Coroplast vs. Foam

[Senior Killer]

I'm going on the record here.

After twenty years of working with every type of material out there, nothing beats coroplast for durability and ease of construction. I'm not saying that stick built planes will ever be replaced, but today's foambashers will be corobashers five years from now.

Killer

[Viper Pilot]

Agreed. Coroplast is the most amazing building material I've used, and I've tried them all.

Hate foam, love balsa, but Coroplast rules!!!

VP

[LuckyArmpit]

Some old foam warts consider coroplast to be too heavy. I say nonsense!!!! Take a look at Trizza's speed 400 model. I have a
Dogfighter SPAD thats all coro except for the pvc gutterpipe fuse.
Powered with a speed 600 geared setup. Flies fine!
And I've also used 2 mm coro as fuse doublers etc. Great stuff!!!


Dave...

[Lightnin]

Glad to see other coroplast fans. My problem is I tend to get my planes too big when I work with coroplast cause its so darn cheap and easy to work with. I have two planes built that are waiting untill I can afford brushless.:)

[Senior Killer]

I'm with ya on the size thing. Early on I built a giant scale cub that would have been great on about 60 cells!

Killer

[Lightnin]

rotflol yup!

[Lightnin]

I know I shouldnt go here but I wonder what tic would have to say about coroplast. I mean I hear (pardon) see (just for Viper) him bash foam and particularly Zagi's but we are building mostly conventional airframes with coroplast. So is it the conventional airframe thing with tic or is it the alternate material thing, I wonder?

[lensrc]

I found a plan for a coroplast zagi called the dazi.Bought some coro,built it,and this thing wieghs 10 oz's more than my 3C!And I did not scrimp on the tape on my zagi.Then there is the gluing thing.........wasted one airframe with the "flashing" thing.It does make a great sign though.

[Moogee]

I am a twinwall polypropylene nut.
The beauty of the material is that I can build a wing in around 20 minutes and then subject it to any number of test flights without fear. For scratch building it allows you to prototype quickly without the need for covering and the costs of building are comparatively low.

The sheets we se and supply at Mugi are 330gsm 2mm thick. It's a grade we decided on after 3 years experience with various other sheet specifications. At 330gsm it's still workable and can fold to make quite small wings yet is incredibly tough and withstands some huge impacts.

Aircraft can be built pretty light with the stuff too. For example, the G10 (a new plane to soon follow in the footsteps of the Mugi) has an airframe weight of 154g. That gives an all up weight of around 450g with spd 400. Span is 700mm.

As for gluing, we never flash the stuff. Over here the contact adhesive Evostik glues the stuff really well, as it contains toluene.
You can also get away with double sided tape but that's best reserved for joints where the forces are shearing and not peeling.

As for other advantages, you can run carbon down the flutes, poke your aerial down them and such.

Great material!!!

[leccyflyer]

Definitely a great material - I love the way my Mugi flies and was very impressed with the little Hurricane that Morgan and his pal were flying at Walsall at the weekend.

We even have a forum for this stuff now - the Simple Plastic Aeroplane Desigh forum- or SPAD for short, so I'll move this over to the forum for further discussion and sharing of ideas.

Brian

[Viper Pilot]

Glueing seems to be phasing out, too.

I heard that the SPA3D's don't use any glue.

Everything is screwed on!!

Viper Pilot

[FrankC29]

Yes, Tattoo (Dean Tuinstra) is good at designing Spads that get simpler and simpler and simpler, and still fly great. I think he is looking forward to a day when he can just stare at the coro and make a plane! With him...you never know.

[Viper Pilot]

FrankC29,

Congrats on the column . . . . I've read the last 2 months about 4 times now.

Thanks for the support!!!

Viper Pilot

[arx_n_sparx]

I don't know if someone will see this, but what does 330g/m^2 work out to in pounds per cubic foot? It seems to me it would be real light, but I've been drinking, and my mind is not firing on all the right circuits right now....... Looks to me like less than 1 lb/ft ^3, but there's this vodka problem here......

Laughing at myself;

Brad

[woodsy]

Coro is great for scratch designes as well, they build quick and take a beating, if all works OK you can than transfer them to any material you like (or just keep flying the coro "prototype"), theres even a guy at RCU who has a turbine powered SPAD as a test bed, the only thing i will say is foam rules over coro for scale planes in AUS, we can only get 3mm and 5mm coro here and the weight adds up real quick on a coro scratch scalie.

[mike glass]

Hi All,
I have been producing a kit made of foam for almost a year now!
I just started playing with coro and all I can say is WOW!
I like it! I plan to make my next kit with it. I have made one plane with the 4 m stuff. It came in a little heavy,But now I got my hands on the 2m and it is wounderful! My first plane goes together in 12 mins. and uses no glue or tape! I hope to do the same with the 2m.

Mike

[bigbear3721]

Originally posted by mike glass
Hi All,
I have been producing a kit made of foam for almost a year now!
I just started playing with coro and all I can say is WOW!
I like it! I plan to make my next kit with it. I have made one plane with the 4 m stuff. It came in a little heavy,But now I got my hands on the 2m and it is wounderful! My first plane goes together in 12 mins. and uses no glue or tape! I hope to do the same with the 2m.

Mike


Hey Mike you should post a pic of the plane we would like to see it.

[mike glass]

Hi BigBear,
I will post a photo Later. No time right now!
I just got home from Fla. It was not a planned trip!

Mike

[mike glass]

Hi,
Sorry about the delay! This one is made from 4mm. I plan to do another from 2mm to keep the weight down!

