Resizing Plans

We all like to build airplanes, right? But sometimes the plans you want to use aren’t the right size for the airplane you want to build. So what do you do?

Resize them!

When it comes to resizing, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Everything Will be Resized

That sounds like a no brainer. If you resize the plan, then every part of the plan will be resized. But it’s important to keep that in mind when you are trying to figure out how big or small you want to go with your new plan. If you’re only changing the scale by a few inches either way, you should be able to use the same size spars and balsa without many problems. If you’re hand cutting the parts, remember that the cutouts for stringers and wing spars will also have been resized, so they will need to be cut to match the size of wood that is being used.

The Structure May Need to Change

Remember, bigger flies better, but a big airplane is built differently than a small airplane. If you are changing the scale of your plan drastically, then you may need to add or remove ribs, formers, landing gear blocks, motor mounts, or completely redesign certain parts of the airplane. It’s not a deal breaker, but it certainly adds a level of complexity to the build.

Math? Uh Oh!

So, now that you’ve taken into consideration some of the things that go into deciding to resize a plan, what does it take to actually resize it?

The resizing math is fairly straight forward, and you will end up with a percent change, which is what you will need to know when it’s time to print it. So, here’s the math. (Don’t worry, it’s not too hard!)

We’ll call your new wingspan New#, and we’ll call the original wingspan Old#.

(New# – Old#)/Old# x 100 = Percentage change

Let’s walk through that. Let’s say you have a plan that measures 24″ wing span, but you want it to be 30″. It would look like this:

(30-24)/24×100 = Percentage change

(30-24) =6

6/24 = .25

.25 x 100 = 25

So, for that example, your new plan would be 25% bigger than the old plan. When it’s time to print, it would be scaled to 125%.

Let’s do it again, only this time let’s shrink a plan. Let’s say you have a 50″ airplane plan, but you want it to have a 45″ wing span so it can fit in your car. That’s just as easy!

(45-50)/50×100 =

45-50 = -5

-5/50 = -.1

-.1 x 100 = -10

For this example, the new plan would be 10 percent smaller than the original plan since it’s a negative number, which means when printed, it would be printed at 90 percent size (100-10).

So, there it is! An easy guide on resizing airplane plans.

Now what?

Now it’s time to print your plans! There are several ways to get your plans printed. One way is to reach out to us and have us print them for you. You can also check a local print shop to have them print it. But, if you’re impatient (aren’t we all?!) you can print your plans on your home printer. There’s quite a bit more work that goes into it, but we’ll explain it.

First off, we are going to use Adobe Reader DC. There are other programs that will do this, but we’re going to focus on this one.

Open the PDF plan in Adobe Reader DC.

Click on the printer icon to bring up the print dialogue.

Under Page Sizing and Handling, click on poster print.

Be sure the tile scale is set to 100% (or whatever your new scale is).

Check the cut marks button to print the crosshairs so you know where to cut the paper.

Print it.

Line your paper up an tape it together.

Get building!