Walmart $10 Glider RC Conversation
- Thread starter kg4awv
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CustomRCMods
Elite member
Welcome To the Forums!
Yes, the glider conversion can be a bit tricky for beginners. Choosing electronics, finding the CG (center of gravity) and making control surfaces can all combine to have less than favorable results for the maiden flight.
If you are looking to get into this amazing hobby, I would try first to find a Flying club local to your area. They will assist you with where to start, and tips, etc.
Thankfully, this hobby can be done very inexpensively. the average foam board airplane is less than 5 dollars. Most of us use Dollar Tree Foam board, which is super lightweight and of course, only a dollar per sheet. this foam can obviously be found at Dollar Tree stores in the USA and can be ordered online from flitetest or other companies.
If you are interested, my first reccomendation would be to build a chuck glider. the FT Tiny Trainer is a great option, as it can be motorized down the road. For this build, you would need 3 sheets of foam, as well as the tiled plans on FT’s website:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/plans.flitetest.com/stonekap/FT-mini Tinytrainer-TILED-PLANS.pdf
Building this plane would require some hot glue and maybe a few BBQ skewers and rubber bands but likely nothing you couldn’t find around the house.
Building the plane as a glider would help you determine if you are interested and you would like to continue and put more $ into it. If you aren’t, you are only out of 3$.
If you choose to take the next step and put electronics inside, the biggest expense will be the radio. You can find decent ones used for well within 30 bucks, but getting into the lower end of computerized transmitters will take you near 200 dollars. All the other electronics can be bought easily for under 100$.
Hope this helps!
Check out my Youtube channel as well! I specialize in inexpensive RC projects
Piotrsko
Master member
Back in the day...... (1986) we usually made the horizontal stab full flying and typically balanced at 30ish percent of wing chord AKA "High point". Maybe as much as 50% for tapered/ swept. String tape along the bottom of the wing cures the OMG wing flex. The best one was a 747 @ $19.95 from tourist traps because it was big and hollow inside. The full flying stab generally cured the tip stalls because you fly faster. Your pictures show way too much up elevator.
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I can understand your thinking and I'm not many years behind you in age. The basic issue will be the fixed income since the RC hobby isn't cheap. No real way to get around that. Most of us old guys with limited income and a burning desire to fly RC model airplanes go with the small and cheap toys. It can be a challenge to find a good one to play with, but China has been and continues to be a good source for the cheap RC models. If you happen to have some RC gear from WLToys that has proven dependable, you can recycle, or what I call upcycle the parts and fly a new design of your own making. I upcycle foam drink cups and trash foam of various kinds since both are more, or less free building supplies. Not sure if you are into scratch building, but it is one option if hobby models are out of your price range. I suppose I could start a thread on this if there is interest.
kilroy07
Legendary member
Do you have any equipment or are you just starting out?
You can get a really good (for the money) FlySky radio and receiver i6x for around $60.
Then I suggest a cheap 2212 motor/ESC combo (about $20) another $20 for foamboard and a few simple tools and we can get you flying for around $100.
Mr.Grinch
Well-known member
I got my last one from Hobby Lobby, I haven’t seen them at Walmart recently.
Captain Video
Well-known member
I got mine from Walmart last fall. Not converted it yet bull shortly.
Hondo76251
Legendary member
2x on hobby lobby. Last one i got from wal mart was a whole different design and it sucked, though ive pretty much switched from these brittle styrofoam gliders to EPP ones when i can find them like this:
https://www.wish.com/product/5bed44...ce=8.00&hide_login_modal=true&share=mobileweb
https://www.wish.com/product/5bed44...ce=8.00&hide_login_modal=true&share=mobileweb
leaded50
Legendary member
i bought the 1200mm Flybear FX707 glider from Banggood on sale, and put a 50mm EDF on top of it + 2 microservos to tail. Great trainer!! It can do whatever rolls eg you want...(if wings dont break..) easy to setup, places for the electronics was ready to use.
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FrankFly
Member
I'm on the "F" model with this airframe. Tried yellow-bee motor and electronics cut into the trailing edges of the wings. Not enough power. Put them on front foamboard "nacelles", still no good. Tried 3 prop combinations including counter-rotating - nope. Finally cut the nose off and put an A-pack motor, 9g servos for elevon controls and got it flying. It's now a test-bed for different receivers. It always looks so graceful and smooth in the air (when it flies). It's about 15% heavier than when I first put the A-pack motor with all the epoxy, popsicle sticks and strapping tape. I've broken wings off 4 times, fuselage both ahead and behind the wings. It's probably ready for a motor upgrade, or a trip back to Wal-Mart for another one.
![0831192117[1].jpg](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/10/327742_26613dc6c28dfe0ff36fd27e5c9158c8_thumb.jpg "0831192117[1].jpg")
![0102201945[1].jpg](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/10/327740_c2f4e0270d2cb2568c910135e04e6236_thumb.jpg "0102201945[1].jpg")
![0102201732a~3[1].jpg](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/10/327744_d0a31769cc489e866beb5ebd2e7ff133_thumb.jpg "0102201732a~3[1].jpg")
![0831192117[1].jpg](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/10/327742_26613dc6c28dfe0ff36fd27e5c9158c8.jpg "0831192117[1].jpg")
![0102201945[1].jpg](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/10/327740_c2f4e0270d2cb2568c910135e04e6236.jpg "0102201945[1].jpg")
![0102201732a~3[1].jpg](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/10/327744_d0a31769cc489e866beb5ebd2e7ff133.jpg "0102201732a~3[1].jpg")
That flies nice - good job.
FrankFly
Member
So, have you wondered about those ridiculously cheap receivers from China? Say, a 4-channel for about $6. Well, most of the time it works fine. But once in a while it glitches. Un-commanded control inputs and motor cuts out. This was the second time it happened that day, although I got about 15 minutes of glitch-free flying as well. As you can see, despite full up and engine cut, all went well, and it added a dimension of excitement.
Do you have a hobby lobby nearby? Mine carries them.
Piotrsko
Master member
Try online last I did that everything was there including the LIDL ones. But no 747's.
XDmToter
Member
Sorry I'm late to the party here. I converted a walmart glider to an unpowered tow up / hi-start glider a few years ago. It has elevator / rudder controls and runs off a tiny 2 cell battery. That is a lot of fun, but it's time to add Motors!
Question for you guys that are mounting your motors to the wings: Are you gluing the wings in, or otherwise affixing them to the fuselage, or just relying on the friction fit to keep them in place.
I just finished printing a couple of DanAllen's motor pods (modified for a 1306 motor), and I'm worried that the thrust will just pull the wings out of the fuse.
Question for you guys that are mounting your motors to the wings: Are you gluing the wings in, or otherwise affixing them to the fuselage, or just relying on the friction fit to keep them in place.
I just finished printing a couple of DanAllen's motor pods (modified for a 1306 motor), and I'm worried that the thrust will just pull the wings out of the fuse.
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