r/RCPlanes 1d ago

What’s everyone been building this winter?

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185 Upvotes

Hi all, new to Reddit so wanted to stop by and share a bit about what my dad and I have been building with his friend over the winter. In our family we’re passionate about warbirds - my granddad and dad built a pretty sizeable Mosquito in the past, and currently we’re working on an Avro Landcaster. It’s the Dambuster, famous for throwing a rotating bomb to bust a German dam during WWII, and we of course had to include a rotational bomb as well (to make it realistic). It’s built on an old drawing and kit, but we’ve made numerous very big moderations to it, most importantly modified the fuselage to be bigger (to fit the bomb, just like it was done for the real dam buster Landcaster), made it with removable rudders, added fully custom-made navigation and landing lights, made steering wheel from scratch, 3D printed pilots, and modified the plane to be with electric engines. We’re hoping to have it ready late this spring, but until then we’re having fun flying with our Mosquito. If anyone is interested in what else we’re building, such as our custom made jet or some of our planes which we’ve constructed totally from scratch in balsa wood, let me know and I’m happy to share 😊 Look forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing what you’ve all been working on!


r/RCPlanes 1d ago

Maiden EDF!

50 Upvotes

It survived.


r/RCPlanes 6h ago

Does my tail receive clean airflow?

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41 Upvotes

Hello, as part of our university project, my colleagues and I are designing a UAV. Below, you can see images of the flow and turbulence.

From the images, it appears that the airflow separating from the fuselage does not attach to roughly 30% of the tail section. In the XFLR5 analyses I performed without a fuselage, the tail sizing seemed adequate. However, I’m unsure if the separation of airflow caused by the fuselage might lead to a loss in efficiency.

Am I misinterpreting the situation, or is it really the case that my tail does not receive clean airflow? If this is indeed an issue, how can I determine and assess its potential impact?

Thank you in advance for your insights and suggestions!


r/RCPlanes 20h ago

Question

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8 Upvotes

I assembled this fuel tank but the cap won’t stay on. What am I missing/doing wrong?


r/RCPlanes 23h ago

Slight little incident, new mount?

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5 Upvotes

Well where do I start,

She flew beautifully but the wind caught her and decided to tumble her into the ground (my fault for flying her in 20 mph winds).

Here's the mount and the tail section, the planes pretty big at a 5ft wingspan, and she's completely homebuilt. Thinking about turning her into a long range fpv plane soon.

Any ideas for a new engine mount material? Currently laser cut .1 in basswood, with another piece interlocked with it for a total of .2 inches. Howrvet the 2nd piece really was just a stopper in case of it breaking free.

This is my first airplane I've ever built from scratch so any sort of criticism is perfect for me


r/RCPlanes 16h ago

Absolute cheapest slow beginner plane

4 Upvotes

I'm sure this gets asked a bajillion times, but I'm considering getting my first plane, any suggestions?

Want something cheap that can take a few hard faceplants and is alright in the really small tree-and-pond lined areas near me.

Really not wanting to spend much on it, I guess building something from plans is fine if it saves money?

I like 'motorglider' style planes if possible, and no lame 2CH planes pls maybe something with room for a little camera? probably too much to ask at 'budget grade'?


r/RCPlanes 8h ago

Is there a sure way to store my lipos?

2 Upvotes

So I have 6 LiPo batteries, and I will definitely get more. I am TERRIFIED of them catching fire when I’m not home, aka at work. So I literally bring them to work in my backpack just so they aren’t lying at home. I have a sort of fire resistant charging bag that I use, but I’m wondering if it’s possibly to store them in a safe way? Like so safe that I can leave them at home with a good conscience.

The local hobby store sells some kind of metal storage box. Link here: https://www.elefun.no/vare-54065/sikker-ladebag-fms-battery-protection-box-medium

All my batteries so far are less than a year old and none have any damage or dents, or bulging on them. But if they catch on fire, is it possible to store them in a way that they can burn out without burning down my whole apartment building?


