Newbie here

DThomp

New member
Hi everyone,

My name is Douglas and I'm just getting into the hobby. I'm a U.S. Army veteran and a private pilot. I really want to learn how to build fixed wing drones. I know I need to start small so I'm thinking about building an explorer first. I watched most of the flite test beginner videos on YouTube but I haven't found a good book on the topic yet. I want to eventually build a diesel or gas powered pusher but I can't find any kits or plans. Any suggestions/advice?

Many Thanks,
Douglas
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
Hi everyone,

My name is Douglas and I'm just getting into the hobby. I'm a U.S. Army veteran and a private pilot. I really want to learn how to build fixed wing drones. I know I need to start small so I'm thinking about building an explorer first. I watched most of the flite test beginner videos on YouTube but I haven't found a good book on the topic yet. I want to eventually build a diesel or gas powered pusher but I can't find any kits or plans. Any suggestions/advice?

Many Thanks,
Douglas
Welcome to the forums Douglas! The explorer is an excellent place to start! As far as fuel powered airplanes, your best bet is to get a ready to fly (rtf) Horizon Hobby plane. They don’t sell any fuel powered pushers that I’m aware of, but I’m sure there are people on this forum that have built fuel pushers. There are no diesel planes that I am aware of, but there are gas planes, and also nitro planes. To my knowledge, gas planes are easier (and cheaper, at least for fuel) than nitro. Good luck!
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
If you’ve watched the beginner series, you probably have a pretty good idea of what to do and how to fly, but it’s always a good idea to have an experienced rc pilot to maiden the plane for you. You could check and see if you have an rc airplane club near you. If you learn alone, I’d recommend putting a layer of cardboard on your nose. It really helped the durability on mine!
 

DThomp

New member
If you’ve watched the beginner series, you probably have a pretty good idea of what to do and how to fly, but it’s always a good idea to have an experienced rc pilot to maiden the plane for you. You could check and see if you have an rc airplane club near you. If you learn alone, I’d recommend putting a layer of cardboard on your nose. It really helped the durability on mine!
Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely look into that. Do you know of any good books to help with designing using plywood? If I can't get a fuel pusher kit then I'll want to design one.
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely look into that. Do you know of any good books to help with designing using plywood? If I can't get a fuel pusher kit then I'll want to design one.
I don’t know of any books, but if you start a thread for your build here, there are a lot of experts that will contribute and give tips as you go.