How to Build a Foam RC Airplane

Fuselage

• 1

  Prepare the fuselage by sanding off any excess foam left from the injection molding equipment. This is very important in areas where the two halves of the fuselage are glued together. The goal is a tight fit with no gaps.

• 2

  Follow the instruction manual and route pushrods and install servos where directed. Take your time and make sure all components fit well and are secured. Once the fuselage halves are glued together these areas will be inaccessible.

• 3

  Use contact cement or foam-safe CA to glue the fuselage halves together. Contact cement is applied to the each half and allowed to dry to a tacky state, then the halves are brought together. This needs to be done carefully; once the prepared surfaces touch, the glue will bond. Foam-safe CA will give you time to align the halves but takes longer to dry.

• 4

  Install the motor per the instructions. If the motor is mounted to a motor stick then glue the stick to the fuselage with epoxy. A slow-curing epoxy will provide the strongest bond.

• 5

  Glue the rudder and elevator into place. Make sure these parts are at a perfect 90 degree angle to each other. There are triangles specially made for this task. Look for them at your local hobby shop. They should run less then $10.

• 6

  Hinge the movable surfaces with hinge tape. Move the elevator to its full down position and apply tape to the top surface. This will allow the elevator to move up and down freely. Use the same technique on the rudder.

• 7

  Install control horns to the rudder and the elevator, attach the pushrod linkage to the horn and the opposite end to a servo. When the receiver and battery are installed, you need to check the movements of these surfaces.

Wing

• 8

  Prepare the wing for glue. Since most wings are too long to fit in a box in one piece they come in two sections. The wing halves need to be glued together and reinforced. Sand the surfaces that join together to ensure they fit flush. Use epoxy glue to join the wing halves.

• 9

  Use your hobby knife to create a space for the aileron servo. Do not remove too much foam. You want the servo to fit snug. Use hot glue to mount the servo.

• 10

  Attach one end of the pushrods to the servo arm and the other to the torque rods that move the ailerons. If the ailerons need to be hinged, use the same technique described earlier for the rudder and elevator.

Final Steps

• 11

  Plug the servo wires into the receiver. Ailerons are channel 1, elevator is channel 2, throttle is channel 3 and rudder is channel 4. The throttle in foam aircraft is an electronic speed control (ESC) that is matched to the electric motor. The ESC should be hot glued to the fuselage. It needs air flowing over it to keep cool in flight.

• 12

  Balance the airplane at its center of gravity without the battery installed. This will give you the option of using different size batteries and not having to re-balance the airplane each time.

• 13

  Attach the landing gear if applicable. Complete the plane with paint or decals. Use foam-safe paints; some aerosol propellants will damage foam.