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RC Planes

By: Jaziah Shariff-Jones

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Table of Contents

What is a RC Plane
How Do They Work
Different Types of RC Planes
Building an RC Plane

Materials
Construction Process
Customization
Testing
Flying

Experience

Building & Flying My Own Glider

Conclusion

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What is an RC Plane?

Definition

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How do They Work

Basic Parts

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How do they work

Engine

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Throttle

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Elevators

Elevators located near the tail of plane control nose angle. Picture on the right shows the elevator in the down position.

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Rudder

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Transmitter & Controller

As i said above, RC planes are controlled on the ground by an operator using a radio transmitter. The plane is controlled on the ground by a person using a controller. It has various controls that can tell the plane what to do. It works by what is called a transmitter. There are 2 of them in fact, one in the controller and one in the plane. Basically they signal each other in order to give the plane various commands. The transmitter uses radio frequency to send these directions, hints the name RC

On the controller, there are 2 joysticks, one left controls the throttle while the other on the right controls the Pitch and Yaw. Pushing the left knob forward will accelerate the speed of the propeller and will make the plane go faster. The joystick on the right controls the Pitch and Yaw of the airplane. The pitch of the airplane is the up or down motion and this is controlled by the elevators. Pushing this joystick forward will make the airplane pitch down and pulling the joystick back will make the airplane go up. This same joystick controls the Yaw of the airplane. Pushing it to the left will turn the airplane to the left and pushing it to the right will turn the airplane to the righ

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Different Types of RC Planes

Trainer

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Different Types of RC Planes

Sport Plane

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Different Types of Planes

Sailplanes and Gliders

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Different Types of Planes

Jets

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Stage 2

1.Materials

2.Rc plane planning

3.Constructing your rc plane

4.Customization

5.Flying/Testing Rc plane

6.Conclusion

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Stage 2 - How to Build Your Own Plane

Materials

Wings
Propellers
Transmitter/Receiver
Battery
ESC
Motor
Servos

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RC Plane Planning

The first step in building your own RC plane is to find a purpose for your aircraft. Like we saw in Stage 1, different plane styles can serve different purposes. You want to choose a plane that will fit your interest. For example, if you want speed build a jet if you want to do tricks though you may want to choose a different style.

Step 2 is to pick your electronics. Again this goes along with choosing the style of plane you want to build. If you want speed you will need to get more powerful electronics in order to get that speed. Another thing to keep in mind when choosing your parts is to factor in weight. If your plane is too light or too heavy it won’t fly correctly.

After you choose your electronics and style of plane you need to find your wing shape. The wing shape directly affects the flight in that when controlling the flight if your shape is even slightly off, your angles for flight will be affected potentially causing crashes. You then can decide on your wingspan. Smaller wingspans can get you sharper turns and more advanced tricks but larger ones are better for gliding. The bigger wingspans will fight to stay in the air longer.

After the wings you will want to move into decisions on the fuselage and tail. Fuselage is the main part of the body. Smaller and tighter fuselage will result in less drag so you can go faster or perform more advanced maneuvers while a bigger body will serve better for a more floaty flight. The tail controls that plane when it’s on the surface. It provides stability on the ground and in the air.

Now that we have all of our decisions made, we can begin to construct our plane!

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Constructing Your RC Plane

Once you’ve gathered all of your materials, you can begin constructing your RC plane. First step is to put together the electronic components. It will be very important to follow the directions provided in your kit when putting together your electronic components. You may need a soldering iron and a screwdriver, however many kits will have everything soldered together already.

After you have assembled your electronic components, you can begin to move onto constructing the actual plane itself. Depending upon the type of plane you are building you will have different wing parts and shapes that you will need to put together. Make sure you are putting the wings on correctly and at the correct angles (like described in stage 1) to achieve the correct flight. Depending on which type of airplane you would like to make the fuselage and wing very different.

Next is combining the two parts together, the plane and the electronics. Make sure that your wires are connected correctly so that the controller will move the wings, tail, etc. in the correct manner. From here you can customize then test out your plane.

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Customization

After your build, you now have the option to customize your RC plane. This can include painting, decals, modifying the style, among many more. First off is the painting. You have 2 options when choosing paint, acrylic or enamel. Acrylic paint will dry faster and can be used as a base coat as it does not have the shine and beauty of enamel. Enamel paint may take longer to dry but it is worth the wait. It creates a shine and is much more durable than acrylic.

You also have the option of adding decals after the paint has been applied. Decals can make your plane unique and stand out from the crowd. A decal is essentially a sticker, only more durable, that can go wherever you want it to go (glass, metal, plastic, etc.). You can buy them or you could even make them yourself with the right skills and materials.

The last major modification you can make to customize your plane is to modify the style. Here you add extra fins, make your wings longer or shorter and style it how you want. These modifications can allow you to completely change the appearance and flight of your plane giving you exactly what you want.

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Flying/Testing Your Plane

When your plane is built and customized you are ready to test it out. First you will want to test if the controls match up between the controller and the plane on the ground. Check if the fuselage turns the correct way when pressed on the controller. Next, hold the plane (so it doesn’t fly away) and push the throttle to see if the propeller spins correctly. From there you are ready to test it’s flight.

First you will want to test your take off. Start in a flat area, and your plane should be able to go from the ground and accelerate enough to become airborne. If it stays aloft you’re in good shape. Next would be to test the overall distance and height your plane can go without loosing connection and crashing. Now is the time to safely push the range of your plane to see what it can do. From there you will want to test the controls and turning of the plane. Make sure it turns the way you want it to and how sharp you can make those turns.

If you really want to fully control your rc plane practice more and more every day and you need a control surface. Control surface is a movable airfoil designed to change the attitude of an aircraft. By moving the control surface, you can fly up or you can fly down or you can turn.To move control surface you need servos.Servos are one of the main part in controlling the plane.To control flight in 3 dimension you need rudder, elevator and ailerons.You can also use flaps to generate more lift if you fly slowly or to slow down while landing.

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Experience

An experience is what I was after, and a great time is what I had. My project so far has covered the ins and outs of RC Planes and I wanted to try it for myself. As you may recall, RC planes can be very pricey so I chose to go with something more in my budget, a glider. I chose one that still had remote controls but not all of the other components that other RC planes have. My essential question was, can I take my newly learned knowledge and fly a glider of my own?

First thing was to get my hands on the glider itself. I ordered the glider kit from amazon so I could have it in 2 days. From there I had to put on the propellers, connect the transmitters to send out signals, and make sure the elevators and rudders were put on in the correct way. From there, the plane was ready for take off.

The majority of my experience was to get to fly the glider. First to start off is to throw the glider into the air. It was important to find the right air current to get under the wings so it would fly. If you went against the current it would fly another way or lose control of it and hit the ground. Also you're supposed to get used to the remote, plane, and the air current for you to do tricks and other cool stuff with it. It’s better if you fly the plane somewhere that is a big open area with soft ground like grass because if your plane does hit the ground it might break the propeller or other parts. Unless you're very good at it or you're a pro I highly recommend open spaces and grass. I had a lot of fun flying the plane and even got comfortable enough with it to do a few flips and rolls.

My experience was wonderful. It was so interesting and surprising. It's so cool how the rudders and elevators connect in order for the airplane to go the right way you want it to go. Also how the radio transmitter sends a signal to the airplane transmitter. I thought it was just amazing and fun. Throughout the entirety of my project, I learned a lot about the RC plane world and was excited to explore and experience it all the way through.

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Conclusion