Remote Controlled Planes Flying - The Basics

The adrenaline rush that comes with every flight of remote controlled planes is definitely something enthusiasts look forward to every time a chance to do so comes their way. However, a lot of beginners tend to make the mistake of rushing out into the field with their newly-bought models and start conquering open space without any real deal knowledge about how RC planes are supposed to be flown. The results include a large amount of the one's investment on this hobby going to waste.

It is a must for first-timers in this hobby to take some time and learn about it before actually doing it. To start out with the most basic, one has to know the different parts of the plane, what each one can do and what their limitations are. The basic plane model comes with a number of parts that play a part in its flight. A plane's body is referred to as the fuselage, and it is where the engine, tail and wings of the plane are attached to. The wing is the plane's horizontal airfoil where the lift is. It is also where the flaps and ailerons are attached to. The ailerons are surfaces located on the outside of the wing.

Huge F4U Corsair RC Plane over the Swiss Alps

A cool clip with a really nice warbird.

How To Make Remote Control Model Planes Using Foam Boards

Making RC model airplanes using light-weight foam boards can be a rewarding hobby. The foam-centered boards can be easily cut into complex shapes that can then be glued into the desired model. Paper-faced foam core boards can be substituted for the uncoated Depron type of board. The paper coating can easily be stripped from the foam but it is often better to leave the coating as it makes a great surface to paint onto.

The steps to making a foam model plane are as follows.

Firstly, obtain a design from a reputable designer. You can find a number of different designs available on the Internet or design your own airplane on a sheet of paper so that you can later transfer the design to the flat foam sheets. It helps when starting out to use a design that has been made and tested by other modelers as they will have figured out the balance and the cutting steps.


Secondly, transfer the design to the foam board sheet that you want to cut. The most popular thickness of sheet is quarter inch or 6mm. If you have down-loaded the design you can easily scale the pattern by printing out the design on your computer's printer. If you need to print the design on one large sheet you can always use the services of a print shop or office stationery supplier who provides a copy service.

The printed design can be fixed in place temporarily using spray adhesive applied to the back of the plans or by taping the sections down in the waste areas.

The third step is to carefully cut out the pieces of foam board using a sharp scalpel, craft knife or specialist foam board cutting tool. Each of the tools has different advantages and disadvantages.

The snap-off craft knife has great strength and is good for straight cutting but due to its blade width is not suited to cutting smaller curved shapes.

The scalpel is ideal for cutting smaller pieces and curves but it often requires frequent blade changes to keep it cutting cleanly. It can also be quite tiring to use due to the design of the handle and the pressure required to keep the blade on the line you want to cut.

Specialist tools, like Foamwerks range of cutters, have several advantages that include ergonomic handles which make them comfortable to use, correct blade angles that give clean cuts and they have different blades available for cutting intricate curves. Foamwerks tools also have adjustable depth settings making them useful for scoring operations as well a full cutting. They can also be coupled with a rail that has a guide track for straight cutting.

Once you have cut out all your pieces you can assemble them into your model airplane.

Gluing the sections together in sequence is made easier by using a hot glue gun. The glue is easily applied and quick to set making the assembly process faster than if you use a wet or contact type adhesive.

You can use rubber bands and various tapes to hold the sections in place.

Ailerons and flaps can be jointed using different tapes. Duct tape is strong and flexible for these applications.

Many designs require the addition of a carbon rod or tube to add strength across the wings. These rods can be taped and glued into place.

Most designs have areas within the fuselage to facilitate the installation of the control unit, battery pack and motor. Access to these areas is usually through sections that have been scored and hinged allowing you to fold back the opening to insert the components.

You can get the components as separate items from a modeling supplier or a simple way to obtain all the required items is to buy a complete kit. Sometimes purchasing a complete kit for making an RC plastic model airplane can be more economical than buying components individually. When you get a pre-assembled kit you can see how some of the controls are connected and this can save you time when trying to figure out how to do it yourself. It is a simple process to gut the model plane kit and transfer the necessary pieces to your foam plane.

When you get more serious you can purchase a better controller with more options and you can get higher end motors and battery packs but when you are starting out the pre-assembled kits can help make things easier.

A good tip is to test fly your model plane before applying any decorations to it as often your early efforts can result is crashes and failures which can totally or partially destroy your model. Once you have the design working and flying successfully you can decorate the foam board plane with acrylic paint and decals to suit.

Foam board makes an excellent economical modeling material that you can easily shape into different models.

Flying Radio Controlled Airplanes Basics

Flying RC airplanes is exciting. Lots of people imagine flying RC planes but resist the urge as they feel that it is an expensive hobby. With leaps in RC model plane technology this is no longer the case as they are becoming much lighter faster and more agile and they have come down in costs quite a bit from their predecessors. If you talk with any enthusiast they will talk about the thrill of racing their plane at high speeds around a field on a summer day pulling off all kinds of stunts and tricks that they have practiced.

You will want to pick a plane that is at your skill level as the basic airplanes have controls that are very forgiving these days and will be able to correct themselves by levelling out if you release the controls or if the motor stalls this way you won't easily be able to wreck your aircraft before you get the hang of the controls. The more advanced planes don't have this auto correction feature but will allow for greater control over the airplanes direction in flight and allow for more stunt flying than a beginner plane but is harder to control. Make sure to master the basics before choosing a more advanced plane.


