Basic controls

Ailerons control the Roll axis, keeping the wings level, or rolling one wing up, and one down. Ailerons are usually on the back side of the main wing, closer to the tip.

Elevators move the nose up or down, changing the Pitch axis, also known as Attitude. Elevators are usually part of the tail.

Rudder moves the nose right and left, changing the Yaw axis. The rudder is usually part of the tail.

Flaps change the shape of the wing to add lift and reduce speed. Flaps are often used during landing, and sometimes during take-off. Flaps are usually on the back edge of the main wing, closer to the center of the plane.

Spoilers reduce lift by spoiling the shape of the wing, like air brakes. Spoilers can be used while landing to give better traction for the tires on the runway. Spoilers can also be used during flight to descend quickly, if necessary. Spoilers are usually on the top of the wing.

Before you fly

Before attempting to fly, it is highly advisable to:

• Have the model checked (and test flown) by an experienced pilot. It's hard enough to learn to fly a well set-up plane, but there are many simple mistakes that can make it much harder. RTF (ready to fly) planes attempt to address this but building and set-up skills greatly improve the satisfaction and enjoyment available from the hobby. If you join a club, this help is much easier to find.
• Ensure that your field is large enough. This depends on your model but a football field is a good size for a park flyer.
• Pick a calm day. Wind will make it much harder to control (especially for a small park flyer) and greatly increase the chance of an accident happening.
• If you are flying outside a club, ensure you are not within a couple of mile or so of an existing club as your radio could well interfere with them and cause accidents. Likewise, their radios could cause interference with your model.
• Ensure your field is empty. Dogs will chase your plane and other people may consider your plane more dangerous than you do.

Where to buy Hobby Drones /Professional Aerial Photography Drones

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Choosing a plane

Construction

Ready to fly

Ready to fly (RTF) models are popular amongst park fliers. They come ready made, with all the electronics and radio equipment installed for you. All that needs to be done is charge up the batteries. Whilst they can be useful for learning the basics of how to fly, they can quickly become boring to the pilot as his/her skill progresses.

However, is worth watching out for cheap, mass produced, poorly constructed models.

Almost ready to fly

Almost ready to fly (ARTF) models have become very popular, especially for trainers. These come mostly built, and it is only a matter of assembling the major components (i.e. joining and attaching the wings and tail surfaces to the fuselage) and installing your radio equipment and engine.

Kit

Kits vary enormously in the demands that they make of the builder. Some require considerable expertise and investment of time, while others (like the recent breed of interlocking laser-cut kits) can be assembled as quickly as a simple jigsaw puzzle. The choice of materials is almost unlimited. Traditionally, kits mainly used balsa and a few plywood parts. Polystyrene foam then became common, as did countless combinations of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), expanded polypropylene (EPP), carbon fibre and other modern materials.

The assembly of kits requires an extensive range of adhesives, with cyanoacrylate being popular, as well as two-part epoxy, PVA and others.

Plan

Any type of model can be built from a plan. Plans can be highly detailed or basic in the extreme, requiring all different levels of experience. It is common for RC airplane magazines to include 'free' plans as a selling point, often on a monthly basis. Most larger publications in the hobby also maintain back catalogues of plans, which can be ordered by those who wish to build from them, or refer to them. Many plans are also available for free online, though quality is extremely variable. Hobbyists must also be aware that a significant number of plans available for download have been scanned and made available in breach of copyright.

SPAD

A relatively recent development, SPAD stands for Simple Plastic Airplane Design. Whilst it is primarily a method of model airplane construction, SPAD is more of a design philosophy that goes like this:

"Spad is the simple concept of offering free plans and ideas for designing very cheap, great flying airplanes made from Coroplast, gutterpipe, aluminium, or anything else we can find that works! The Spad concept is also the world wide sharing of these ideas and most of all, having fun with our hobby!"

SPAD is a reversal of the trend towards better looking, very complex and very delicate models. SPADs are often extremely ugly, built out of materials such as waste plastic, PVC downpipe, correx (or coroplast in the USA - more on this later) or aluminium channel. Although they may not look beautiful, they can be made to fly extremely well, and are unbelievably tough.

Type

Electric or Glow (gas)

Years ago gas airplanes were the norm. Most fields which fly gas airplanes require membership and registration with the AMA. However, recently with the advent of LiPo batteries and brushless motors, electric parkflyers are becoming common place. Electric parkflyers can often be flown in local parks or fields and often are less expensive than a gas plane. When it comes to very large scale airplanes, gas is far more prevalent.

Powered flight

A simple, high winged trainer is the best thing to get if you are new to the hobby. ARTFs are very popular, since your trainer will probably suffer the odd bump.

Gliders

A large rudder/elevator soarer or simple aileron trainer are the best things to get. Almost indestructible expanded polypropylene (EPP) models have become very popular for learning.

