new member

VeganJoy

New member
Hey everyone, getting back into RC after a bit over a decade away and have decided to try getting into airplanes as well. I have an old Hobbyzone Super Cub DSM that's been sitting in my storage unit for all that time, ordered a new lipo for it and it appears to still be airworthy; I've never gotten it in the air but the local club guys didn't have too much trouble with it. So that was neat! That said, pretty much everything that came with and on that plane appears to be hilariously outdated; the DX4e lacks a lot of modern functionality and the little geared-down brushed motor seems to be seriously lacking some power. I've looked at some new RTF/BNFs and there's a ton of good options these days, but I still feel a bit silly paying 200-300 bucks for foamies. When I was doing RC car stuff I was always more into kits anyways, so I've ended up looking at a lot of FliteTest stuff.

Currently I'm trying to find out everything I need to assemble some tough planes. Based on the lackluster stock at my local dollar stores, I can't seem to find any DTFB within a hundred miles so already off to a bad start there lol. Walmart has their offbrand Pen+Gear foam board but I haven't seen much info on using that for planes. Then for assembly, what would be the ideal adhesives? I like Titebond from some brief woodworking I've done but idk how that'll fare with foam. Hot glue seems easy but way too heavy. Got plenty of packing tape at least.
Also with carbon fiber being super accessible these days, I've been wondering about using some CF spars in builds to significantly stiffen/strengthen them up, especially for the wings. Not sure what size and form factor to get them in, nor how to attach them to the foam, but looks interesting. Which also reminds me, do yall use some kinda jigs to hold stuff together while the glue dries?

Then electronics. My local club members almost exclusively use Spektrum but I've been looking at some of the Radiomaster ELRS offerings that seem more compelling, not sure if there's any other cheap brands to consider for TX/RXs. I see lots of motors, servos, and ESCs available on Amazon but if there's other places to get them for cheaper or to get more reliable hardware. It would be convenient to get everything from one place but I am a cheapskate to a fault and would love to get stuff for a good deal lol. Plus it seems complicated to match motor KV to a given prop to a given airframe and whatnot. Also curious how easy it would be to move electronics from plane to plane; I could justify buying nicer, more expensive hardware if I could swap it around without much hassle.

At a glance, the kind of laid back silly STOL-ish flying they do on the Tail Heavy Productions youtube channel looks right up my alley, and a lot of planes they showcase look like a good time except for the cost lol. It'd be neat to see some FliteTest airframes in those kinda situations and see how they hold up. Whatever they're doing, I wanna find out the path I need to take to get there with my own builds and skills.

Lastly, what's the deal with flight controllers and gyros and other fancy modern computer stuff? Is that just a QoL kinda thing, or will it be more of a crutch that will ingrain some bad habits down the road?

Sorry for the rambling wall of text lol. But thanks for reading and I appreciate any info you can provide. Thanks!
 

Mr Man

Active member
As far as Walmart Foam Board it works well but is a tad heavier and you can't peel the paper off. I've used the stuff before and it works "nearly" as well as Adams Readi-Board. But not quite.
 

Mr Man

Active member
Adhesives? Hot glue is what I use for everything. If you wanna go light just put it on sparingly.

No, I don't use jigs, just my hands.

For the Amazon electronics lots you can normally use them on 3s with the included propellers, Flysky has some great transmitters and receivers.

I personally don't use any gyros or anything like not even fpv, I just fly.

Hope this Helps!

-Man.
 

Mr Man

Active member
Oh, What plane are you wanting to build? If you tell us we can probably help you with the rest of your choices.

-Man.
 

Foamforce

Elite member
The last batch of Walmart Pen and Gear foam board was pretty good. I weighed it and it was almost the same weight as DTFB, within a gram or two. Previous Walmart foam board was much heavier, so it’s gotten better. Also, the paper stays on much better and is less wavy. The downside is that sometimes you need to remove the paper, and that’s much harder. Also. It’s a little more brittle, so it cracks instead of squashes in a crash. The easy way to get DTFB is to go to Dollar Trees website and order a box of 20. It gets delivered to your nearest store for free.

Regarding glue, use the hot glue. Yes, it’s a little heavier, but if you use it in moderation like they show in the videos, your plane will fly great. The big advantage is that it cools so quickly that you can move onto the next step after 30 seconds. That’s a big deal when you’re assembling a plane. Knock the planes out quickly, then you can learn to fly because you can crash and fix faster.

