25/9/2016

TheBestTutorialforMakinganRCPlane

HOW TO MAKE AN RC PLANE: THE

BEST TUTORIAL
From our STARMaker:Chetan Kumar

Aeromodelling is the art of designing, building and ying model airplanes,

helicopters and multicopters. These models might be powered or
unpowered. Powered aero-models use Electric Motors, IC Engines or Jet
Engines to generate thrust to make them y.
Flying models borrow construction techniques from full-sized aircraft.
Model aircrafts are built using a variety of materials including paper, foam
board, depron, balsa wood, coroplast sheets or composite materials like
berglass or carbon ber.
In this tutorial, we will be building a radio controlled model airplane using
foam board. This RC Planeis easy to build and y. It is also a good platform
for beginners to learn about ying. You can also skip to check the build
video tutorial of the RC plane by scrolling down this page.

What are the stu required to do this?

1. Motor: CF 2822, 1200 KV Electric Motor
2. ESC: 30 Amp Electronic Speed Controller
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3. Propeller: APC 8 x 4 Inch Electric Propeller

4. Battery: 11.1 V, 3 Cell, 1300mAh Lithium Polymer Battery
5. Servos: 9 grams Servos x 2
6. Battery Charger
7. Depron/ Coroplast/ Foam Board
8. Lite Ply (for Motor Mount)
9. Radio Transmitter and Receiver
10. Cycle Spokes(1.5mm/ 2mm) as Pushrods
11. Clevis x 2
12. Control Horn x 2
13. Linkage Stopper
14. Hobby Knife/Blade
15. Epoxy 5 min (Araldite)
16. Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue Stick
17. Glass Fiber Tape 3.5 mm Nuts and Bolts
18. Screw Driver Set
19. Nutball Plane Plan (by Flitetest)

RC Plane Specications:
Wingspan: 20 inches
Length: 22 inches
All Up Weight: 425 grams
Center of Gravity: 5 inches from the Leading Edge of wing

How does it work?

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Gravity, Lift,
Thrust and Drag
are the forces
acting on an
airplane in ight
(Fig. 1).
Fig.1 Forces in ying

Maintaining a
steady ight
requires a

balance, often described as equilibrium of all the forces acting upon an

airplane. By varying this equilibrium, we can make the plane accelerate
forward, upward, downward, etc.

The thrust for our

aircraft is
provided by an
electric motor and
the wings
generate the lift.
The shape of the
wings and the

Fig.2 Bernoullis Principle

aerofoil decides
the lift generation. The lifting force is provided by the dierence in the
pressure of air owing above and below the wing and is governed by
Bernoullis principle (Fig. 2). Here, we are using a at bottom, Kline
Fogleman airfoil.

Build Video Tutorial:

https://diyhacking.com/rcplanebeginners/

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Flite Test - FT Nutball - SBK - BUILD

Step 1: Printing the plan of RC Plane and getting the parts

ready

In this step, we lay out the plan that we printed before and tape the sheets
together as shown inFig: 1.1
We thentake the full plan and lay it out on the foam board and cut the
foam board accordingly to get the required parts as shown below Fig: 1.2
Also, cut the motor mount out of Lite Ply and drill holes as required by your
motor (Fig 1.3).

Step 2:Building the Power Pod and the Wing

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Fuselage Setup
To build the Power Pod (fuselage), start by cutting the foam on the red line
and remove the foam in-between the lines as shown in Fig 2.2.Fold the
sides of the pod together and run a bead of hot glue to keep them rmly in
place.Glue the Motor Mount that we have cut, to the front end of the
fuselage with epoxy (Fig 2.3).Bolt on the motor to this mount using the 3.5
mm nuts and bolts (Fig 2.4).

Wings Setup
The next step is to build the wing of the aircraft. Cut half way through the
foam on the red line so that the foam can easily bend on the line. Cut a
bevel edge on the elevator so that it can move freely. Cut all the necessary
notches(marked in black) for the servos, tail n and power pod to t into
the wing.Fold the sides of the wing, so that its tips are pointed upwards at
1.5 inches (Fig 2.6, 2.7). This provides stability during ight.
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We will next cut a bevel edge on the tail n so that the rudder can move
freely(Fig 2.8). Then, we glue the tail n into place on the wing.

We use Glass Fiber tape and hinge the tail n and rudder together.We then
install the servos in place, which are necessary for controlling the elevator
and rudder of the plane.
At the end of this step we willhave four parts.
Wing
Power Pod
Tail Fin
Motor Mount

Step 3: Assembling the Airplane

Once we have the Wing and Power Pod ready, we go ahead and glue them
together as in Fig 3.1.Then, we install the control horn on the elevator and
run a control rod from the servo to the elevators control horn as in Fig
3.2.We follow the same step for the rudder (Fig 3.3).

Step 4: Installing Electronics

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We now install the RC receiver, battery and ESC into the Power Pod as
shown in Fig below. And connect your servos to the receiver as in the below
wiring diagram. Note the channels you use for each servo and control them
correspondingly from the transmitter.Now your RC Plane is all set for ying
:)

Step 5: Flying
We will use a Radio Controlled Transmitter working on 2.4 GHz frequency
to y this airplane. I highly advice beginners to learn ying on a simulator,
before actually ying the airplane. There are a lot of simulators available in
the market to start learning how to y airplanes, check this link for further
info.
https://diyhacking.com/rcplanebeginners/

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Flight Video:

Nutball RC Plane - Maiden Flight

-Tutorial submitted by Chetan Kumar. He is

an avid technology enthusiast and has
interests in computer science, robotics,
aeromodelling, IoT and 3D printing.

Chetan Kumar STAR

Maker at DIY Hacking

https://diyhacking.com/rcplanebeginners/

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