Swappable Fuselage for Rc Planes

Its been almost 2 years since i entered the hobby of remote controlled airplanes, during this time i have come across may designs and plans and have made a few myself however after building a few airplanes i came across one similarity the fuselage was almost always similar in design and if this was not the case the design could be easily modified to have one similar to the others. then it struck me why do i build and configure different fuselage for each plane i build when i could make one which fits them all and swap it out when i wish to fly another model.

this does not only help save time spent on building multiple fuselages but is also cost affective since most of the models i fly have similar configuration for motor prop and esc. i dont have to spend money to buy the same motors and esc again for a different plane but instead swap the entire fuselage in a jiffy and have a brand new model ready to take off.

this fuselage can be easily build using foamboard but since i wanted something which will last longer and be able to withstand multiple crashes i decided to try my hand at designing one in tinkercad.

1. foamboard/ access to 3d printer

2. electronics of your choice

If yo want to go with the foam board option you can download the plans in the images and print it with 100% scaling and join the pieces in middle. after that place it over the piece of foam board and cut it out through the outline .

you you want to go with the 3d printing option download the stl file below this instructable and print it without any supports enabled and go with less infill percentage to reduce overall weight. the 3d printed version already has a motor mount embedded into the fuselage and will fit almost any motor.

after you are done printing the foamboard plan you will see there are two red lines in the design these are places where you need to cut only halfway through the foam since this is the place where the walls fold up. after cutting remove the layer of foam to enable space for folding.

fold both sides and check to see everything sits flat, once confirmed you can go ahead and add hot glue beneath the folds to secure them in place. after this use a 8 mm piece of foam for the motor mount and attach it using hot glue and some wooden skewers from the sides of the fuselage going into the 8mm piece.

for the 3d printed version almost no assembly is required and can move onto the next step

Once done with assembly, your choice of motor esc and receiver can be added to the fuselage ready to be swapped into any of your builds, saving you time and money.