Sunday, November 4, 2018

Flying RC Planes – Essential Tips

Flying rc planes is a great hobby which will give you immense excitement and joy. Anyway, in case you are a beginner, well, you will have to take up this hobby seriously in order to master the art of RC model airplane flying.

a guest post by Roy M.

The simplest way to start is the 2 channel electric type RC model airplane. You need not be an experienced one to fly these ones as they are relatively easy and are available everywhere. The level of expertise will depend upon the amount of money you are willing to pump in and your own seriousness about it. If you are not bound by budgetary constraints then you can purchase a RC flight simulator although this is a luxury for flying simple RC model airplanes.

Flying model airplanes can be a lot of fun if you are aware of the following things. Weight and balance are very important for an airplane. So if you have a bought a Ready to Fly airplane and followed all the instructions correctly then the weight and the balance of the airplane should be ok. But it is also important to check the balance before flying a RC model airplane. Just remember that an incorrect balance will make it very difficult for you to control the airplane and it might just crash.





Tuesday, October 30, 2018

P51 Mustang - Building RC Planes

Modelling the P51 Mustang

a guest post by Tony LeGrand

WW2 war-birds hold a fascination with most people that love the look of a great aircraft. During this era planes developed from slow flying bi-planes to sleek 400 mile per hour single wing fighters. There is nothing like a war to accelerate the development of aircraft and none more so than the period of the second world war. The Mustang stands as one of the pinnacle fighters of this era, being loved by all who have flown in them or had anything to do with this wonderful piece of history. So, I bought a plan from the internet (you can find some very good ones on Amazon or Ebay) and, I jumped at the opportunity to build it and do an evaluation and flight test on this ‘Cadillac of the skies’.

The plan I used for this amazing RC warbird is about 1:6th scale, with a wing span of 1.6m, (65inches), and a fuselage length of 1.4m. A good .60 2-stroke, or if you hate the scream of a two’eee, .80 to .90 4-stroke like the Magnum .91 I will be using, will do just fine. A warbird should sound as close to the real thing as possible, so a 4 stroke is just the ticket in my opinion.

Friday, October 26, 2018

Plastic Model Aircraft Kits Recycling

For those of us who have been building plastic model aircraft for a long time, the obvious question is, “What do I do with the older models I built in the past before I reached by current skill level?”  The usual answer is, “Throw them out or maybe give them to the kids”.  


large scale model airplanes
This is what most of us did over the years, but about 20 years ago, when I was pruning out my model display cases of models that no longer met my standards, I decided to disassemble them and store them in plastic bags with the idea that they might become useful many years later.  Of course, most of us saved some of the components, such as wheels, engines, props, etc., but I came up with the thought “Why not rebuild the kit to modern standards?”

One major factor is the condition of the kit.  In years past, we didn’t have the excellent glues and solvents that we have today, so kits were relatively easy to break apart.  If we had used Tenax or Microweld then, it would be virtually impossible to break a kit apart without doing some very serious damage. But with the old tube glues, breakdown is relatively simple.

Another factor is the paint.  I’ve always used enamels, and enamels, even when airbrushed on, can be removed provided the proper method is used.  Fortunately, years ago, I heard from some local IPMS’ers that standard automotive brake fluid was an excellent emulsifier, and that it would remove paint from styrene plastic without hurting the plastic itself.  I tried it with mixed results, and the idea languished for a long time.  A few weeks ago, however, I decided to try it again, and see what I could do.  I had an old bottle of brake fluid in my workshop that I had bought at a yard sale for fifty cents, so I figured that I would see how the system worked. I don’t know how this would work on lacquers or acrylics, as I’ve never used these.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

RC Planes. What’s it all about? (Part 3)

Scale building is left outside on purpose as both scale building and scale flying is such a big subject within the hobby, it would almost be rude to cover it in just a few words. But the main point of scale building is to build planes from grounds up using drawings and ‘walk around pictures’ from a real model.

The model is build after this original plane, and every bullet hole, paint scratches and other defects should be transferred to the scale model. The paintwork is also exactly the same as the original plane.

When you first start out with the model airplane hobby, there are tons of information out there. And there are loads of different paths to explore. What you like the most and what your interests are all about, only one person can tell. You! But you can be sure of one thing though, it is always smart to learn how to fly a model plane prior to take the action to do any of the other stuff that has been said in this article. This way you will know if the hobby suits you before you spend too much money and time on a thing that you later find out isn’t any fun after all. Start out slow, and grow with baby steps. That is a great advice.