I will probably be building a scale 1/12 scale P-51 but not sure about the best way to go about doing so. Should I go for balsa built up construction or vac-formed 2mm zepron wing (upper/lower) and fuse halves? I am looking for an AUW under 19oz. I am confused by a couple things. The GWS P-51 is pretty much a solid hunk of foam yet can usually be built under 15oz. The Hobby-Lobby P-51s are vac formed foam and way just as much. I am not trying to build a scale plane to fly often, just a highly detailed scale plane that may I fly once or twice and only for a few minutes at a time. Assuming that the power system and battery together might weigh a total of 3.5-4oz, and the radio equiptment will weigh less that 1.5oz, that gives me a lot of airframe weight to play around with.





-Daniel

For a given weight level, foams tougher, especially if you use a bit of wood in the right areas, like wing spar caps and longerons.

Jkaerotech builds their gasser combat 1/12 scale warbirds this way, and I'm here to tell you they're very tough. I ran my jk ta152 out of juice over a 40 ft high treeline, wound up crashing through all the way to the ground at 50 mph plus, breaking branches all the way down. The only damage was a stripped rudder servo.

Everyone there could'nt belive I was flying again after locking the rudder straight and as recharge.

Yours will be built much lighter than mine, but this construction method is tried and true.

Originally Posted by DeaninMilwaukee

For a given weight level, foams tougher, especially if you use a bit of wood in the right areas, like wing spar caps and longerons.

Jkaerotech builds their gasser combat 1/12 scale warbirds this way, and I'm here to tell you they're very tough. I ran my jk ta152 out of juice over a 40 ft high treeline, wound up crashing through all the way to the ground at 50 mph plus, breaking branches all the way down. The only damage was a stripped rudder servo.

Everyone there could'nt belive I was flying again after locking the rudder straight and as recharge.

Yours will be built much lighter than mine, but this construction method is tried and true.

Could you post a pic of yours?


-Daniel

Here you go, pics of my jk warbirds, p-51, zero and ta152.

These are all built much heavier than what you're thinking of though, about 50 oz RTF with 8 gp3300 cells and endo power. Fast though, all do well over 60 mph.


Dean in Milwaukee

So even at 50oz it flies? That's amazing. What's the wing area? Mine will be
243 square inches. So I'm guessing that even at 20oz mine will fly and fly well.



-Daniel

1:12 glowpowered aircombat planes generally wheigh in at around 35oz, and are powered by a .15 to .25 glowengine. So, I donīt think you need to worry too much about an AUW of around 20oz, as long as you have sufficient power. It may not be what most people would consider a parkflyer though!

Anders O

Never liked foam......Always built from balsa... but, that's just an opinion. If You want a LIGHT parkfler version I think it should be balsa. I'm building a 40" span, 6 1/4" chord pseudo-scale Piper Pawnee cropduster in Parkflyers. It has a 40" span,.. it's ALL SOLID sheet, and the weight will be around 10 oz with gear..(geared IPS & li-poly) it's ALL in choosing the wood. It's proof-of-concept predacessor only had a 36" span, but weighed that much (10oz)AFTER lots of lightening holes, because of poor choices in wood (old fossle-fuel habits are hard to break)
If You want to read about my experimentations with them there are links & tips all through these threads...
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...16#post2266816
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246240
I'm just an old-timer.... to me, foam, is sooOOOo.."PLASTIC"
Oh,.. and You can make a BRICK fly,.. if you have enough engine.(or motor).. If you want a PARKFLYER... "THINK LIGHT!" Bob

Yup, flies fine at 50 oz, a bullet really. The only hard part is launch, and that became a non-problem with bungie launch.

I guess I'll go foam. I'll be getting some plans from a friend for a 60" scale P-51 pretty soon.




-Daniel

>Puts on black arm band< another one lost to foam......... oh well,.. I guess as long as it gets in the air!

Wait! It's not too late! Go balsa! BALLLLLLLLLLSAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Martin

I have to say balsa as well. I have done some fun stuff in foam, its easy to work with and repair. But balsa is better. I build small stuff, all this talk of 20oz scares me, thats 10-20 planes in my mind, lol.

Here are a couple shots of foam and balsa, I like the 12g balsa Raven more than the 13g foam P-51, and I am a die-hard 51 fan.

What Martain & Water said!!

The plans don't have formers drawn on them, so I'll have to buy plans. Where could I get plans for a GOOD scale P-51 that is at least 37"? I was thinking Ziroli plans but that's would be $52 and I'd have to scale stuff down, but that's ok. Any other places that might have something of good quality but maybe half the price?
I will think about doing balsa.



-Daniel

Daniel, check out www.clevelandairline.com . They've got plans in just the size you're looking for.

Martin