Building hints

There is one basic of building electric planes which is well (and often) expressed by Dereck Woodward, columnist extraordinaire. "Keep it light, don't let it get heavy and take as much weight out as you can. Oh and did I say keep it light".

There is a pretty simple explanation why this is such good advice for electric powered craft especially (it's not bad advice for fuel-powered planes either). The way we get more power is by adding more cells. And the cells are usually the heaviest single bit of the plane. So we don't have the I/C power option of building like a brick and then just adding a bigger motor because, for electrics, adding more power adds even more weight.

However it is relatively easy to cut down the weight of a plan or kit designed for I/C power. Electrics don't vibrate nearly as much so they don't need all that beefing up. Typically you can throw most if not all of the plywood away and either replace it with balsa or nothing at all. Electrics also don't throw oily muck all over everything so the fuel proofer isn't needed.

Some of the more interesting electric models are built of foam. Standard blue or white expanded polystyrene as widely used as insulation in all types of construction can be used. Foam can be hot-wired and sanded to shape and of course with no oil and mess the foam does not even need to be covered. It can simply be painted directly. Life could hardly be simpler. For a better finish the foam can be sheeted with balsa or covered with epoxy/glass or even brown paper. Yes, brown paper.