| Are you designing your own model airplane? The best | | | | design. |
| airplane designers find elegant solutions to the many | | | | - Keep It Simple - Plan to build and throw out a |
| challenges of designing a model airplane. It is not an | | | | prototype. You will, anyway. |
| easy problem! But that is what makes it so much fun. | | | | - Keep It Inexpensive - Because you will crash a lot as |
| Even after spending hours working out a design on | | | | you get the bugs out. |
| paper, I usually end up building multiple prototypes. | | | | - Keep It Clean - Streamline it or eliminate it. |
| There are just too many unknowns that don't become | | | | - Low Weight - Build to fly, not crash. If in doubt, leave |
| apparent until you actually try and fly your creation. | | | | it out. |
| Let these best practices guide you to success. Don't | | | | - High Aspect Ratio - For efficient wings. |
| let the simplicity of the words fool you. There is a lot of | | | | - Thin Airfoil - About 5% in the smaller models. |
| wisdom contained in this short list. | | | | - High Voltage - Better power efficiency. |
| - Define Your Goals - Keep the design well focused. | | | | - Motor 10% - Use an electric brushless motor that is |
| - Mission First - Forget about design purity. | | | | about 10% of the all-up gross weight. |
| - Not Too Much Innovation - So you can get the bugs | | | | - Battery 15% - Similarly for the LiPo battery. |
| out. | | | | - Large Propeller - One place where size matters. |
| - Don't Sweat The Details - Focus first on the overall | | | | Now, go forth and build! |