Regarding weight, other than getting the wrong foam board, the biggest weight mistakes people make is to paint their planes with thick layer of paint, they use oversized motors and large batteries, and they try to improve the design by adding reinforcement everywhere. Don’t do any of that initially. For color, use some colored packing tape, markers, or light spray paint for stripes. Use the recommended motor, even the smaller of the recommended motor if there are two. Use the smaller of the recommended batteries. Don’t modify the design until you know what you’re doing. If you build according to the designs, they will fly great.

Ps, some designs are better than others. If you’re going with a B/C size plane, the Scout is a fantastic choice for beginners. Also the Tutor and Explorer. For A size planes, the Mini Trainer of Mini Tutor.

You can ignore flight controllers for now. I would even skip a basic flight controller for now, they add a lot of difficulty to initial setup.

I think that’s about it. Good luck!
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
You have our deepest sympathy that there is no known cure for the foam board airplane addiction. Just sit back and enjoy it.

Building materials:
If you haven't flown before or it's been quite a while since you've flown - go for quick and dirty builds because they won't last long. Sorry, just the way it was for me and everyone else I've talked to. You can order foam board shipped to your local Dollar store and you'll have plenty to learn on. Go with hot glue because it's fast and you'll be using it a lot to repair. There are lots of lighter glues and gluing techniques available and they work really well, but save them for planes you build after you learn to fly. Think about it - if you build a plane in an afternoon and smash it on the first or second flight you'll probably build another, BUT if that same plane took two or three days to build (or balsa 3 or 4 months) you're going to be pretty discouraged. I was. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of good. Josh and crew have some excellent designs that are proven good fliers WITH hot glue and the plans are FREE. Get comfortable flying first and after you've gotten to the point that you can fly and land the plane a few times without repairing anything then start getting fancy.

Electronics:
Any of the name brand modern programmable set ups will work fine. Some have a steeper learning curve than others. Whatever you buy first you'll probably end up loving and defending it's reputation to the death. I started with a Spektrum DX6e, love it, there is no better set up made and anyone who says different is in for a fight! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

What plane to start with:
Start with a trainer. You can't go wrong with FT's tiny trainer, explorer or storch. That's certainly not an exhaustive list. From personal experience DON'T start with the mighty mini LongEZ, SE5, DR1 or the simple Cub. (See I just started another fight.)
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
The last batch of Walmart Pen and Gear foam board was pretty good. I weighed it and it was almost the same weight as DTFB, within a gram or two. Previous Walmart foam board was much heavier, so it’s gotten better. Also, the paper stays on much better and is less wavy. The downside is that sometimes you need to remove the paper, and that’s much harder. Also. It’s a little more brittle, so it cracks instead of squashes in a crash. The easy way to get DTFB is to go to Dollar Trees website and order a box of 20. It gets delivered to your nearest store for free.

Regarding glue, use the hot glue. Yes, it’s a little heavier, but if you use it in moderation like they show in the videos, your plane will fly great. The big advantage is that it cools so quickly that you can move onto the next step after 30 seconds. That’s a big deal when you’re assembling a plane. Knock the planes out quickly, then you can learn to fly because you can crash and fix faster.

Regarding weight, other than getting the wrong foam board, the biggest weight mistakes people make is to paint their planes with thick layer of paint, they use oversized motors and large batteries, and they try to improve the design by adding reinforcement everywhere. Don’t do any of that initially. For color, use some colored packing tape, markers, or light spray paint for stripes. Use the recommended motor, even the smaller of the recommended motor if there are two. Use the smaller of the recommended batteries. Don’t modify the design until you know what you’re doing. If you build according to the designs, they will fly great.

Ps, some designs are better than others. If you’re going with a B/C size plane, the Scout is a fantastic choice for beginners. Also the Tutor and Explorer. For A size planes, the Mini Trainer of Mini Tutor.

You can ignore flight controllers for now. I would even skip a basic flight controller for now, they add a lot of difficulty to initial setup.

I think that’s about it. Good luck!
LOL, you snuck in while I was composing my opus.
 

Mr Man

Active member
You have our deepest sympathy that there is no known cure for the foam board airplane addiction. Just sit back and enjoy it.