The planes that are produced these days come in two styles. One is RTF which means ready to Fly and BNF which means Bind to Fly. If you are purchasing a RTF plane then it means that it comes with everything you need to be able to fly the plane in one box including the hand remote control and even batteries. If you are purchasing a BNF plane then it means that you should already have the hand controller and all you need to do is sync the plane or bind the plane to your current controller and you will be ready to fly the BNF plane. If you are just starting out then look for a RTF (Ready to Fly) plane as this will give you all the equipment you will need to fly your plane in one box and when you are looking for more advanced planes you can look for BNF (Bind to Fly) planes and you can save yourself some money as you will already have the batteries and hand control unit already to go.

The other great thing about RC planes today is that you are able to fly them in relatively small areas such as your living room or backyard without having to worry about wrecking the plane or your indoor furniture as most RC planes are made out of light weight foam which means you won't have to worry wrecking your plane if you accidentally crash it into the ground.

Choosing Your First Remote Control Plane

First off, I would like to say congratulations to you, because you have chosen to embrace one of the most rewarding and exciting hobbies around - piloting radio controlled (RC) airplane.

To fly radio controlled airplanes was something we had always wanted probably since the time we first saw an RC plane model back when we were kids. Watching veteran pilots control their airborne models flawlessly really inspires new pilots, but it requires more than inspiration to be good at this hobby. The learning curve is very steep, especially at the beginning. So in order to get started, you need a good and suitable beginner plane that was designed for beginners.


Two most important criteria for a beginner plane are: 1. its durability 2. its flight stability. As you might already know, flying RC plane requires a lot of trial and error when you're just getting started. Crashings and hard landings are absolutely normal during the first flights, especially during take off and landing. You don't want a plane that breaks from just a couple of hard landings, because this will cost you a lot of time and money where you should be spending them on learning the basics of flight instead. Choose a very durable and sturdy plane and you'll save a lot of time, effort and money repairing and searching for spare parts.

Beginner planes need to have very good flight stability because this will facilitate the training itself in so many ways. Learning to control the elevator, rudder and aileron can be tough at the beginning. Even real life pilots have difficulties controlling their RC plane's direction because they are so used to being in the plane instead. So in order to facilitate this learning phase, a very slow and stable flying plane is the way to go. Leave the faster planes for later on when you have mastered the controls. because you will learn the flight basics much faster with the slower ones.

Stall Recovery of a Remote Controlled Airplane

The only way to recover from a stall is to get the Angle of Attack (A o A) lower than the critical angel.

Since the elevator controls the (A o A), you have to push forward on the elevator (forward on the stick). This is especially difficult to do during a landing approach whether you are flying a real aircraft or even a remote controlled airplane.

If you see your plane heading towards the ground your first reaction will be to pull back but that will only ensure that your aircraft will just keep stalling.

The best way to avoid this is to get to know your airplane and its stall characteristics.

Radio Controlled Airplanes: The Guide For The Complete Beginners

Radio controlled airplanes for beginners are your best bet if you want to learn how to fly one. But looking for one can be frustrating and exciting at the same time. You will be faced with tons of designs and colors to choose from. You need to have a lot of patience with when shopping for one because all these choices can really get confusing sometimes.

To help you out in searching for the right radio controlled airplane to start with, we have a few suggestions that you might want to consider. To get the perfect one for you, here are some tips on choosing your beginner radio controlled airplane.


Getting the plane

The best one to get if you are a noob would be radio controlled airplanes that are sold ready to fly. These are good for absolute beginners who have no experience in assembling one from scratch although some might come with minor assembly. Most of these types of planes would only need a fresh new set of batteries for you to start taking it for a spin. When you get better at flying and would want to buy a more advanced radio controlled airplane, you can go for the ones which you build from scratch. These are sold in different sets and will allow for more customization. Ultimately the choice will be yours but for starts go for a ready to fly kit.

Getting the RC

Another thing to consider when buying a radio controlled airplane for the first time would be choosing the remote control. First off, you might want to think about how much control you want over the plane. If you just plan on letting your RC plane take off and fly around a couple of times, you can go for the 2 channel controller. This is great for beginners since it's easy to master and you can really get good at flying a radio controlled airplane in no time. However if you are planning some high-flying, dare-devil stunts; you'll need a controller with at least 3-4 channels. This may not be the easiest controller to master, but it gives you a whole lot of control over your plane compared to a 2 channel controller.

Making sure its durable

It's understandable for a beginner to crash a plane once or twice, so to help you with added expense on repairs or what not, go for planes that are really sturdy and durable. It is not advisable to go for light wood made planes like balsa wood If you are an in-experienced flyer. Go for radio controlled airplanes that are made of foam like EPP or expanded polypropylene plastic. There are other types of foam that are light and durable and will surely help you cut down on repair costs.

Bottom line

So the bottom line is to have fun. Choose the right plane and enjoy fling it. Don't be discourage if you crash your plane every now and then and just learn from whatever mistake you made to crash your plane. It's also a good idea to join clubs where you get to enjoy flying and learning to fly with a group.

While this article may have helped you a lot in getting started with your hobby, this should not be the only focus of your research. There are a lot more sources of information that you can gather online. Read more articles about RC airplanes or reviews for to know everything there is to know about it before actually buying one.