Tag Archives: How To

If you’re like most of the new generation of RC pilots, you probably got your start with electric powered models propelled by torque monster brushless power plants fed by LiPo cells. That’s definitely not a bad thing, but …

By Scott Copeland Time for the two-dimensional world to add a third dimension! In the first two parts of this column (Fly RC April and May 2013) we’ve studied our plans, gathered our tools and carefully cut out …

Words by Scott Copeland Now we are cooking with gas! In our last installment, we discussed how to choose a building project and pointed out how to read the details of the plan. We have done some studying …

A while back I wrote a two-part article in Fly RC magazine explaining how I scaled out the big 1/6-scale WACO SRE ARF from SIG. That article was essentially about getting rid of the plastic covering, getting the servos inside where they belong on any self-respecting scale job, and messing with the overall appearance by adding things like scale tail surface cross sections, fuselage stringers, door outlines and the like.

For those new to the RC airplanes, all I can say is that “You’ve got it easy!” At no other time in the history of radio control aircraft has “the fruit” hung so low. The ARF and ready-to-fly market is enormous with offerings that range from micro-size indoor planes to giant-scale monsters.

Conquer Workshop Clutter This Weekend! If you have been in RC for a while you can probably relate to the inevitable crowded workshop corner where partially completed airframes sit mixed with those finished and flight ready, and maybe …

After bending a few aluminum landing gears on hard landings, I decided to make my own out of fiberglass and carbon fiber. My expertise as an engineer was designing carbon fiber structures and components for communication satellites so this endeavor was right up my alley. Many auto makers are now using carbon fiber composites for springs and body parts because they are not only lighter, they absorb energy better than steel and are three times stronger. For those same reasons, RC model airplane landing gear is a perfect application for composites.

Get the Best Performance from Your Foam EDF Jet Today’s RC flyer has a huge variety of molded foam ARF and RTF scale and sport planes to choose from and the EDF (electric ducted fan) is one of …

One of the goals of having a scale model is that you want the model to look real; to reproduce the full-scale aircraft. There is nothing more dramatic looking than seeing a warbird that looks like it has …

As an airline pilot, I get to fly with pilots from every background imaginable—some are civilian trained like myself, and others are military trained pilots who have flown heavy tankers, helicopters, and high performance fighters in their previous …

Many RC models do not come equipped with landing gear, meaning that each flight must start with a hand launch. There is nothing worse than goofing up the launch of a new or favorite model and taking it …