Flying Wings

Flying wings (often referred to as Delta Wings due to their triangular shape) are generally more for experienced pilot who enjoy high speed flying. These airplanes are capable of very high speeds and are usually are more controllable in windy conditions. The motor is often a rear mounted (some gas models have a front propeller) high rpm motor which turns a relatively smaller propeller. Most of these have no landing gear and require special channel mixing of the ailerons/elevator.

Warbirds

This is the common term referring to WWII era aircraft. Most Warbirds are for experienced pilots who like scale detail. These planes are often quite fast and execute most aerobatic manoeuvres gracefully.

3D

Very light, highly manoeuvrable aerobatic airplanes. These planes perform aerobatic manoeuvres and flight patterns at minimal speeds. Some of these are even flown inside gymnasiums! Often made of flat, uncontoured Styrofoam these planes usually offer little or no scale detail. These are usually for experienced modellers, however the ParkZone Typhoon 3D and the Great Planes U-can-Do 3D offer intermediate pilots an entry level start into 3D.

Size

If you have joined a club and have tuition, a larger trainer is probably the best solution. They will be easier to see and fly slower, making learning that much easier. However, they will be more expensive and will guzzle more fuel or batteries.

If you do not wish to join a club, do not get a large plane. Large planes can be extremely dangerous! You are probably best off getting something similar to a park flyer. If your interest is sufficiently captured, you may well find your attitude to organised flying changes.

Other things to consider:

• Will it fit in your car?
• Do you have enough space to build it in?
• Electric or gas?

RC electronics

There are many electronic parts in modern RC systems. Although much simpler and cheaper than older equipment, it can be very confusing for a beginner.

Electronic components

Whether an RC plane is gas or electric powered or a glider, there are some common electrical components that are required to control them.

All planes

• A transmitter (also called a radio or controller) is a handheld device with joysticks, switches and an antenna that communicates with the receiver in your plane, allowing you to control it.
• A receiver receives the signal from the transmitter and translates this into positions for servos and electronic speed controllers.
• Servos control the position of control surfaces and other things (such as throttle).

Gas powered and gliders

• A battery (normally NiCad or NiMH) to operate servos and receiver.

Electric powered

• A battery (normally NiCad, NiMH or LiPo) to operate servos, receiver and motor.
• An ESC (electronic speed controller) for controlling the speed of the electric motor.

A More Detailed Explanation of Components

Transmitter

The Transmitter is the most visible part of the system - anyone who has seen a radio control model being flown or operated is familiar with the rectangular box with an antenna protruding from the top and the left and right control sticks or joysticks. Costs for transmitters and receiver sets start from as low as US $ 25 right up to hundreds of dollars for the more sophisticated models.

Receiver

The Receiver is a small electronic unit that is capable of receiving the signals given by the transmitter. The receiver will only act on signals sent to it by its transmitter, most modern systems are capable of being operated with many other systems in the same flying area without interfering with one another.

A search for "RC receiver" in a search engine will yield information and photos of RC receivers. An RC hobby store will usually display a wide variety of receivers as well as transmitters and other components.

The receiver will have out put terminals for sending the signals received to the servos -these are electronic components that convert the current sent by the receiver to an movement - to move a rudder, aileron or an elevator. A point to note is unlike the earlier systems or simpler toy RC systems, the current sent out by the receiver is proportional to the movement of the control sticks on the transmitter so finer control can be exercised, not simply 'all or nothing ' control of an elevator or other control surface. To use the example of a radio controlled toy car, where the front wheels can be steered full left or full right or straight ahead, proportional controls enable the wheels to be steered in degrees, either a small correction or a full turn to the left or right and anything in between.

Servos

A servo is a device for moving a part of the model. Usually servos operate the rudder and elevator on a three chanel model and the aileron as well on a four chanel model. The throttle may be operated by a servo or on electric models it may be operated by a speed controller called an 'electronic speed controller' that plugs into the receiver.it connect the control rods

How an airplane works

Planes fly by virtue of Bernoulli's principle on their wings. Air being pushed under the wings only accounts for a small portion of the lift forces that make an airplane fly. The real lift forces results from the partial vaccum created above the wings (Bernoulli's principle). In effect, a plane rises on account that it wings are being "sucked up" from above.

To get the Bernoulli effect (and to lift the plane), the wings must expose a larger surface on top than below the wing. A curved wing does just that.

Second, we need to maintain a flow of air over and under the wings. This is the job of the engine, which pulls the plane and its wings forward, using a propeller. Once the airplane accelerates to take to a speed sufficient to generate enough lift for the airplane to fly, the airplane can take off. The way, a propeller is nothing more than a spinning wing - it also uses Bernoulli's principle to draw the airplane forward.