Aircraft:

An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.

Basic parts of aircraft

Forces acting on Aircraft:

Thrust : Thrust is the force which moves an aircraft through the air(provided by electric motors or I . c engines) Lift : Lift is the force that directly opposes the weight of an airplane and holds the airplane in the air. Drag : Drag is the aerodynamic force that opposes an aircraft's motion through the air. Gravity: weight of aircraft

Motion of aircraft:

Pitch:

Yaw:

Roll:

Balancing:

Building of Aircraft :
General parts required for building of an RC aircraft 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Building material Motor ESC Servos Transmitter and receiver Battery(usually Li-Po) and charger Push rods Control horns Landing gear Propeller

Building material:
Material of fabrication should be of light weight and should have strength. Balsa wood or Styrofoam are recommended. Then you can start with RC aircraft plans available on the net for building the aircraft. These plans are available in .jpeg, .dwg (autocad), .pdf formats. Plans links: http://www.rcscratchbuilders.com/plans/plans.html http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=851608

Factors to be considered while preparing the design of the aircraft :

Aerofoil shape:

Dihedral angle: Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tail plane of a fixedwing aircraft. Dihedral angle has a strong influence on dihedral effect which stabilises the roll motion of plane.

Fuselage:
The fuselage is the most important part of the aircraft. All the electrical parts are placed in it so it should be given sufficient strength by providing trusses. The placing of the wing should be in such away that the centre of gravity of the wing and rest of the body coincides. Dimensions of Aircraft : Horizontal stabilizer 20-25% of the wing area Vertical stabilizer 40-50% of horizontal area Angle of attack 0-5 degree Ailerons (1/8) of the chord Fuselage 70-75% of wing span or 4-5 times of the chord length

Building:
Balsa wood : Balsa wood pieces are cut to form wings, fuselage etc., and are joined with glue .

Tail construction:
The horizontal and vertical stabilizer areas include the area of the elevator and the rudder

Vertical stabilizer

horizontal stabilizer

Links: http://www.rc-airplane-advisor.com/balsa-wood-building-sequence.html

Videos: 1.1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14xYgwXPC_w&feature=related 1.2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIb4CTy9T00 1.3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf7HBB5MX_Q&feature=related Foam : foam can be cut using hot wire method to obtain required shape.

Videos : 2.1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiHA6K82tFQ 2.2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckxnNRSM3YE 2.3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0ZCnR_g6ZU

Transmitter and receiver

Videos: 3.1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilEBoTtGqhE

Rc motor and ESC wiring

Videos: 4.1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48MQR3UV7x0

Servos
Generally micro servos are used to reduce the weight. Servo connections to ailerons, rudder and elevator.

Aileron servo connection

Rudder and elevator servo connections

Push rods and control horns

Videos: 5.1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMIhRSOPyTg

Motor mount:

Flying practice :
RC flight simulator: An RC flight simulator is a computer program that allows pilots of radio-controlled aircraft to practice on a computer, without the risk and expense of a damaging a real model. Besides the obvious use of training beginners, they are also used for practising new aerobatics, evaluating a model before buying it, and to allow flight practice when conditions are otherwise unsuitable. Most simulators allow the use of real R/C transmitters to control the sim. Link to download simulators : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RC_flight_simulator