How to Add a Motor to Your Plastic Model Airplane to Make the Prop Turn

Separate the two halves of your airplane model (or, if it's an airplane with multiple propellers, the two halves of the engine nacelle -- you'll need to repeat these steps for each engine). If you have already assembled your model, use a hobby knife to carefully trim away the glue that holds the two halves together before pulling them apart.

Remove the propeller and the shaft it is connected to -- generally, these spin freely, but if they are glued in place then use the hobby knife to cut away the glue.

Light the candle or butane blowtorch. Very carefully take a pushpin and hold it so that just the tip is inside the flame, letting it heat up for a few seconds.

Touch the tip to the very center of the propeller's shaft to melt a small hole in it. Keep doing this, returning the pushpin to the flame when necessary, until you have created a hole at least 1/8 inch deep.

Add a small dab of model glue to the end of the metal shaft of the 4 mm pager motor. Press the metal shaft of the motor into the hole in the plastic propeller shaft as far as it will go. Wait half an hour for the glue to dry.

Set the connected propeller and motor into one half of the airplane or engine nacelle. Position it so that the propeller sits in the same position as it would in a non-motorized plastic model -- the motor will protrude slightly into the hollow body of the model.

Turn the hot glue gun on and allow it to warm up. When it has, apply a few small dabs of glue around the motor to fix it in place to one side of the model.

Choose where you want to keep your battery. It will need to be removable, so consider parts of the model that you can access easily but are otherwise hidden from view --- landing gear wells and bomb bays are good choices.

Use the wire cutters to cut two lengths of narrow-gauge copper wire, each long enough to reach from the pager motor to where you want to keep your battery. Strip the insulation from the ends of the wires with the wire cutters, and then twist one end of each wire to the ends of the wires on the pager motor.

Twist the end of the wire connected to the negative cable of the pager motor around the negative terminal of the CR2032 battery holder. Twist the end of the other wire (the one connected to the positive cable of the pager motor) around the positive terminal of the battery holder.

Glue the battery holder into place with the hot glue gun or, if you need it to sit flush against the model, using some model glue.

Reassemble the two halves of the model. Slide the CR2032 battery into the battery holder to start the motor spinning.