Hobbies And Interests
Building the Airframe
There are a few commonsense steps to take up front to help ensure your success. Make sure you have a clean and organized work area that is large enough to handle the part you are building. If you are working on the wing you may need a sizable area. Your work surface needs to be capable of holding parts securely; many modelers use cork and pins, some use magnets and metal. The plans need to be secured to the board and protected with plastic wrap. Now you can cut pieces to size, secure them to the plans and glue the parts together. Pay attention to the instructions and use Cyanoacrylate glue wherever possible, but never substitute CA for epoxy.
Putting it all together
Once you have the airframe built, it's time to think about mounting the radio equipment. Many kits will have you build a radio tray during the construction phase and simply tell you to install your servos. There is more to installing servos then simply screwing them into the radio tray. How you orient the servos dictates if they will need to be reversed when the linkage is installed. Servo reversing is usually handled on the RC transmitter via a switch or menu setting on computer radios. You have to determine what type of servo arm you want to use. Arms come in several shapes, ranging from circles to stars and X's. If your plane calls for a lot of control surface movement or throw, then use large servo arms, more scale-like planes will use less throw and therefore smaller servo arms.
Dry fit the airframe together once the radio equipment is mounted and see how close the plane is to the desired center of gravity. If you can balance the plane by moving the radio equipment fore or aft then that will save you the hassle of adding lead weight later. Sometimes adding weight is unavoidable. Cover the plane with iron-on film, taking care not to warp any surfaces.
Before you fly
Your plane is almost ready, but there are a few important checks that are needed before you take to the wild blue yonder. First is the radio check, power on your transmitter, then the receiver. Leave the antenna down and walk 100 feet away. Have a helper with you; the helper should let you know if the control surfaces move when you move the sticks on the transmitter. Make sure the surface moves they way you expect. It's also important to see if the servos twitch when you are not moving the sticks; that could indicate a weak radio signal.
It is important to balance the plane before flying. Lift the plane at the center of gravity, close to the fuselage, and see if the plane tilts toward the nose or tail, if it does it is out of balance. Add stick on lead weight available from your hobby store to bring the plane into balance, now you are ready to fly.
If this is your first time flying, you should seek guidance from an experienced RC pilot. Check with your local RC club; there are always pilots willing to help.