I wanted something for equipment checks with no time invested and very little money wasted. So here is a plane that cost about $5 and took two hours to build from start to first flight.
It’s one of those styro chuck gliders. I added a 1/8 sheet tail, 1/8 ailerons, popsicle sticks for servo mounts and part of an orange crate for a lite ply firewall.
That’s it and it flew great. The wings flexed too much so I covered the wing with some 4 inch wide clear packing tape – it stiffens the wing a lot.
By the way, this would probably make a good aileron trainer. I flew it again and it flies much better with the tape on the wing.
Here’s a quick build explanation so you can duplicate this plane:
Motor Installation
The motor is an E-Max CF 2212, $15.00; the battery is a 900 MAH 3 cell – $22.00 – both from Blackdogrc.
1. Cut nose off fuselage at 5 1/4 inches, measured from forward edge of wing cut out.
Trace nose on Lite ply, 1/8 approximate. I used ply from orange crate.
Glue ply to fuse,I used Gorilla glue, Titebond or epoxy will also work.
2. Wings. Sand leading edge to round shape, my glider came through with a flat leading edge. Cover wing with packing tape. I used wide clear tape.
3. Glue wing to fuselage, I used GWS glue, but Gorilla glue or epoxy will also work.
Stabilizer Cut and Fit
4. Place yardstick along bottom side of wing, mark line at rear of fuselage.
Mark up from line 3/8 and 1/2 inch and draw parallel lines. This is for stab opening. Cut open, I used a band saw, but a hacksaw or knife should also work. See pictures.
5. Cut stab from sheet of 1/8 thick balsa.
Mine is 19 3/4 long, that’s the piece I had laying around, a little shorter should be OK.
I cut leading edge back to give leading edge a sweep. I took the pieces I cut off and turned them around and re glued them back on the leading edge.
6. Glue stab to fuselage, I used epoxy.
The elevator is 1 inch wide 1/8 thick balsa, hinged at 4 places.
I used GWS hinges, with GWS glue. CA hinges will also work.
Final Assembly
7. The ailerons are 1 inch wide by 24 1/4″ long, made of 1/8″ balsa – that was the size piece I had – a little shorter would still work.
8. Next hinge the ailerons – I used 3 hinges per side, GWS hinges with GWS glue.
Cut servo openings, glue popsicle sticks to wing for servo mounts.
The Finished Product
The CG balance point is 2 inches back from the leading edge at the side of the fuselage.
The plane flies over 15 minutes at half power, and with a little wind it thermaled; with full power it climbs quite steeply.
Converting a “Chuck Glider”
I wanted something for equipment checks with no time invested and very little money wasted. So here is a plane that cost about $5 and took two hours to build from start to first flight.
It’s one of those styro chuck gliders. I added a 1/8 sheet tail, 1/8 ailerons, popsicle sticks for servo mounts and part of an orange crate for a lite ply firewall.
That’s it and it flew great. The wings flexed too much so I covered the wing with some 4 inch wide clear packing tape – it stiffens the wing a lot.
By the way, this would probably make a good aileron trainer. I flew it again and it flies much better with the tape on the wing.
Here’s a quick build explanation so you can duplicate this plane:
The motor is an E-Max CF 2212, $15.00; the battery is a 900 MAH 3 cell – $22.00 – both from Blackdogrc.
1. Cut nose off fuselage at 5 1/4 inches, measured from forward edge of wing cut out.
Trace nose on Lite ply, 1/8 approximate. I used ply from orange crate.
Glue ply to fuse,I used Gorilla glue, Titebond or epoxy will also work.
2. Wings. Sand leading edge to round shape, my glider came through with a flat leading edge. Cover wing with packing tape. I used wide clear tape.
3. Glue wing to fuselage, I used GWS glue, but Gorilla glue or epoxy will also work.
4. Place yardstick along bottom side of wing, mark line at rear of fuselage.
Mark up from line 3/8 and 1/2 inch and draw parallel lines. This is for stab opening. Cut open, I used a band saw, but a hacksaw or knife should also work. See pictures.
5. Cut stab from sheet of 1/8 thick balsa.
Mine is 19 3/4 long, that’s the piece I had laying around, a little shorter should be OK.
I cut leading edge back to give leading edge a sweep. I took the pieces I cut off and turned them around and re glued them back on the leading edge.
6. Glue stab to fuselage, I used epoxy.
The elevator is 1 inch wide 1/8 thick balsa, hinged at 4 places.
I used GWS hinges, with GWS glue. CA hinges will also work.
7. The ailerons are 1 inch wide by 24 1/4″ long, made of 1/8″ balsa – that was the size piece I had – a little shorter would still work.
8. Next hinge the ailerons – I used 3 hinges per side, GWS hinges with GWS glue.
Cut servo openings, glue popsicle sticks to wing for servo mounts.
The CG balance point is 2 inches back from the leading edge at the side of the fuselage.
The plane flies over 15 minutes at half power, and with a little wind it thermaled; with full power it climbs quite steeply.
The thread on this topic can be found HERE.