Mike

[mike glass]

Heres what it looks like 12 mins later

[bigbear3721]

Originally posted by mike glass
Heres what it looks like 12 mins later


Hey Mike, that looks great. I just received some 2&4 mm. I want to make my self a plane. I need to play with the stuff and see how to work with it. It seams like tough stuff. I'm working on this little wasp right now.

[mike glass]

Very nice BigBear,
I have built many balsa models myself,But since I have been playing with the different materials available balsa has lost its charm! The coroplast is wild stuff the possibilitys are endless!

Mike

[woodsy]

Mike, GREAT looking plane, hows it fly??? what gear is/will it be fitted with?

as this is SPAD how about some free plans/dimensions and/or build info.

[mike glass]

Thanks Woodsy,
That was my first one it is alittle heavy!
I am just seeing what can be done with the stuff!
I don't really have plans. It was drawn on the computer and laser cut. That why it can be snapped together. It was intented to be electric but like I said it is a little heavy. I am cutting a second made of 2 mm.

Mike

[woodsy]

Ok'y dok'y

if the wing is a little floppy with 2mm try cuting the LE a bit long and doubling it over to give a 4mm leading edge say 25mm wide.

you could aslo try cutting a plane to ESPA3D dimensions so we can do a weight comparison, in Aus 1000mm x 500mm 3mm coro is 100grams heavier than 6mm depron by the time you cat en ESPA3D out of both the weight diferance is down to about 50gms, with a bit if tinkering i think i can get it even closer as the coro is stiffer/stronger in some areas

[mike glass]

Hi Woodsy,
Heres a photo of one made from 2mm. I intend to use Carbon Fiber as a spar to stiffen the wing.

Mike

[mike glass]

Now For A profile!

[mike glass]

BTW it came in at 64 grams as pictured!

Mike

[woodsy]

whats the wing area?? are you planing to use the GWS 350 gearbox set up or direct drive?

[mike glass]

The span is 23" at about 115sq in.
I am going to use a Nippy 808 w/ 2 cell 1200 lipos
I can always make it larger!

Mike

[mike glass]

OK,
Heres the deal on the little blue and silver edge 540.
It is only 9 degrees in N.Y. with a 5 mile windy and after a few mins your fingers feel like there going to pop so I only took one flight.

AUW is 7ozs and it flys great! With the nippy 808 and a 10x4.7 prop on two ET 700 it has plenty of power to go vertical and hover!

Mike

[woodsy]

Good one, i wish we could get 2mm coro here, the 3mm adds significant weight for the small electrics

[2raj]

Originally posted by woodsy
Good one, i wish we could get 2mm coro here, the 3mm adds significant weight for the small electrics

You can buy 2mm coro from Andrew at www.modelcopter.com (he is going away for a month though.) I think H-Store (www.hstore.com.au PH: 02 9525 7540) in Sydney sell the sheets but won't ship them.

Cheers,
2raj.

[2raj]

Let's go back to the topic, shall we...

For electric planes, I really think I really think EPP foam is much resilient material than coro.

However having said that it is easier to make a plane out of coro than EPP, since you need to set up your hot wire gear. For coro you just need a ruler and knife.

Does anyone disagree?

Cheers,
2raj.

[mike glass]

Hi All,
Got to test my coro edge 540 AUW was 9.5 ozs!
axi 2208/26, 4 servos, M5 RX ,and 2-cell 1500's
Flew great plenty of power 9 amps with a 9x4.7 prop!
Hovers No problem!

Mike

[erunway]

Mike,
That looks really good!
What sort of mounting you used for the AXI?

[mike glass]

just a piece of lite ply.

[Ollie]

Would someone please suggest a source for 2mm Coroplast in the USA?

[mike glass]

www.harborsales.com

[Ollie]

Thanks, Mike. I placed an order and the unit cost of material, including shipping and cutting for one two by four foot panel came to $4.33. I consider that a bargain for a panel big enough to build a Mugi. I will have enough materials to make eight Mugis or a variety of other designs.

[igenius]

Hi Mike, well done, looks good,
I think you need to start your own post/topic and give us a link from here and give us some more pictures from all angles. Very interesting build.

[mike glass]

igenius,

Will do!

[antman]

I just finished the plans to try to do the same !
What is your wingspan ?
I was thinking 1m. wingspan, with 400 engine, 2:1, and 2x2 1050 Lipos.

[mike glass]

antman,
Started a Coro Edge 540 thread.I dont know how to post the link?
Could someone please take care of it for me?

Thanks,
Mike

[2raj]

The link is http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=208418

Just copy and paste it from the browsers address field.

[ClimaxPilot]

Originally posted by Brian Cullen
Definitely a great material - I love the way my Mugi flies and was very impressed with the little Hurricane that Morgan and his pal were flying at Walsall at the weekend.

We even have a forum for this stuff now - the Simple Plastic Aeroplane Desigh forum- or SPAD for short, so I'll move this over to the forum for further discussion and sharing of ideas.

Brian


Brian,

How's Cheshire mate. I was born in Crewe and moved to Oz in '82. I kinda still miss the place.

Steve

[1Way]

What's the largest SPAD typically made? Any suggestions for making a 48" wingspan with top and bottom material? Do you folks mostly build using a flat wings instead of thicker profile wings? If so, why not build them with upper and lower sections?

... duh, they don't bed well that easily that sharply. How about using some alternative material for the wings leading edge like some of you use PVC or alum for fuse and stuff.

[woodsy]

All sorts of wing profiles are used, one of mine had a 3" leading edge.