Beginners Guide To Flying RC Airplanes ebook

Micro RC airplanes

- our childhood dreams realised!

In the past micro rc airplanes were specialist models made by enthusiastic aeromodellers looking for an answer to flying a radio control plane indoors. Some modellers scratch built their planes while others converted small rubber powered kit planes, using whatever tiny electronic components they could lay their hands on or fabricate themselves. Certainly when I was a kid, the idea of me owning and flying such a model was just unthinkable!

But more recently there has been a huge electronic revolution and the radio control flying hobby has seen massive advancements in electronics, and as a result mass produced micro rc airplanes have become very widely available and very affordable. Foam RTF electric micro planes are now commonplace and it seems that every week a manufacturer releases a smaller and more detailed airplane to tempt us with.
It's great news for the radio control flying hobby and such planes have brought many people in to the hobby.

Shop for micro RC airplanes at Red Rocket Hobbies.
(use code RCAPW for $5 off any order ).

There are several manufacturers currently leading the way with electric foam Ready To Fly micro rc airplanes, ParkZone, Kyosho and eRC to name a few of the players. ParkZone have more or less stolen the market with their hugely successful Ultra Micro range while Kyosho have an equally liked 'Minium' range.

The ParkZone Ultra Micro J3 Cub micro rc airplane

Above: micro rc airplanes like this J3 Cub are now commonplace

The Ultra Micro J3 Cub shown above is typical of the foam electric RTF micro rc planes now widely available, and this particular example has been a huge seller. Such planes can easily be flown indoors in venues such as school halls or gymnasiums where indoor flying commonly takes place.
Alternatively micro rc airplanes like this can be flown outdoors on calm days; typically these planes weigh in at less than an ounce (28g) so it doesn't take much of a breeze to adversely effect the flight characteristics.

Micro RC airplanes - under the hood

As previously mentioned the ongoing technological revolution has done the radio control flying hobby lots of favours; electrical components that were once hard, if not impossible, to source are now widely available in all hobby shops. And the nature of such components necessary for a micro rc plane have changed too - where before a separate receiver, speed control and servos were needed now we can buy a tiny PCB that's home to everything!

Sprektrum's AR6400 series of receiver/ESC/servo units (shown right) currently leads the way in affordable micro rc airplane technology, the selection available means that there's a unit for every type of plane.
These tiny units are true testament to what's been achieved in the rc flying hobby in recent years and now it really is easy to say "anything's possible! ".

An alternative option to buying the component on its own is to buy a second hand (or even new!) Ultra Micro airplane off eBay and use it as a donor plane - strip out the electronics, including the motor, and you've got yourself a real bargain. Indeed, there are now balsa kits of indoor rc airplanes that have been designed around the Spektrum components and you're expected to use a donor foam RTF micro plane for the necessary electronics.

For motor power micro rc airplanes commonly use a single (1S) Li-Po cell such as the one shown to the right. These have been adopted by the majority of manufacturers producing tiny rc aircraft (planes and helicopters) and although the capacity is understandably small, less than 200mAh, the light weight of a typical foam micro plane means that flight times of up to ten minutes are still achievable with careful flying.

Micro RC aerobatics

You'd be forgiven for thinking that a micro rc airplane isn't strong enough to withstand much abuse, and that the Ultra Micro J3 Cub shown further up the page is a typical example, but careful designing and the use of carbon fibre reinforced foam means that some out-and-out aerobatic and 3D-capable models have been produced. Two notable examples from the Horizon Hobby hanger are the UMX Beast and the Sukhoi SU-26XP, both shown below:

ParkZone Sukhoi SU26XP micro rc aerobatic plane

Again, true testament to what's been achieved in the radio control flying hobby in recent years!

Shop for micro RC planes like these at Red Rocket Hobbies.
(use code RCAPW for $5 off any order ).

Of course, as with everything in life, there are pros and cons to radio control planes of this size. The main con in my opinion is the issue of disorientation; flying an rc airplane with a wingspan of, say, 15" is all very good but it doesn't take much distance away from you for such a plane to become very small and hard for you to see what it's doing. For experienced pilots this isn't such an issue as it is for the beginner, but it is something to bear in mind when flying.
On the 'plus' side of the arguments is the fact that micro rc airplanes carry very little momentum because of the small amount of weight involved, so a crash rarely causes much damage. And because of the foam construction any damage that is incurred can usually be repaired on the spot with some clear tape or even foam-friendly CA glue.

This minimal crash damage (generally speaking...) is a good thing and because of it certain slower flying micro rc airplanes such as the Ember and Vapor from ParkZone make great planes for learning on or for just 'keeping your eye in' between flying sessions with larger rc planes or away from an rc flight simulator. Such planes really are a low-cost and very convenient option for any rc pilot to consider keeping in the car!

So there you have it - what was once a seemingly impossible childhood dream is now a reality!
When I was growing up in the 1980s building and flying my little rubber powered balsa model planes (yep, that's me to the left in about 1980 with a rubber powered Super Cub) I could only imagine what it would be like to be able to control them and have them fly where I wanted them to, not where they wanted to.
Modern micro rc airplanes might not be rubber powered but they are about the same size that most of my rubber planes were, and now I can have a four channel electric powered model instead - how cool is that?!