Ron and Tom explain where RC airplane plans come from, how to evaluate and print them, and how to calculate enlargement or reduction percentages.
In this episode
- Episode Topics
Chapters
00:39 — What plans are and why resizing matters
08:07 — Printing accuracy and differences between copies
16:03 — Online and published plan sources
20:00 — Checking dimensions before building
24:07 — Calculating enlargement and reduction percentages
28:00 — Practical scaling tips and final cautions
Episode Topics
Finding useful plans
Online communities, magazines, the AMA, commercial plan services, and private collections all offer possibilities with varying documentation and accuracy.
Verify before cutting
A printed scale marker, wingspan, known part, or other reference dimension should be checked before templates or wood are cut.
The resizing calculation
Compare the desired dimension with the original dimension, convert the change to a percentage, and use that result consistently when printing.
Scaling involves more than paper size
Wood thickness, spars, landing gear, power, control loads, and hardware do not always scale directly with wingspan.
Key Takeaways
- Confirm the source and completeness of a plan.
- Measure the print before cutting any material.
- Keep both the original and desired dimensions in the calculation.
- Expect structural and power-system changes when scaling significantly.
- Make a small test print before committing to a large plan set.
Episode 25 Transcript
This transcript has been lightly edited for readability. Timestamps are retained.
Read the full transcript
Join-Path:
Line |
2 | … -Raw -Encoding utf8 -LiteralPath (Join-Path $folder.FullName ‘upload …
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Cannot bind argument to parameter ‘Path’ because it is null.