more difficult to find kits in local hobby shops, but there are a good number of high quality kit manufacturers out there selling online.

Here's my bookmark file of balsa kits - if anyone has others, please chime in! Always looking for new ones

https://www.stevensaero.com/
http://www.parkscalemodels.com/shop/
http://lainesplanes.com/store
http://www.mountainmodels.com/
http://retrorc.us.com/retroemoth-1-2.aspx
http://www.bsdmicrorc.com/index.php?categoryID=67
http://www.balsabuilder.com/product-category/model-airplane-kits/
http://www.micronwings.com/Products/Balsa-CraftPodRacerAirframeOnly/index.shtml
http://www.easybuiltmodels.com/
http://www.manzanolaser.com/catalog/
http://lasercutplanes.com/index.php?p=1_2_Kits
http://www.nanoplanes.net/balsa_babyshark.html
http://brodak.com/electric-kits/macchi-m-5.html
http://www.radicalrc.com/category/Radical-RC-E-Kits-190

 

[Hai-Lee]

Like most people on this forum I have planes constructed out of almost every available material. FliteTest does design and sell FoamBoard aircraft and publish plans for those who wish to do it their own way. That approach is extremely rare in this COMMERCIAL world.

FliteTest does not "BAG" other construction materials and excepts anyone interested in flying a model aircraft without restriction most other sites cannot claim the same.

You are welcome of course but please realise that FT is foamboard centric and I praise them for that. If you are wanting something I am sure that the forums can help you but please allow us to have a refuge for FB flyers.

If I went to Alaska in Winter and complained about the cold I would appear a little silly. There are a myriad of sites on the internet offering balsa plans and even balsa kits, a market well served. FT is almost unique so I ask that you enjoy its uniqueness as the remainder of us do.

All that said use what resources you can from the forums we discriminate against no one!

Always welcome!

 

[stereodreieck86]

aidan01(s) claim is still valid in 2019.

 

[Lufthouse]

Totally still valid. I remember a few Flite Test videos where they were saying “we would like to do some balsa videos in the future”. The future hasn’t arrived yet.