Not yer granddad’s RC plane construction. Lithium-polymer batteries and brushless electric motors mean no more noise or messy fuel and allow really miniature construction.

Read on for lots of pics and a video.

My housemate and I got a cheap, “ready to fly” electric Piper Cub trainer early this summer and it survived long enough to teach us the basics (don’t overcontrol, don’t lose orientation when the plane’s flying towards you!). Thereafter we both got our first “real” planes, with LiPo batteries and brushless motors; I went for the ParkZone Radian thermal glider and he got a FAST sports plane.

However it didn’t take long for the homebrew fever to set in! For the princely sum of £15 we obtained two cheapo “X-Twin” micro RC planes from eBay for hacking purposes. One was the original and extremely popular X-Twin, and the other was a clone product.

They were actually fairly decent little fliers out of the box, although their capabilities were severely limited in stock configuration. In particular, they had virtually no glide, so cutting power would result in a fast drop. I figured we could do better

It didn’t take long for the electronics to be removed, and that started a weekend of manic plane construction. We’d bash out a balsa airframe, stick on the electronics, and fly to destruction!

Here’s a few of the planes built that weekend; mostly the fuselages are made from 1/16″ balsa and the wings formed from 1/32″ balsa. The 18″ glider was inspired by a similar plane by microbuilder, a talented guy on wattflyer.com. The P38 I was particularly proud of; it was based on a 3-view of the fullsize plane. It didn’t fly great though; the motor mount pillars vibrated a lot and tail adjustment was very finicky. The 9″ plane though flew very well — better than either stock plane. I knew we were on the right track!

Click on a pic to enlarge.

Balsa is amazingly easy to work with a little practice. Even building in the right amount of wing dihedral for a stable flight is surprisingly simple.

The very best plane was the last one built, christened “the fruitbat”. This plane used a homemade fuse and stabiliser but for a wing we used the top wing from the X-Twin biplane.

Click a pic to enlarge.

 

 

I feel with this one we reached the nirvana of micro RC flying! It has a great glide ratio, allowing 20 minute flights from the tiny 130mAh LiPo.

Here’s a video we made; highest production values yet for my typically lofi vids

£15 for two planes, with full RC gear, £3 worth of balsa, £1 for a scalpal and £1 for some balsa cement. That’s a lot of fun for £20, and it doesn’t matter if you utterly destroy them. Actually, the fruitbat survives – it’s hanging next to me, waiting for more balmy summer evenings next year.