General Advise for Fist Foam Board Build

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NordCelt

Member
I have some spare Spektrum AR636 receivers on hand and decided to try making a couple foam airplanes over the winter. I'm wanting roughly a 3 to 4 ft wing span so am asking what brushless motor would be good as well as ESC and Servo's. Is there any benefit in digital versus analog servo's too. I prefer Castle creations when possible for ESC since I like their computer interface. Just some general info to point me in the right direction would be a help.

I originally thought I could just use the specs from the aircraft the receivers came out of but even though they are the same size the motor ratings are vastly different, 15A vs 40A. Also, one had analog servos and the other digital so apparently the AR636 doesn't care but that also confuses me because seems I'd have a PWM signal for analog and PPM for digital but it's the same receiver.
 
Derek

Derek

Well-Known Member
I love scratch building my own planes. Some are fast and some are slow. Here's a question for you: How much flight experience do you have? If you aren't very experienced (or maybe you just want a nice lazy flyer), I do have to recommend the RCH Trainer that Tony has designed. There use to be free downloadable plans in the RCH Store. Check there for the PDF plans for that plane. I've built 3 of them and I've had great success with each until the inevitable crash, lol, mostly due to pilot error. I sure can't knock the plane at all. It's an easy build and it looks pretty good, too. I do believe that Tony even has suggested motors and esc's listed on the plans.

As for the analog vs digital question....either will work just fine for a build like this. Digital servos seems to operate smoother and they seem to come back to center more accurately. I have several planes that have analog servos and they work just fine. It's when I get into speedy planes that I try to run only digital servos when I want super "smooth" operation and accurate centering.

As for your receiver, no, it won't care at all if you use digital or analog. Just don't mix them...meaning, run all digital or all analog servos.

I hope this helps!
 
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NordCelt

Member
Been away from the computer for a while and just saw your response. Thanks for the info. General knowledge like that is what I was after and it helps. I've downloaded the plans on the trainer and found a series on You Tube that Tony did so should be easy and fun. I've ordered some parts for the foam build. I'm currently learning to fly with a Park Zone Sport Cub. It looks pretty ratty from all the crashes but I put it back together and go off for another try. My wife decided to learn too so we've ordered a E-Flight Apprentice for her.

As far as level of experience, it's mixed. I've got several thousand hours in airplanes and a few dozen in helicopters. I was a flight instructor for 15 years and we owned a Piper Warrior for about 20 years. My wife also is a pilot but neither of us fly any more. We're new to RC though and frankly seems harder than flying in the cockpit to me. Has to be, I've never wrecked an airplane but have carried home shattered remains of RC planes and helicopters.

Don't know if crashing will ever stop. I start doing good then push it to try harder things with bad results from time to time but I guess that's what everyone goes through.
 
Derek

Derek

Well-Known Member
That's really fantastic that your wife is going to fly with you! Mega-coo! My wife won't fly with me because she is afraid of crashing and making me repair the damages but she is always ready to run the video camera for me. She may not fly with me but she enjoys watching me fly.

As for the RCH Trainer, I really can't talk highly enough about it. Tony really did a great job designing the plane and making it easy for other people to have access to the plans. In my opinion, stick with your Sport Cub, Apprentice, and RCH Trainer for a while until you get some experience under your belt. I can imagine that flying a real plane is much easier than flying RC's for several reasons. One reason would be the sheer size of the full size plane....it will get pushed around by the winds a LOT less than our beloved foam planes....no doubt. Second reason would be that with a full size plane, you are in the cockpit and you can feel and see what the plane is doing immediately. Flying an RC, especially from real distances, can be tricky because the model will get pushed or tilted by the winds and then your eyes have to see it and then the brain has to register what's going on and then send a reaction action to the thumbs and then that signal is sent back to the receiver on the model. It's because of this that I suggested the RCH Trainer because it's a great slow flyer, very stable, and depending on your electronics setup, it will fly at faster speeds quite well, too. Just be sure to reinforce the wing with carbon fiber or bamboo skewers. I recommend the carbon fiber because you can get a 36" piece of carbon fiber for a few dollars and it can span the whole wing.

Will the crashing ever stop? Ummmm, not a chance, lol. Even the pro's crash from time to time so you can imagine how many times a lesser experienced pilot will crash. It happens. It's a part of the hobby. My suggestion for this is to simply be sure that you keep plenty of hot glue on hand, lol. You're gonna need it.

Best of luck with your flying experiences and enjoy that flying time with your wife!!!
 
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NordCelt

Member
Yeah, larger size helps but I've flown in some pretty high winds before. One time I made a trip to Topeka, Kansas and the winds we gusting above the stall speed of the Cessna 172 we flew out there. I had my wife, girl friend at the time, get someone to tie the plane down before I let go of the controls to hold the nose down. That was the most extreme high wind landing I ever had though.

You're also right that it's not just the visual that makes flying from a cockpit easier than RC flying. The sensations as the air currents upset the flight path are pretty quickly felt. Visual orientation with the RC's is still one of my biggest problems, especially with the helicopters. It's all a lot of fun though. I don't even mind fixing the crashes. Must say that Cubs quickly acquired a rather weathered appearance. Feel like it has character though.

So far my wife has just accompanied me to the field and it's nice that yours goes along too. Getting some video would be nice so your lucky to have your wife doing that for you. We're the lucky one's not many I see have there spouse out flying with them. I know I enjoy having mine with me whether she flies or not.

Hopefully the weather will permit getting her out to fly in the coming week. We're going to run master/slave transmitters to get her having fun before the cold winds blow. I won't mind fixing her planes, they're not so bad. She's not interested in helicopters and that's where the real workload and expense is for me. I'm addicted to both though so will keep on flying, crashing, fixing...
 
Blade_flyer

Blade_flyer

Member
One thing about crashing these planes versus full scale... I've never had a crash that I couldn't walk away from.

My motto: Fly, Crash, Repair, Repeat.

Bud
 
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