Building materials:
If you haven't flown before or it's been quite a while since you've flown - go for quick and dirty builds because they won't last long. Sorry, just the way it was for me and everyone else I've talked to. You can order foam board shipped to your local Dollar store and you'll have plenty to learn on. Go with hot glue because it's fast and you'll be using it a lot to repair. There are lots of lighter glues and gluing techniques available and they work really well, but save them for planes you build after you learn to fly. Think about it - if you build a plane in an afternoon and smash it on the first or second flight you'll probably build another, BUT if that same plane took two or three days to build (or balsa 3 or 4 months) you're going to be pretty discouraged. I was. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of good. Josh and crew have some excellent designs that are proven good fliers WITH hot glue and the plans are FREE. Get comfortable flying first and after you've gotten to the point that you can fly and land the plane a few times without repairing anything then start getting fancy.

Electronics:
Any of the name brand modern programmable set ups will work fine. Some have a steeper learning curve than others. Whatever you buy first you'll probably end up loving and defending it's reputation to the death. I started with a Spektrum DX6e, love it, there is no better set up made and anyone who says different is in for a fight! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

What plane to start with:
Start with a trainer. You can't go wrong with FT's tiny trainer, explorer or storch. That's certainly not an exhaustive list. From personal experience DON'T start with the mighty mini LongEZ, SE5, DR1 or the simple Cub. (See I just started another fight.)
I couldn't have said it any better.

Just don't try to fight with me.;)
 

VeganJoy

New member
Oh, What plane are you wanting to build? If you tell us we can probably help you with the rest of your choices.

-Man.
I haven't seen much of the FliteTest designs in actual usage so I'm not sure regarding those. The Eflite Slow Ultra Stick is a plane I like the design of, just seems a bit barebones for $200 so it would be interesting to try and replicate from scratch. Otherwise it seems there's no shortage of Cub-ish STOL bush plane designs that look like a ton of fun to fly, so something like that would be nice. It seems a lot of FT models tend towards the smaller end of the spectrum, but most of the planes that appeal to me are around 1300 to 1700mm wingspan designs. Something that can buck wind relatively well would be nice, got plenty of space to fly so size isn't much of a worry.

The last batch of Walmart Pen and Gear foam board was pretty good. I weighed it and it was almost the same weight as DTFB, within a gram or two. Previous Walmart foam board was much heavier, so it’s gotten better. Also, the paper stays on much better and is less wavy. The downside is that sometimes you need to remove the paper, and that’s much harder. Also. It’s a little more brittle, so it cracks instead of squashes in a crash. The easy way to get DTFB is to go to Dollar Trees website and order a box of 20. It gets delivered to your nearest store for free.

Regarding glue, use the hot glue. Yes, it’s a little heavier, but if you use it in moderation like they show in the videos, your plane will fly great. The big advantage is that it cools so quickly that you can move onto the next step after 30 seconds. That’s a big deal when you’re assembling a plane. Knock the planes out quickly, then you can learn to fly because you can crash and fix faster.

Regarding weight, other than getting the wrong foam board, the biggest weight mistakes people make is to paint their planes with thick layer of paint, they use oversized motors and large batteries, and they try to improve the design by adding reinforcement everywhere. Don’t do any of that initially. For color, use some colored packing tape, markers, or light spray paint for stripes. Use the recommended motor, even the smaller of the recommended motor if there are two. Use the smaller of the recommended batteries. Don’t modify the design until you know what you’re doing. If you build according to the designs, they will fly great.

Ps, some designs are better than others. If you’re going with a B/C size plane, the Scout is a fantastic choice for beginners. Also the Tutor and Explorer. For A size planes, the Mini Trainer of Mini Tutor.

You can ignore flight controllers for now. I would even skip a basic flight controller for now, they add a lot of difficulty to initial setup.

I think that’s about it. Good luck!
Glad to hear the Walmart foam board isn't immediately terrible. Can you soak them in water to help remove the paper?

Also interesting that hot glue is this common but it makes sense. The near-disposable nature of these cheap FT airframes will help a lot with my anxiety around learning to fly for sure. Would be totally cool to be able to fabricate repairs on the spot.

Not much interest in paint or anything at the moment, at least until I can be sure I won't bin it within 5 minutes lol. Makes sense regarding the powerplant weight, I've been buying a few Zeee 3s 2200mah lipos since they're super cheap for the specs (10-11 bucks a pop), but those are a little heavier than the usual 1300mah packs.

