Part 1 - How to Design DTFB Planes

[nerdnic]

This series will cover the tools, techniques, and process of how to design a DTFB plane from beginning to end. I will be walking you through each step of the design process, through the building and plan revisions, all the way up to maiden of your new plane. My hope is that this series will be an interactive experience for you so please feel free to ask any questions you might have. I will be using Photoshop CS6 but you can use and apply the same techniques to Inkscape, GIMP, Paint.net, and many other powerful, free software.

Part 1​	How to select the best reference image and how to establish the proper scale of your plane.​
Part 2​	Using the line tool, layers, and starting on designing your fuselage, horizontal, and vertical stabilizer.​
Part 3​	Designing your wing.​
Part 4​	Fuselage, formers, and control surfaces.​
Part 5​	Joining tail feathers, poster board, and misc details.​
Part 6​	Getting your plans print ready.​
Part 7​	Beta 1 build tips - coming soon​

 

[Jaxx]

Nic,

This is awesome! Thanks again.

Just picked up my nnChipmunk plans from the print shop. Will be starting that today.....hopefully.

 

[nerdnic]

Awesome! The tail poster board is a little tricky so let me know if you have any questions. There is a certain technique I use that makes it go pretty quick and easy and I'll cover it in the build video but you'll be done way before that.

I'm excited to see yours come together, I know you'll love the way the nnChipmunk performs.

 

[Jaxx]

Awesome! The tail poster board is a little tricky so let me know if you have any questions. There is a certain technique I use that makes it go pretty quick and easy and I'll cover it in the build video but you'll be done way before that.

I'm excited to see yours come together, I know you'll love the way the nnChipmunk performs.

Yeah, I watched the maiden video several times. I love the way it flies. It looks great in the air!

 

[CrashRecovery]

Great job!!!!!

 

[BeezerFish]

This is outstanding information. Thank you for putting this together. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and my first attempt at designing a plane

 

[nerdnic]

What good is knowlege if not passed on? I'm glad you've enjoyed the videos so far, definitely keep me posted on your design progress!

 

[BeezerFish]

@nerdnic, I do have a question for you. In the video you mention enlarging the source drawing to the appropriate size and then beginning the outline/tracing process. What happens if you trace the source drawing and then enlarge? Im wondering if this way could potentially make the file size of the drawing more manageable until the entire process is done. I'll try it out and see what happens but was curious if you tried this method as well

 

[nerdnic]

If you're using a vector based program then that option will work. If you're using Photoshop or another non vector program then when you enlarge the image your lines will get very large/wide and not be very manageble.