Hey everyone,
I have a thought : that we all get together and design an RC Aircraft! Now we are doing it separately...why not we "all" get involved...each one having its own expertise....its own plus points!! The end result would be fantastic!
This plane would be "by RCindia - for RCindia" !!
This Topic could also help others by becoming a role model by itself.
Others could get help/information directly at one place!
I am very excited about this plan.....lets make it happen.
Need others opinion too....
Cheers!
Vikalp Luthra.

It can be a simple design, but the point is to cover all of the major aspects required to designing an aircraft....like aerodynamics, performance, power, stability and control, structures, etc.
Lets follow a step by step aircraft design process and get a feel of designing a complete aircraft.....which is our ultimate endevour !!

Vikalp at first of all a million salute for you , for this great idea.. and sure, it may start from here.. keep ratio as 5:3:1.5:1... means.. if wingspan is 50 inches, fuse length is 30 inches at least, and 15 inches for tail plane and 10 inches for rudder.. is rough ratio as you can see many successful aircrafts are in this ratio.. and i am too happy to share any aquired knoqledge from my side for this.. even my life.. this also was my dream.. make it from fluted plastic board..( CORO) in to 2 mm.. will fly like a dream with some trimmings.. any one can make and fly.. EASYFLY RCI.. because we all are RC INDIANS.. 

yup!!! nice effort vikalp would be great... !!!!

gr8 roopesh!! Thanks for that superb information!! lets do it!!!
ok, now lets decide what kind of aircraft shall we all design......i think we should stick with basic designs.....a trainer may....what do you say?? & others too....

thanks pradeep! lets put each ones effort in it & make a gr8 plane!

sorry roopesh, i dont know what material is a CORO....would you explain it to me?

while keeping an eye on beginners.. a high wing trainer..  then a low winger.. in same platform..  

yes as said... an ideal trainer model has to have a wing span of 50-60 inches as this will help the trainee to gain knowledge of flying and ability to land in lil high pressure winds.. much drag produces more lift. and he/she could glide the model for some time and have a study flight... !!!

I would go for a 60inch wing with a 42-46 in fuse on the model... any inputs would help too!!!

sure.. the material co is a plastic sheet, is two thin sheets are toped with a drinking sraw like structure at middle.. just like a straw board.. this can be purchased in 6X4 and 8X4 sheets.. in various colour.., in some places this known as sunpack, and sunflex.. mostly this material is uded to make false ceilings and pavings in bath rooms and door panels..

i prefer 2 mm coro sheets to make excellent crafts with ease.. you can make an entire aircraft with a mere 200 Rs.. without painting.. and if you use balsa to reinforce the cost of the balsa will be addition.. and yes painting.. when you finished a craft with 50 inch wingspan, the dry weight will be around 700 to 750 grams.. and will be too stable with flight.. can make any type wings, any aerofoil.. any length with reinforcements..

once the design is confirmed, we can make a template from a thin 3mm metal seet for number of aircraft production.. can make various additions on it.. camera.. shooting guns.. parachute.. pilot ejections.. smoke.. and flower droping.. and lots..

Ok here goes the Design  Process:
Phases of Airplane Design:

1. Conceptual Design: Consists of set of requirements. Should have a concrete goal towards which we all are aiming. Here, with a somewhat fuzzy picture, the overall shape, size, weight and performance of the new design are determined. The product of the conceptual design phase is a layout of the airplane configuration.
Here's the vital Pivot Points of Conceptual Phase:
a. Requirements
b. Weight of the airplane-first estimate
c. Critical performance parameters : Cl max, L/D ratio, Wing Loading ratio (W/S) , Thrust To Weight ratio (T/W).
d. Configuration Layout-shape and size of the airplane on a drawing.
e. Better Weight Estimate
f. Performance analysis - does the design meet or exceed requirements? if no-go to step 3, if yes proceed
g. Optimization-is it the best design?
Above were the 7 intellectual pivot points for conceptual design phase.

2. Preliminary Design - in this phase, serious structural and control systems analysis and design take place. The design is experimentally tested. If successful, configuration is frozen and precisely defined. Drawings are made - i.e Lofting.

3. Detail Design - Consists of deciding the nuts and bolts that will go into the aircraft. In this phase craft simply needs to be fabricated. Precise design of each individual rib, spar and section of skin now takes place. Manufacturing process is defined. At the nd of this phase the aircraft is ready to be fabricated.

here is the example of cam carrying..

great consideration..

some more specs about the material named coro, or sunpack..
PVC Foam Board- Sunpak Board

PVC Foam boards is a chemically foamed, rigid, light weight extruded sheet with a fine & homogeneous closed cell structure. smooth matte surface finish on both sides.
Characteristics
* Light weight
* High strength
* Easily cleaned
* Easily fabricated
* Outstanding printability
* Uniform fine close cell structure
* Good resistance to light and weathering
* Low flammability
Applications
* Advertising signs, displays and hoardings
* Exhibition stands
* Interior design
* Point of purchase displays
* Walls and partitions

and if we Google, we can find lots of technical explanations about this material.. even include the chemical chain.. and can see lots of complicated descriptions.. about it.. but to us all this one is simple , cheapest model building material.. is coro sheet.. ver easy to work.. and inexpensive.. easy to paint and easy to form.. can also fix over balsa structure..  
for an example one link..
http://shgoldensign.en.made-in-china.com/product/WqnxLbYKgHVh/China-PVC-Forex-Sheet.html

Great idea Vikalp.......!!!