You have our deepest sympathy that there is no known cure for the foam board airplane addiction. Just sit back and enjoy it.

Building materials:
If you haven't flown before or it's been quite a while since you've flown - go for quick and dirty builds because they won't last long. Sorry, just the way it was for me and everyone else I've talked to. You can order foam board shipped to your local Dollar store and you'll have plenty to learn on. Go with hot glue because it's fast and you'll be using it a lot to repair. There are lots of lighter glues and gluing techniques available and they work really well, but save them for planes you build after you learn to fly. Think about it - if you build a plane in an afternoon and smash it on the first or second flight you'll probably build another, BUT if that same plane took two or three days to build (or balsa 3 or 4 months) you're going to be pretty discouraged. I was. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of good. Josh and crew have some excellent designs that are proven good fliers WITH hot glue and the plans are FREE. Get comfortable flying first and after you've gotten to the point that you can fly and land the plane a few times without repairing anything then start getting fancy.

Electronics:
Any of the name brand modern programmable set ups will work fine. Some have a steeper learning curve than others. Whatever you buy first you'll probably end up loving and defending it's reputation to the death. I started with a Spektrum DX6e, love it, there is no better set up made and anyone who says different is in for a fight! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

What plane to start with:
Start with a trainer. You can't go wrong with FT's tiny trainer, explorer or storch. That's certainly not an exhaustive list. From personal experience DON'T start with the mighty mini LongEZ, SE5, DR1 or the simple Cub. (See I just started another fight.)
Any ideal bang for buck radio setup these days? The RM Pocket is priced well but I don't care much for the portability aspect, would rather have something properly sized lol.

The tiny trainer looks nice except for being tiny. Could I just scale it up a bit or does it not really work like that!
 

Foamforce

Elite member
I haven't seen much of the FliteTest designs in actual usage so I'm not sure regarding those. The Eflite Slow Ultra Stick is a plane I like the design of, just seems a bit barebones for $200 so it would be interesting to try and replicate from scratch. Otherwise it seems there's no shortage of Cub-ish STOL bush plane designs that look like a ton of fun to fly, so something like that would be nice. It seems a lot of FT models tend towards the smaller end of the spectrum, but most of the planes that appeal to me are around 1300 to 1700mm wingspan designs. Something that can buck wind relatively well would be nice, got plenty of space to fly so size isn't much of a worry.


Glad to hear the Walmart foam board isn't immediately terrible. Can you soak them in water to help remove the paper?

Also interesting that hot glue is this common but it makes sense. The near-disposable nature of these cheap FT airframes will help a lot with my anxiety around learning to fly for sure. Would be totally cool to be able to fabricate repairs on the spot.

Not much interest in paint or anything at the moment, at least until I can be sure I won't bin it within 5 minutes lol. Makes sense regarding the powerplant weight, I've been buying a few Zeee 3s 2200mah lipos since they're super cheap for the specs (10-11 bucks a pop), but those are a little heavier than the usual 1300mah packs.


Any ideal bang for buck radio setup these days? The RM Pocket is priced well but I don't care much for the portability aspect, would rather have something properly sized lol.

The tiny trainer looks nice except for being tiny. Could I just scale it up a bit or does it not really work like that!
Fwiw, the tiny Trainer isn’t that tiny. It’s one of the longer wingspan minis. 940mm. With the 2s battery, it’s light and flies slowly.

The first page of all the plans has the recommended motor size, battery size, and servo size. Try to stick to it.

If you just want something cheap to get started, the FlySky FS-I6X is a fine choice. Getting both the Tx and and an Rx for about $60 is super cheap. However, if you think you’re going to stick with this for awhile, I would get any RadioMaster with a 4in1 internal module. 4in1 isn’t the same as CC2500, that’s one of the four chips in the 4in1. With a 4in1, you can control most any brand of receiver, like Spectrum, FlySky, FrSky, even the off brand Chinese RTF planes. Then you can add an ELRS external module later if you get into longer range stuff.
 

VeganJoy

New member
Fwiw, the tiny Trainer isn’t that tiny. It’s one of the longer wingspan minis. 940mm. With the 2s battery, it’s light and flies slowly.

The first page of all the plans has the recommended motor size, battery size, and servo size. Try to stick to it.