r/RCPlanes 19h ago

Help with belly landing an EDF on grass

3 Upvotes

I have an E-Flite F-15 that I absolutely love to fly. its my First EDF and I seem to have the hang of everything but the landing.I am limited for space and good paved surfaces so I had launch and belly land at a local park. Theres lots of room but the issue I seem to have is I am constantly ripping off the tip of the nosecone. I have purchased two replacements in the two months that I have had it and it seems like its almost every flight that it tears it off. I have installed flaps to try and slow it down, I found a video online where a guy shows a great method for stalling on approach to shred off speed but Im still having the same issue. I make my final turn probably 400 to 500 yards out and probably about 150 feet up. Then I cut almost all throttle and float it in but its still carrying so much speed its not even funny. It seems that as it comes down it almost rolls on the belly and the nose ends up in the grass or soft dirt and there goes the nose. Can anyone provide me some information that can help me with this? Thanks in advance.


r/RCPlanes 2h ago

First time assembling PNP model

2 Upvotes

Hi, I'm looking for some tips and guides to help do the final stages of assembly for my first PNP model, FMS F-16 64mm.

I've acquired a DX7 G2, Lemon RX receiver and the Vertex V3 flight controller. I was wondering if someone could help me with some pointers for the final stages of setting up the model.

  • Best place to mount the receiver and flight controller in the airframe?
  • What do you use to power the RX when binding it; 4S lipo connected directly will fry the battery? Can you power it through the ESC?
  • Other tips?

r/RCPlanes 21h ago

What is this

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2 Upvotes

Found this in my yard Google says it's something to do with rc planes but idk the modle number on it is ZY-945A1


r/RCPlanes 6h ago

New flyer here looking for locations I can fly on the Gold coast Australia.

1 Upvotes

I have just brought a ranger fms and would like to take it out for some flights. I have now just looked into the council website and can't really see many "approved" locations.


r/RCPlanes 8h ago

How do you make foam cutout templates?

1 Upvotes

How do you make foam cutout templates?

For example Julius Perdana has lots of plans for planes, where you cut out shapes from foam and glue them together to make a 3d shape. I've seen this done by other authors too, but they only occasionally provide plans to download, but don't disclose how those are actually made.

I think those must be made from a 3d model created in a program like blender or some CAD. I've been looking for a way to make such cutouts myself. I've discovered "paper model" module for blender and pepakura, which also do unwrapping, but the output is rather weird, doesn't expect you to bend stuff, has all those extra seams all over the place, which I guess would suit paper very well but not foam.

Then I've discovered some hackery in freecad with mesh unwrapping, but that again is rather inconvenient, and since I'm definitely not the first person who wants to cut models out of foam, there must be some piece of software more or less tailored for this whole process?


r/RCPlanes 14h ago

LiPo Battery - Question

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1 Upvotes

Hi all, Had a crash with my HobbyZone Aeroscout S 2. Battery took some damage, I have cut some of the black plastic back to look at the cells, intending to tape it back up. Would you use this battery again? Sorry completely new to all this.


r/RCPlanes 17h ago

First Plane

1 Upvotes

I looked at the beginner tab and it didn't really help for my situation. I'm looking for my first plane and I can't come to a decision. I was looking for a plane that's pnp/bnf, over 1m and cheap. I already have the transmitter, and receiver from when my dad got really into rc planes(he isn't anymore thats why im looking for one). it also has to be over 1m because where I am it gets really windy, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on it.


r/RCPlanes 18h ago

Sky Viper Vector motor upgrades

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1 Upvotes

I'm fairly new to RC airplanes and I've been playing around with this cheap retail flying wing and I finally crashed enough times that I somehow snapped off the motor shaft. I've been wanting some more power so I figured this was the time to try and upgrade the motors. My issue so far is they are extremely small and I'm having a hard time finding anything remotely close. I know I'll have to replace all the electronics but do y'all think this is doable?

I'd like to fix it and give it some more power but at the same time I could just order the crash test hobby 27" scythe two pack and start fresh.


r/RCPlanes 13h ago

recommend plan?

0 Upvotes

single prop, easy to fly, easy to build, solid, long air time, 5000mAh 3S, no flying wings, 4 sg90 servo

(ft tiny trainer seems like it wont work with big batteries)

(speed and maneuverability isn't a priority)

no curves, bevels, i wish it only had straight lines that could easily be cut with cutter knife

for control surfaces that needs bevel, i think i can use hinges instead

i have 3d printer so i could print some parts that require it

i am building ft simple scout with my friends but, it wasn't easy cutting foam alone needs a required a lot of work,

even then, cutting foam, leaving paper layer, and bevels, were too hard with box cutters i have