And nice considerations as roopesh sir said. I am definitely in.

At first we need to think about "Conceptual design". As we know the number of aeromodellers is increasing in India which means more and more beginners are coming in. So why don't we consider making a design that is better with the beginners point of view while having power loading and dynamics to easily allow advanced aerobatics. That way, everybody will wish to fly it. So, That should be our ultimate goal. Lets see what others say on it. Below are few pointers to help define the requirements and goals...

(requirement for beginners)
->Must be Less expensive.

->Must be simpler to build with available material. So we have to consider it making with Coro or Foam or both. Coro is stronger but difficult to work in comparison with foam. So it must be carefully decided which material is to be used primarily.

->It should be Hi-Winger.

->It should be pusher.

->To save motor and propeller from damage at the time of crash, We can mount it on somewhere middle of the fuselage like most of the trainers already sold.

->It should have typical 3 channel configuration(AET or RET) which can be further extended to AERT configuration as needed.

->It should have low wing loading.

->Thrust to weight ratio must be greater than 1:1.

->should support Hand launches as well as take Offs.

->Landing gears must be in Tricycle configuration with steerable Nose wheel.

->It should fly stable in moderate winds (8~16mph) at ease.

->Wing span must lie around 48", a 4'x3' sheet is enough to build one.

and much to be added.


(requirement for intermediate and advanced flyers)

->Must have High power loading upto 100+Watts/lb.

->Must be maneuverable in moderate wind speeds.

->Must penetrate good in larger wind speeds(>16mph) as well, So Wing loading and Wing cubic loading must be carefully decided.

->Must have really strong structure to sustain with G forces during flight and High G maneuvers.

->Can have Flaps, Retractable landing gears, Channel mixing, Thrust vectoring (Like in advanced jets), spoilers etc.

Now as we want both(beginners as well as advanced flyers) to be happy with our design, We need to make our way in between the above mentioned requirements for beginners and advanced.

so from my side,

Final design must be

->A Mid-Winger with very little dihedral. The CG on the vertical Axis must be placed below the wing to make it equally stable as a High Winger.

->With pusher setup

->With all the power loading required by the advanced ones. Lets fix it to atleast 80~100watts/lb.

->must be a typical 3channel (AET/RET) plane but can be extended for more number of channels to support advanced features like all mentioned above(flaps and.... etc).

->Landing Gear must be in Tricycle configuration with steerable nose wheel.

->Must Have wing loading around 8~10 oz/sq.ft while wing cubic loading must lie around 6~8 oz/cubic.ft.

->Thrust to weight ratio must lie around 1.25:1 or greater to overcome easily from the stalls.

->Must have wing span of 48" to 56".

->Must be naturally stable even in beginners hand and should penetrate good in moderate winds(~16mph) as well.

->AUW must be decided carefully to keep stall speed lower which means flying/Landing at lower speeds
will be possible.

->Must provide good maneuverability.

Do anybody have a design on which we are going to think further and improve it....?

If not....What about this.....!!!





We can start modifying the design as per our needs from here. No issue in that, even I would be more happier than before by seeing my design as the base design in this project. 

Thanks.
Cheers.
 

great Sumeet.. and just waiting for the guidances and adives from all respected Senior Veterans.. 

Thanks Roopesh Sir. I am also waiting for the seniors to get involved in this thread....
Lets see.

thanks Roopesh Sir for the information of Coro. It seems to be a very good material.
Wow Sumeet.....good points covered under requirements!!

hi,

GOt some scanned images from a magazine of Oct 1989, hope it is of help to beginners.

regds

thank you Sandeepji..

hi,

i have a huge database waiting to be scanned, lots of info from nose to tail and wheels to wings.

will be putting it up slowly so that all can benefit. no use to keep the info lying in a cupboard and let mother nature eat it 

As per my experience since 1989 i am building models and have built a no of them right from scratch to arfs. today i have stuck to only coro and stopped building in balsa due to cost and time factor.

my recent designs in coro are very popular and have been flown by many members in our club.

although a slim and curvy model is eye catching but the building process is painfull. i have stuck to simple principle of KISS ( keep it simple & sweet )

pis below.

regds

Great...Now this thread is getting alive.........