If you just want something cheap to get started, the FlySky FS-I6X is a fine choice. Getting both the Tx and and an Rx for about $60 is super cheap. However, if you think you’re going to stick with this for awhile, I would get any RadioMaster with a 4in1 internal module. 4in1 isn’t the same as CC2500, that’s one of the four chips in the 4in1. With a 4in1, you can control most any brand of receiver, like Spectrum, FlySky, FrSky, even the off brand Chinese RTF planes. Then you can add an ELRS external module later if you get into longer range stuff.
Yeah I was looking at the 4in1 + external ELRS. Planning on getting a TX16S or something similar but thatll be like $200-300 all in which I don't feel like doing right this second lol. Maybe I can find a used FlySky for super cheap and go with that, I've definitely seen em around.

Forgot to ask earlier, is the extra strength Pen+Gear foamboard worth looking at? 3x the cost and I'm assuming it's just a heavier paper backing but not sure
 

Foamforce

Elite member
Yeah I was looking at the 4in1 + external ELRS. Planning on getting a TX16S or something similar but thatll be like $200-300 all in which I don't feel like doing right this second lol. Maybe I can find a used FlySky for super cheap and go with that, I've definitely seen em around.

Forgot to ask earlier, is the extra strength Pen+Gear foamboard worth looking at? 3x the cost and I'm assuming it's just a heavier paper backing but not sure

I’m not familiar with that, but it sounds a lot heavier. If you can feel with your hands that it’s heavier, then it’s a lot heavier. Your plane will fly probably poorly with that.

Check out the RadioMaster Boxer or Zorro. Both are cheaper than the TX16s. Also look at used. The TX16S Mark 1 is pretty cheap second hand, and doesn’t have that big of differences in my opinion. I have one of each.
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
I bought some Pen + Gear, too. It weighs ~ 188 grams/sheet (@Foamforce weighed his at 121g) compared to DTFB at ~ 117. So not as bad as Elmers or the board that Hobby Lobby sells.
 

VeganJoy

New member
I’m not familiar with that, but it sounds a lot heavier. If you can feel with your hands that it’s heavier, then it’s a lot heavier. Your plane will fly probably poorly with that.

Check out the RadioMaster Boxer or Zorro. Both are cheaper than the TX16s. Also look at used. The TX16S Mark 1 is pretty cheap second hand, and doesn’t have that big of differences in my opinion. I have one of each.
Really unfortunate it’s all spektrum around here, like one of the local guys is getting rid of his DX8 for cheap but it just seems like a really limiting ecosystem. A used boxer would be nice; what’s the deal with the TX12?

I bought some Pen + Gear, too. It weighs ~ 188 grams/sheet (@Foamforce weighed his at 121g) compared to DTFB at ~ 117. So not as bad as Elmers or the board that Hobby Lobby sells.
Do you think you got some of the older production stuff? 121 to 188g is a ton, and I’m guessing all that weight is in the backing aka not particularly useful for planes?
 

Foamforce

Elite member
I bought some Pen + Gear, too. It weighs ~ 188 grams/sheet (@Foamforce weighed his at 121g) compared to DTFB at ~ 117. So not as bad as Elmers or the board that Hobby Lobby sells.

Can you take a picture of your P&G foam board? I’m surprised by the big difference between what we got. I wonder if newer batches are lighter.
 

Foamforce

Elite member
Really unfortunate it’s all spektrum around here, like one of the local guys is getting rid of his DX8 for cheap but it just seems like a really limiting ecosystem. A used boxer would be nice; what’s the deal with the TX12?
The Spectrum stuff is just fine. It’s apparently easier to use, but costs more.

It doesn’t look like you can get a 4in1 internal module with the TX12. Other than that, I don’t know too much about it. My impression is that it’s an older model sold at a discount, but I don’t know if that’s true. For the price though, I’d probably go with a Boxer or Zorro.
 

VeganJoy

New member
The Spectrum stuff is just fine. It’s apparently easier to use, but costs more.

It doesn’t look like you can get a 4in1 internal module with the TX12. Other than that, I don’t know too much about it. My impression is that it’s an older model sold at a discount, but I don’t know if that’s true. For the price though, I’d probably go with a Boxer or Zorro.
I’ve seen a lot of connectivity issues with Spektrums in high usage areas or just in general. And I don’t personally care much for ease of use on something that seems easy enough already (edgeTX seems like it might be a PITA but could be worse I’m sure lol). The zorro looks more like some FPV gamepad thing? Or is it just a boxer in a different form factor/style?