My questions and concerns about the RC hobby

[aeroengineer]

Sounds good, and I agree about the fancy electronics. I will most likely go with the timber or the aeroscout. I will post pictures when I get my trainer 😀

[Wild Man]

Sounds good, and I agree about the fancy electronics. I will most likely go with the timber or the aeroscout. I will post pictures when I get my trainer 😀

My brother has been flying his Aero Scot now for two years and has over 100 hours flying time on it He now loves to use it for In Flight Videos with a GO- PRO white camera mounted on top of the wing Here are a couple video's of his last winter He still loves to fly it a lot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5M...W5KKg&index=71 this Video was last winter. The first flight I made for him with a GO- Pro camera mounted on top of the wing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OTy...W5KKg&index=70 You can't go wrong with this one. As an AMA IP I suggest this one to every one that is interested in getting started in RC

[mr.frankenjet]

+1 on aeroscout, also a really good choice

[aeroengineer]

Also would anyone know where to buy depron foam instead of the foam from the dollar store. For some reason I can’t find depron foam anywhere. I’ve seen people also use underlayment Xps foam from Lowe’s or Home Depot, any recommendations?

[xviper]

Also would anyone know where to buy depron foam instead of the foam from the dollar store. For some reason I can’t find depron foam anywhere. I’ve seen people also use underlayment Xps foam from Lowe’s or Home Depot, any recommendations?

Try here: http://www.modelplanefoam.com/index.php/foam

Depron used to come from one source but that dried up. The stuff from modelplanefoam isn't true Depron but it's close. That site also gives some very good explanations about the foam.

You can also find other suppliers if you Google "depron foam".

[E-Challenged]

I get a lot of enjoyment building old school stick and tissue balsa and ply scale electric powered models. No reasonably large and well performing built-up or foamy models are cheap to buy and build. A "short kit" from Manzano Laser Works consists of plan, some ABS plastic parts, laser cut balsa and ply parts plus some music wire for landing gear, no covering material included and the cost may be over $200.When you add the price of motor, speed control, receiver, servos, and miscellaneous hinges, fasteners, covering material and adhesives your total model cost be over $500. A nice flying foamy scale model with motor, speed control and servos pre-installed, requiring only your receiver (PNP) can cost less than the wood kit and might possibly fly better. I fly balsa built-up and foamy models but with foamies, I miss out on building enjoyment plus the more intense enjoyment of the "maiden" and subsequent "tweaking" flights. I would recommend you build one of Pat Tritle's simple high-winger tail-dragger designs if you are a beginning builder.Save bi-planes and multi-engine designs and Guillows kit conversions for later.

[MIGUNNER]

Ha flew 1st 7 flights, now I have to increase my skill at the controls, but my wing design and my fuselage and tail, no plans just started by building a flat wing 30" then decided to put winglets on it, and after reading a article that spoke of the commercial airliners winglets giving actually forward thrust more than drag as they are actually a airfoil but the angling of short airfoil extensions just sorta happened, I like it, going to call it my BlackBirdy Spyplane, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMfalUVhRj8 but building is so much fun and cheap,when done learning on the growing fleet I have a A10 64mm edf x2 6s in the final build stages with 63" wing, piper cub, cessna 185 my own design and a few others, D.mg

[serpentracer]

Good news is SIG is back up and running and said they're getting as many balsa kits put together as they can. Hope they build jets. Id rather have a old school wood plane than foam. Once the company who makes the foam kit discontinues that model your out of luck repairing/replacing it. With a wood plane you can rebuild it. Im lucky enough to have a hobby shop locally that has balsa wood pieces. Looks like a home Depot in there haha.

[Clara9]

I think you need to put in more time in this hobby to get a better idea of “how things are”. When you say you haven’t had much success with foamboard planes, I’m quite surprised. I fly with a couple of guys who fly a lot of those foamboard planes from plans they get from Flitetest and they all fly very well. Just as Depron and foamboard has revolutionized the RC model airplane hobby for many, many beginners and intermediates, the “solid” foam (as you call them) has revolutionized scale airplanes and contrary to what you’ve observed, these have made these airplanes much more affordable. You can see the scale balsa planes at Motion RC and realize that those are in another price point much higher than the scale foam planes. Realize that scale foam planes are on the most part, “PNP” types, while the balsa models are “ARF’s”. The price point of these balsa ARF’s are already higher than the foam counterpart. Add in all the mechanics, electronics and power systems and you can easily triple or quadruple what a foam PNP costs.
I’ve built many of those Depron and foamboard “profile” planes and they all fly fairly well. Then came the PNP foam scale planes. Sure, they cost a lot more than the “flat” planes but building a realistic scale foamboard plane is challenging and the end result is usually a plane that only it’s mother can love. I’ve also built a few balsa ARF’s and they end up being quite expensive but very satisfying to own and fly.
You should dig a little deeper before coming to a final conclusion on some of your views.

its really a great advice for all newbies, thanks xviper...

[KristopherZimmerman]

Hello! I am actually new to this website and wanted to go further with my rc airplane hobby. So I have been mainly working on rc airplanes made out of foam board and never have worked with any other material. To be honest, only 1 out 6 of my foam board models would actually fly and I actually follow the videos that flite test has on youtube. Either I am terrible at this hobby or this material just doesn't work with airplanes. My question is, should I be working with materials such as balsa wood or foam core (the foam like you see in Lowes)? I tried looking for rc airplane books and countless videos but none of them really go in depth and actually answer my question. I was analyzing all the models that motion rc has to offer and they look really good and especially realistic. However, my only problem is that majority of them are made of solid foam if i'm not mistaken. I feel that for the price point they're asking for these airplanes, they should be made out of wood or another light material. I get that the electronics are expensive, but the airplane in my opinion should not be over 500 dollars and this is the reason why i'm hesitant to buy one these airplanes because one wrong move and that foam will explode in tiny pieces that is beyond repair. Balsa wood seems the best to me, but again I don't know what machines to get or where to even obtain the wood. Please feel to share your opinions and recommend some ways I should go about making these airplanes.

If you're having trouble getting your foam board planes to fly, there could be a few reasons why. One common issue is that the planes may not be balanced properly, which can cause them to fly erratically or not at all. Another issue could be the design of the plane itself. Flite Test is a great resource for foam board planes, but their designs may not be optimized for your particular flying conditions or skill level.