| There are various ways to construct and assemble an | | | | Great Planes, and Sig Manufacturing. das f |
| RC plane. Various kits are available, requiring different | | | | Balsa kit |
| amounts of assembly, different costs and varying | | | | Balsa kits come in many sizes and skill levels. The |
| levels of skill and experience. | | | | balsa wood may either be cut with a die-cut or laser. |
| Some kits can be mostly foam or plastic, or may be all | | | | Laser cut kits have a much more precise construction |
| balsa wood. Construction consists of using formers | | | | and much tighter tolerances, but tend to cost more |
| and longerons for the fuselage, and spars and ribs for | | | | than die-cut kits. Die-cut kits can work and look just as |
| the wings and tail surfaces. More robust designs often | | | | good with a little sanding, cutting and use of basic |
| use solid sheets of wood to form these structures | | | | woodworking principles. |
| instead, or might employ a composite wing consisting | | | | The kit usually contains most of the raw material |
| of an expanded polystyrene core covered in a | | | | needed for an unassembled plane, a set of |
| protective veneer of wood, often obechi. Such designs | | | | (sometimes elaborate) assembly instructions, and a |
| tend to be heavier than an equivalent sized model built | | | | few spare parts to allow for builder error. Assembling |
| using the traditional method, and would be much more | | | | a model from plans or a kit can be very labor-intensive. |
| likely to be found in a power model than a glider. The | | | | In order to complete the construction of a model, the |
| lightest models are suitable for indoor flight, in a | | | | builder typically spends many hours assembling the |
| windless environment. Some of these are made by | | | | frame, covering it, and polishing/refining the control |
| bringing frames of balsa wood and carbon fiber up | | | | surfaces for correct alignment. The kit does not include |
| through water to pick up thin plastic films, similar to | | | | necessary tools, and these have to purchased |
| rainbow colored oil films. The advent of "foamies," or | | | | separately. A single overlooked error during assembly |
| craft injection-molded from lightweight foam and | | | | could compromise the model's airworthiness, leading to |
| sometimes reinforced with carbon fiber, have made | | | | disaster. |
| indoor flight more readily accessible to hobbyists. | | | | Smaller balsa kits will often come complete with the |
| "Crash proof" EPP (Expanded Polypropylene) foam | | | | necessary parts for the primary purpose of non-flying |
| planes are actually even bendable and usually sustain | | | | modeling or rubber band flight. These kits will usually |
| very little or no damage in the event of an accident, | | | | also come with conversion instructions to fly as glow |
| even after a nose dive. | | | | (gas powered) or electric and can be flown free-flight |
| Flying models have to be designed according to the | | | | or radio-controlled. Converting a kit requires additional |
| same principles as full-sized aircraft, and therefore their | | | | and substitution parts to get it to fly properly such as |
| construction can be very different from most static | | | | the addition of servos, hinges, speed controls, control |
| models. RC planes often borrow construction | | | | rods and better landing gear mechanisms and wheels. |
| techniques from vintage full-sized aircraft (although | | | | Many kits will come with a tissue paper covering that |
| they rarely use metal structures). | | | | then gets covered with mulitple layers of plane dope |
| Ready To Fly | | | | which coats and strengthens the fuselage and wings in |
| Ready To Fly (or RTF) planes come as | | | | a plastic-like covering. It has become more common to |
| pre-assembled kits that usually only require wing | | | | cover planes with heat-curing plastic films ("heat shrink |
| attachment or other basic assembly. Typically, | | | | covering" or "solarfilm") that can be ironed on - a |
| everything that is needed is already in the kit. RTF | | | | hand-held iron causes the film to shrink and adhere to |
| planes can be up in the air in just a few minutes and | | | | the frame. This plastic covering is more durable and |
| have all but eliminated assembly time (at the expense | | | | makes for a quick repair. Other varieties of heat |
| of the model's configuration options.) Among traditional | | | | shrinkable coverings are also available, that have |
| hobbyist builders, RTF models are a point of | | | | fibrous reinforcements within the plastic film, or are |
| controversy, as many consider model assembly as | | | | actual woven heat shrinkable fabrics. |
| integral to the hobby. Brands associated with these | | | | It is common to leave landing gear off smaller planes |
| types of aircraft include Great Planes, Hobbico, E-Flite, | | | | (roughly 36" or smaller) in order to save on weight and |
| Hangar 9, Grand Wing Servo-Tech, HobbyZone and | | | | construction costs. The planes can then be launched |
| ParkZone. | | | | by throwing and can then land in soft grass. |
| Almost Ready to Fly | | | | From plans or scratch |
| Almost Ready to Fly (or ARF or ARTF) kits are similar | | | | Planes can be built from published plans, often supplied |
| to RTF kits; however usually require more assembly | | | | as full sized drawings with included instructions. Parts |
| and sometimes basic construction. The average ARF | | | | normally need to be cut out from sheet wood using |
| aircraft can be built with less than 4 hours of labor, | | | | supplied templates. |
| versus 20-50+ (depending on detail and desired | | | | Hobbyists that have gained some experience in |
| results) for a traditional kit aircraft. The fuselage and | | | | constructing and flying from kits and plans will often |
| appendages are normally already constructed. The kit | | | | venture into building custom planes from scratch. This |
| will usually require separate purchase and installation of | | | | involves finding drawings of full sized aircraft and |
| servos, choice of motor (gas, or electric), speed | | | | scaling these down, or even designing the entire |
| controller (electric) and occasionally control rods. This is | | | | airframe from scratch. It requires a solid knowledge of |
| an advantage over RTF kits, as most model aircraft | | | | aerodynamics and a plane's control surfaces. Plans |
| enthusiasts already own their equipment of choice, and | | | | can be drawn up on paper or done with CAD |
| only desire an airframe. Lanier RC is typically hailed as | | | | software. Many CAD packages exist for the specific |
| the first ARF manufacturer. Other brands associated | | | | purpose of designing planes and perfecting airfoils. |
| with this type of aircraft are Carl Goldberg Products, | | | | |