TurboCAD Training Tips for Drawing RC Airplane Plans
More insights on learning TurboCAD to draw model RC airplane plans!
TurboCAD training tips for RC airplane plans page 1 page 2
6. Use the “trim” tool for TurboCAD training and drawing RC airplane plans. The trim tool is an indispensable part of your TurboCAD training and user experience. Using the snap command is a great way to join lines. But quite often in drawing RC airplane plans various lines will overlap. The trim command is a very simple method for your TurboCAD training where you select a “cutting edge” for one line, and simply click on any other lines, or portions of objects, to remove the unwanted portions of the drawing, leaving a perfectly smooth edge. Once you experiment a few times with the trim tool in your TurboCAD training for RC airplane plans, this will make perfect sense. In addition, there is extensive use and demonstration of the trim tool in the TurboCAD training CDs available here.
Airplane image drawn with TurboCAD
7. Learn how to use the “split” command. As you develop your TurboCAD drafting software training and progress with RC airplane plan drafting skills, the split command will come in very handy. The split command permits you to cut, or split, a larger entity into two or more sections. This is a CAD requirement to do things like trim, or move just a section of your RC airplane plan. You might want to “lift” a section of your model airplane plan - say, the tail or canopy - to see how it fits or looks in a different view. The split command will allow you to do this.
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House frame rendered in TurboCAD
8. Save everything! Your computer hard drive has lots of space, and TurboCAD files really are not that large. With any TurboCAD training and drafting of RC airplane plans, you will be making a lot of changes and additions to your model airplane design. There is no way to foresee how the final version of an RC airplane design will come out, so save every CAD doodle you have made. It is amazing how a model airplane design drawing excursion can look a day or two after you experiment. I draw a large box to the side of my TurboCAD work area, and keep all versions of the model airplane design in this work box area. After all, most of the model airplane designer’s best work is done on a scratch pad. Once you have arrived at the final version of your model airplane plan, go ahead and “Save As” for a finished plan version. Do keep the original file with all of your sketches and evolutions of the final model. This is a basic aspect of TurboCAD training for RC airplane plans - save every sketch or doodle you make.
9. Learn to use the grid. The grid can come in handy as you initially draw out your model plane plans with TurboCAD. The grid can give you a quick sense of scale and dimensions, and is useful as a snap reference as well. As you progress with your RC airplane design, the grid is not needed quite as much as for a project like a house floor plan, where the grid will be on all the time. Keep in mind that you can easily draw true vertical and horizontal lines without the grid just by holding down the shift key as you draw the line.
Blackburn RC model airplane plan drawn with TurboCAD
10. Learn to use construction lines. Construction lines are an incredibly useful aspect of TurboCAD training for RC airplane plans. Construction lines are intended to guide the drawing of the final lines on a finished airplane drawing, and are erased when no longer needed for the final plan. Construction lines are a very handy way to dimension items such as formers and wing ribs by simply applying the construction lines to that part of the fuselage (or wing) view, and drawing the component to match the construction lines. By using this technique, there is no need to measure items such as formers or ribs - just match them to the construction lines. Again, it is easiest to see this demonstrated on the TurboCAD training videos. You will quickly realize the utility of using construction lines all your RC airplane plans.
Learn TurboCAD to draw RC plane plans
11. Curves. Drawing good curved lines during TurboCAD training for RC airplane plans is a bit of a challenge. The best thing to do is just play with the curved line tools, either the Spline or Bezier. I have had the best luck using the Spline tool for curved lines, just because I find it easier to draw a smooth line that looks correct. Practice drawing your curves, and simply redo if you don’t like the look of the line. Remember, you can still snap to start the curved line precisely at another line, and snap at the end when finished (double click). After a short while, you will be able to draw very nice curved lines for items such as canopies, wing tips, and tail surfaces. Recall that anything symmetrical, such as a curved wing tip, just needs to be drawn once, and replicated with the mirror command.
TurboCAD training tips page 1 page 2
TurboCAD Training | RC Airplane Plans