has anyone tried to make free flight planes?
saw one made by saikat/rony
can anyone tell me detailed about them?

I guess a Chuck/Tow line/Rubber powered  'Assembled' model is where people should start their hobby with. But with much fast paced world than ever before and increasing availability of R/C stuff (thanks to RCD/Sai/other LHS and kinds of HC/Towers), people are plunging into R/C directly.

Starting Chuck/Rubbered models are much straight forward and an excellent platform to learn, before you move to R/C for ever. If you can source Balsa, you can find numerous plans for small (6" to 30") planes like Spitfire, Mustang, Gnome, etc on the net. Cut the the balsa according to plan and there you go!!

For beginners, such pre-cut kits are available for as small as Rs 60 to Rs 800 from few like LHS Sai and Mr Sampath (New India Hobby, Ulsoor, Bangalore, see the LHS Mega List), originally made by champion LHS like Mr Suresh (India Hobby center) and few other like Sharma etc.

The best part with such kits are they have 7 lives... you start them as Chucks, break them. Repair them into a new avatar of a Rubber power, then convert them to Catapult and what not. You may even put a small 'Brushed' motor and make them  free flight!!


I would highly recommend people like Ankur to start the hobby with those kits which are both economical and hugely educative. You can order 2-3 kits of small Spitfires/Mustangs and a 30" Gnome Glider, which you only touch once you are done with smaller model as the glider construction is much more demanding (One is lying in my inventory for the past month, I am yet to start building).

i have already made about 7 chuck gliders[5 of balsa 2 of thermocol ] of different sizes and all glide smoothly in air[one has a wing span of 50cm ,fuse of cycle spoke and wings of balsa-i recorded its highest glide time as 19.* something seconds]

i have already ordered some props/direct drive motors/1s lipos for brushed free flight planes[will convert 2-3 of them]
i just wanted to know how can we made rubber powered free flight and what apparatus is required[btw i have 4025 props ,can they be used?what else is required?]

anyone interested?
i don't understad more than 70 people logging in this site every day but not even single response?

Okay, here it is. This is what I improvised some 12-15 years ago in a small town like yours (Patna   ). Lucky people living in Metros may have had more sophisticated items at their disposal.

You need

1. Very light 4x3 or similar prop (according to the AUW of your glider). Cheapo GWS would do.
2. Long, extra long Rubber band. Get 'Valve tube' used inthe Cycle Tyres or old Cycle tyres' tube itself. but then you have to carefully cut a long band.
3. 1 or 1.5 mm hard steel rod. Again 'cycle wale Baiya' would help. Get the Spoke rod/wire. now some difficult step.
   a. On the end with thread, leave around 1.5 inch and (some how   ) bend the spoke in almost 300 degree 'Hook' shapre circle. Cut the spoke where the circle ends. The circle would recieve one end of the band.

4. a 1" long steel/Aluminium tube which 'Just' fits the Spoke. I can't tell where you wound find that. May be the same Cycle guy help you. if every thing fails, try to get a thick Ball pen refill/Fruiti Straw.

5. Get a small balsa/wood block and drill hole so that the tube fits there. Glue the tube in place and then glue the wood on the nose of the plane so that the the tube is almost in line with the length of the plane. (with obvious 'centering' along the axis).

6. make a small 'L' with the spoke and insert it into the Fuse, just below the tail, so that the 'open' end of the 'L' faces towards the back. This is where the other end of the Rubber band would go.

7. When the glue has set,  insert the rounded spoke we made, from the trailing end,and lighten the nut of the spoke from other side. Apply some gease at the point where the nut meets the tube. Attach the prop on the free end with some 'washer' and extra spoke nut. Glue the prop if you find nothing (brute force).

8. You are ready. make the rubber band long enought so that is fits between the prop shaft 'Hook' and the stay at the tail just tight enough not to fall off.

9. Ensure you have wire landing gear below the Fuse to save the props hitting the ground on landing.

10. You can use a 'Hand Drill' sold on 'Feri Wala/Thela' for some Rs 100 to Wind the Band. If you have left some of the spoke/nut on the leading end of the prop, tighten the 'Chuck' of  the drill on the spoke shaft and Wind!! you can get easy than this!! I cant tell you When to STOP!!!. When done, remove the chuck while holding the prop and Launch!!!

Look at some Rubber powered Gliders for inspiration. A picture better than 1000K words of mine. A recent post my Saiket 'Da' has a beautiful rubbered powered glider. Coax him for more refined build process.

Have you been to sites like http://www.rubber-power.com ?  They have full build instructions, like :

http://www.rubber-power.com/make-it.htm (there are 6 pages, use the "Next" button at the bottom).

Not sure what a 4025 prop is, if you specified it in centimeters, that is a 15x10 prop, which sounds huge for such a use ?

There are many videos on Youtube about rubberband powered models, including build videos.

One of the coolest is this (with the actual flight around 2:05)

This page has one of the nicest illustrations on how to connect the rubber-band to the prop.

http://modelsaviation.com/Rubber-Band-Powered-Airplanes.html

Ankur

I'll post a detailed ( if I can get around to it ) DIY - meanwhile
the easiest FF planes are built out of stryofoam plates -
browse a site called small flying arts you will
get the idea.

Off topic - I've just spent the day helping a wild elephant deliver
a calf - I took some pics with my cellphone but I dropped it in the
long grass and now I cant' find it !!!

thanks for the links and other helpful information anwar , saikat and ujjwaana
saikat nice to hear about ur help to the wild elephant and sorry about ur cellphone

these are the specs of the prop

Propeller Specifications
Dimensions - Inch   4'' x 2.5''
Dimensions - Metric   102mm x 64mm
Bore   4mm
Weight   1.25g

it is same as this one
http://www.microflight.com/Prop-EP-4025