Draw Your Own RC Plane Design!
Design, draw and build your own RC model airplane plan- It is not that hard!
World War I SE-5A biplane built from plans
Expand your horizons with plans
One of the most satisfying aspects of the radio control model airplane hobby is designing, building and flying your own RC model plane. There are literally thousands of RC model airplanes flying out there. Almost ready to fly, ready to fly, kit built, or made from construction plans. Yet someone had to be the RC plane plan designer for that aircraft. Why not yourself - and get your design published in a model airplane magazine?
TurboCAD Chickadee plan uses basic construction techniques
Basic skills
The most fundamental skill required to be an RC plane designer is knowledge of how to build an RC model airplane. One has to have the ability to read a set of construction plans, understand how the various parts of the RC aircraft go together, and be able to construct a flying model. Like anything in life, start with an easy project and work your way up to a more complex model airplane. Find an airplane kit that is a trainer of some sort with an illustrated construction manual. For the aspiring RC plane designer, there are numerous on-line RC model airplane forums with very useful photographs on building an RC model airplane.
Obtain moments and areas from existing models
Copy success
Once you get an idea of how one RC plane designer created an airplane, go ahead and copy the general layout for your first model airplane design. I have designed and flown six RC model aircraft. For my initial design, I simply took the measurements of a trainer that flew well, and kept the same proportions for my RC airplane design. This included key dimensions like the wingspan, nose moment, tail moment and surface areas.
Fill in a frame for your plans project
For this first project as an RC plane designer, I “filled in” the aircraft’s outline framework on the plan with structure. Outline frames for the Yard Ace and Snapper (see sample below) are on the training CD for learning TurboCAD model airplane design software to draw model airplane plans. For the wing, I added a leading and trailing edge, as well as ribs and spars. For the fuselage, I added formers, stringers and bulkheads as necessary. My tail surfaces were just sheet balsa. I used experience to determine wood types and sizes, with the focus of any RC plane designer to keep the structure light yet strong. This is an empirical process. After a series of models, with either your own design or notes on other aircraft, you will develop a sense of just what type and amount of structure is needed. The main item for the RC plane designer is to guard against an overweight aircraft. With today’s powerful electric motors, a heavy design may well take off, but will be too fast and no fun to fly as it rockets around the flying field.
Snapper frame drawn with TurboCAD - fill in outline with structure for your RC model plane plan
Blackburn monoplane fuselage frame
Learn proper wood size
Once you complete your first RC model aircraft design, you will likely find some areas that can be improved upon. A selected wood size may be too small; the wood grain set the wrong way; or too much plywood was used in the fuselage or wing dihedral brace, adding weight. Take note of these discrepancies, and make necessary adjustments in your follow on RC plane designs.
As you start drafting your next project, begin to make incremental changes. The RC plane designer might want to widen the fuselage a bit to accommodate the radio equipment. This will have little to no effect on flight characteristics. For aesthetic reasons, you might want the nose or tail to be a bit longer. Again, there is generally no impact on flight performance with a slight increase in tail or nose moments, assuming you keep the same center of gravity.
Prototype Yard Ace - the wingspan is too short!
Yard Ace lessons learned
On the original design of my Yard Ace, I made the wings too short. The wing outline looked OK on the TurboCAD plan. But once I built the first Yard Ace, the wings simply looked too short. Sure enough, this was validated on the test flights. As an RC plane designer, I was happy the Yard Ace got airborne, but it was a wild ride with the smaller wing area.
4 inch longer wingspan on second Yard Ace
Again, this was a problem that could be easily fixed. With the magic of TurboCAD training, I simply drew a wing with a greater span.The wing ribs remained the same, and the Yard Ace flew much better with the new wing and larger area. For the Snapper, which is a low wing evolution of the Yard Ace, I added four inches to the Yard Ace’s wingspan, for better slow flight characteristics. Download a free PDF plan of the Snapper here.
British biplane from the 1930s
Plans can provide some great RC models
In summary, there is no “black magic” with being an RC plane designer. For your first effort, copy the success of someone else’s design. Use this basis to sharpen your initial CAD drafting skills and the actual drawing of your first plan. Once you get the model’s framework set, work to add incremental changes and improvements in subsequent RC plane designs. You will soon have a whole stable of RC airplane outlines that can be readily adapted to your next model design.
RC Plane Designer