intro to building planes

[carneyf1d]

http://indooraero.homeunix.net/torstensson.shtml
while looking through old Indoor News and Views discussions i came upon a website that Max Zaluska had posted. It gives great instructions to building a penny plane. It isnt the same specs as a SO plane, but same methods are used... plus you get double the weight to play with!

[sachleen]

so his entire thing had to be 3g?? wow thats light

[carneyf1d]

heh, thats actually pretty heavy man. Check out John Kagan's Safat. its basically a massive 4 foot wing span, 6 inch chord plus a 2 foot stab span and an 8 inch chord. total weight: 1.8ish grams. All those f1ds and hand launched stick planes are amazingly light. Makes SO planes look like bricks

[sachleen]

wow thats amazing. I'm amazed because I only do boom and 3 grams there is nothin ;P

[carneyf1d]

its some serious stuff man. everything counts in what you're building and not much room for mistakes. very masochistic lol

[Pleiades]

thanks for the link!! i was confused about how the prop assembly worked but the pictures cleared it up a little.

[carneyf1d]

yea, if you order an ikara prop online, you wont have to worry about the prop assembly...only shaving, pitch, and whatnot.

[Pleiades]

if i get the ikara prop [which i probably will] will i still need the music wire? also, does it need to be altered very much?

[jander14indoor]

As long as your Ikara prop meets the max diameter requirement (or can be cut down to that), you can use Ikara props as is. Personally I don't like the bearing and hanger assembly, but they work just fine to start.

Since it sounds like you are just beginning, get the basics right so you have a good solid flying plane FIRST. Min weight, max size (since no max chord, 10 cm or so is probably a good starting point), straight, strong. Adjust trim. Appropriate rubber starting size. With that, you should be flying 2 minutes under these rules and medaling at most regionals.

Now, once you get there, matching prop and rubber are VERY important in moving to higher times. So does winding method. Optimizing trim (to minimize drag) can gain some time, wing cross section gains some, most everything else becomes noise.

And don't underate the importance of consistency in winning contests. Spend a lot of time practicing in contest like conditions. Learn how to repair your plane at the site, switch to a backup, replace a broken band quickly, etc.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[carneyf1d]

yea, i hated the bearing assembly and hanger last year. I finally made my own and it seemed to help a bit. Ray harlan sells some great prop hangers at indoorspecialties.com. they're light weight and easily adjustable for turn.