Shorty Hassfurther
New member
Here's the "Box Cutter" a 4-channel trainer plane designed to be the easiest build possible. It uses one sheet of foam board, some cardboard scraps, rubber bands, and a Flite Test A-pack.
The plans are designed to be cut straight from a sheet of foam without any printing necessary; a ruler or measuring tape will suffice. Note that the only complete cut lines are between differently colored regions. Everything else is to be folded. The fold type isn't shown in the plans, just make sure that the corners sit at the black lines. The curves in the wing are slight/rounded and don't require any cuts to be made. Note wing "spar web" piece shown in purple, it also appears in the color-coded CAD.
There are three holes cut into the upper fuselage. The foremost hole contains most of the electronics. A small cardboard "fence" was added to keep things from sliding aft during toss launches. This can be seen in the third attached image.
The center hole is usually covered by the wing. It is visible at the bottom in the second attached image. The rudder and elevator servos are placed here. They use pushrods to reach their control surfaces. Also, the aileron Y-cable wires pass through the center hole.
The aftmost hole was cut to allow a "guitar bridge" to be placed inside, bracing the pushrods to keep them from bending.
To keep the prop from being damaged on landing, the motor is mounted high and a "chinstrap" was built from stiff cardboard reinforced with toothpicks. This chinstrap is a sort of bumper, taking most of the crash damage. It will need to be swapped out from time to time.
The wing is attached to the fuselage by a rubber band. Note that this band wraps fully around the fuselage rather than onto fuselage pegs. I have learned the hard way that pegs tend to rip out of the plane in a crash. When the "Box Cutter" crashes, there is little structural damage because the wing slides forward unobstructed by anything other than the friction of the rubber band. A skewer is used as a crude buckle, allowing the rubber band to easily be fastened or released.
The "Box Cutter" is a bit strange to fly. The ailerons are very powerful, the elevator is quite subdued, and the rudder is, if anything, more powerful than the ailerons. I've often applied too much aileron, rolled over into a dive, and barely pulled out of it. All that said, I am a novice pilot and I need the most practice with ailerons, making this plane a great education for me.
The aircraft is on the higher side of wing loading and it needs a hearty toss and a good bit of throttle to get airborne. Once you're at altitude, you can bring the throttle down and cruise about.
The plans are designed to be cut straight from a sheet of foam without any printing necessary; a ruler or measuring tape will suffice. Note that the only complete cut lines are between differently colored regions. Everything else is to be folded. The fold type isn't shown in the plans, just make sure that the corners sit at the black lines. The curves in the wing are slight/rounded and don't require any cuts to be made. Note wing "spar web" piece shown in purple, it also appears in the color-coded CAD.
There are three holes cut into the upper fuselage. The foremost hole contains most of the electronics. A small cardboard "fence" was added to keep things from sliding aft during toss launches. This can be seen in the third attached image.
The center hole is usually covered by the wing. It is visible at the bottom in the second attached image. The rudder and elevator servos are placed here. They use pushrods to reach their control surfaces. Also, the aileron Y-cable wires pass through the center hole.
The aftmost hole was cut to allow a "guitar bridge" to be placed inside, bracing the pushrods to keep them from bending.
To keep the prop from being damaged on landing, the motor is mounted high and a "chinstrap" was built from stiff cardboard reinforced with toothpicks. This chinstrap is a sort of bumper, taking most of the crash damage. It will need to be swapped out from time to time.
The wing is attached to the fuselage by a rubber band. Note that this band wraps fully around the fuselage rather than onto fuselage pegs. I have learned the hard way that pegs tend to rip out of the plane in a crash. When the "Box Cutter" crashes, there is little structural damage because the wing slides forward unobstructed by anything other than the friction of the rubber band. A skewer is used as a crude buckle, allowing the rubber band to easily be fastened or released.
The "Box Cutter" is a bit strange to fly. The ailerons are very powerful, the elevator is quite subdued, and the rudder is, if anything, more powerful than the ailerons. I've often applied too much aileron, rolled over into a dive, and barely pulled out of it. All that said, I am a novice pilot and I need the most practice with ailerons, making this plane a great education for me.
The aircraft is on the higher side of wing loading and it needs a hearty toss and a good bit of throttle to get airborne. Once you're at altitude, you can bring the throttle down and cruise about.
