RC Plane With Modern Electronics

With this instructables you can build your own RC plane you can also learn about aerodynamics.

First step is to make plan. You can make a your own plan or take it from other source you can also create a 3D-Model in 3D modelling software's which you can easily get from "Autodesk". I have made a plan similar to Cessna 182 N633P. The things you will need to keep in mind is that:

1. The fuselage is about 75% of wing span
2. The CG Point (Center of Gravity) is to be far away about 30%-35% of the fuselage from nose.
3. The CG Point (Center of Gravity) is to be far away about 65%-70% of the fuselage from tail.
4. Fuselage height about 10%-15% of its length.
5. Fin area=33% of the Stab Area.
6. Rudder=1/3 to 1/2 of the fin.

According to these observations I have made plan which is shown above. Your Plan must be according to aerodynamics. You can research about aerodynamics on www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/index.html. I have studied aerodynamics more deeply.

Your plane must be aerodynamically perfect. Its stability is dependent on weight . Let the nose slightly heavier than the tail. You can set CG after putting weight (Battery , Receiver and Servos etc.) in sequence. Stability can be defined as a ball on top of hill if it slide any side it will slip down the hill and it cannot comes to its original position its called negative stability , a ball in valley if it slides from its position it will come to its position automatically its called positive stability & a ball on smooth terrain if it slide now it will remain maintain its second position till we set it to its original position this diagram is shown above.

Equation of lift

L=1/2 x p x v x v x A x Cl

Where

• p is the density of surrounding air
• v is true air speed
• A is plan form area
• Cl is the coefficient. The coefficient is a number that determines the lift based on geometry or shape of the wing. This number changes with different angle of attack, and also with change in speed and air condition

Build your plane wing the narrower from tips to reduce drag.Wings make more lift at higher angles of attack. Vertical tail must be back of the plane. The tail should be as far away from the center of gravity as possible, which usually mean back of the plane.If an air foil is curved then the wing will still produces some lift when the angle of attack is zero, but if it is symmetrical it will not produces any lift. This is why vertical tails usually have symmetrical airfoils, as it will not try to turn the plane when it flies in a straight line.

Now, designing the tail of the aircraft it is the hard process.As a general rule aircraft's horizontal tails have lower aspect ratio than the aircraft's wings.The taper ratio of the horizontal tail can be similar to , between 0.3 and 0.6 you can check different aspect ration by changing the tail of the aircraft. Vertical tails usually have lower aspect ratio generally between 1 and 2 but they can be lower to 1, means the tail is longer than it is tall. A tail that is too big causes too much drag and slows the plane down. A tail that is too small will not be able to stabilize a plane, and may not be strong enough to stop it from crashing. When designing a tail for your model aircraft, it is safer to design a tail that might be too big. If it turns out your plane is too slow, you can try to reduce the size, but if you make it too small it's hard to fix, and could cause a spectacular crash that'll be even harder to fix! The expert guide you will find on: www.rcpowers.com/e-book.htm

The Things you will need:

1. CF 2822, 1200 kv Electric Motor
2. Servo Motor (only.2)
3. 30 AMP Electronic Speed Controller
4. 11.1v, 3-Cell, 5000 mah Lithium Battery
5. TX DSM 2 E-Flight transmitter
6. RX-42 DT-2.4 GHz reciever

You will have know that planes are controlled with Rudder,Elevators,Ailerons & flaps but they all are not must. You can control your plane with only Flaps & Ailerons or (Rudder & Elevators). The most easy way to control these things is Servo. A Servo is a small device that has an output shaft. This shaft can be positioned to specific angular positions by sending the servo a coded signal. You can use any way of thrust. I Have used a CF 2822 kv electric motor whose speed will be controlled by 30 AMP Electronic Speed Controller. Fast plane should have small propellers like 6x4s. Slow plane should have large propellers like 10x3.8s. These things get power by a 11.1v,3-cell, 5000 mah battery. You can use any battery but be careful while using Li-Po batteries. If a battery looks puffy, dispose it safely. The most important things are receiver and transmitter, they control these all things.The receiver that I have used is RX-42 DT-2.4 GHz & transmitter is TX DSM 2 E-Flight (the pictures of that all things is shown above). The way to manage this all items are shown above. You also make a circuit design on autodeskcircuit to test whether it works or not. Otherwise test it all several time before fixing it in body of airplane.

Things you will need to make the body:

1. Styrofoam
2. Xacto Knife
3. Any Glue (Light Weighted)

You have assembled electronics. Now, its time to build the body of your RC plane. It was my hardest step because I didn't know anything about these materials. The best material that I found is Styrofoam. You can purchase it your nearest retail store (its cost is not much). I was cutting a Styrofoam and by mistake it unfortunately broke. The best tool to cut a Styrofoam is Xacto Knife (image is shown above). You can cut the plane body according your plane. Shape your model aircraft's wings carefully and adjust the incidence angle & angle of attack accordingly. It is the dangerous step so do all work carefully. After, shaping,cutting & bending Paste the part of airplane's body. Remember! use less weighted glue material because if your plane become over weighted it will interrupt the lift of the plane and increase weight & do not close all sides one side should be open in which you will place electrical system.You have already manage all electric system which I have shown in step 3. Place it in aircraft's body, Check it again and again befor closing the body. Connect servos to flaps by metallic wire, which will control the flaps.

My plane was looking messy after that all. According to your plan paint and color your plane. Draw extras for more decoration.Remember! use less weighted material for painting because it will interrupt in lift and increase weight. I have pasted OHP Sheet on windows to show effect of glass. You can also do small holes in wing and place LED's. If you had worked according my advices your plan look like the image shown above.

Now, I am going to visit autodeskcicuits for more ideas.I am not a native speaker, if I have done any mistake please report me in private messages and I am sorry about that. Please vote me and leave comment below.