What about a cedar fuselage on a foamie? Simple Soarer?

[Jtnb]

A question for the balsa and foam-friendly.

I'm building a simple soarer out of dollar tree foam. The fuselage is fussy and from what I've read, pretty fragile. I'm a very capable woodworker having built boats and hollow wooden surfboards, so I'm happy to work on a small, lightweight, thin fuse for the airplane.

Key questions are these:

1. Can I use red or white cedar, planed super thin 1/16 or so? I have lots of it, so would rather use it than balsa that I'd have to buy.

2. Any reason I can't make this work for a light plane like the simple soarer? Fuselage would certainly be heavier than in foam, but I could do my level best to keep it super light.

3. Any thoughts on joining my stick-mount motor to the assembly?

 

[Stradawhovious]

DO IT!! Then report back with photos and video and such.

As far as the motor, use a stick. You might have to get a little creative on how to fasten the stick to the fuse, but that's what this hobby is all about, right?

 

[Freaky_1]

Sounds pretty brilliant to me!

 

[Jtnb]

DO IT!! Then report back with photos and video and such.

As far as the motor, use a stick. You might have to get a little creative on how to fasten the stick to the fuse, but that's what this hobby is all about, right?

THAT was enough for me Strada. I'm on it.

It'll be a little while before I can start, but I will come back to this thread with photos as I do it.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Ron B]

Most anything WILL work if you have enough horse power.
Cedar will be a lot heavier than balsa so just see what the finished plane weighs before deciding what motor to use.
A cedar plane in clear finish would be neat to see.

 

[YooperJon]

Cedar is light and strong and can be used in a lot of different applications. I have use it to build drywall step benches to work from and they are far lighter than the store bought aluminum alternative. And, they can be easily lifted and carried with one hand (and arm) and will not ware your carrying arm out after a long days work. If the cedar is properly dried out I think it should be almost as light as balsa plus it would be a heck of a lot stronger. I've often thought about using it myself in flying models. A buddy of mind owns a cedar swamp here in the U.P. and a mini-mill, so he has a lot of cedar planking in his drying sheds (plus a brook trout stream on his property). If you could get it down to 1/16th that would be great. I guess it would all depend on how good your planer is.

 

[IdoAllMyOwnStunts]

Try it! Being creative is what makes this hobby great😎

 

[Piotrsko]

Plane it down to 3/32, finish sand it to final dims, heck yes, some clear wood with a nice stain and a coat of poly. Probably only weigh a couple of grams more than the equivalent foamboard.

Stick mount can be glued to the floor or top after passing through some sort of bulkhead. At least 1"long. 2 bulkheads if you're fastidious about centering but May not be as crashproof.