How-tos Archives - Page 2 of 17 - Model Airplane News

3 Favorite Workshop Tips

From “part stickers” to prop safety, these tips have got you covered! Propeller Safety Tips To prevent accidents, full-size aircraft are equipped with propellers that have brightly colored tips. Do the same with your model airplane propellers. Mask off the tips and spray on some bright yellow or white to make the prop tips […]

Easy Scale Louvers

When I built a scale model of a World War I German Albatros D.V, I needed to make some functional louvers. I powered the model with an Enya .53 four-stroke engine, and it was almost completely enclosed in the fuselage. To add sufficient cooling, I needed to make the louvers function, but at the same […]

Master the Basics: Straight & Level Flight

You should practice straight and level as much as you do any other maneuver. It is also where new precision aerobatics pilots should begin. It may seem like the most boring thing to do, but in reality, straight and level flight is one of the most difficult maneuvers to master. Sure, rolling circles, tail slides […]

7 QUICK WORKSHOP TIPS

MAN readers are a clever bunch; you’re always coming up with easier, more efficient ways to build and set up airplanes. Here are 7 workshop tips that we think you’ll enjoy using. Have a tip of your own you’d like to share? Send us an email at MAN@airage.com. Simple Pushrod Guide You may not always […]

Weathering Tricks: Add realism with paint chips and wear

After you’ve painted your model, add some weathering to really bring a scale plane to life. Each technique by itself is very effective and, added together, really produce astonishing realism. My friend Dave Reid commissioned me to paint his giant-scale SNJ Texan, and it has been the example for these ongoing how-to articles. I weathered […]

DIY Model Storage

Airplanes on the workshop floor always seem to catch “Hangar Rash,” but organization is a great way to keep them out of harm’s way. Designed by Model Airplane News contributor Carl Layden, this system is primarily targeted at .40-.60 size airplanes but is scale-able from small electric planes and park fliers to big 50cc gassers. […]

New Uses for Clothespins

The ordinary clothespin can do a lot more than hold sheets on a dryer line! Here are five of our favorite RC uses for them. Share how you use clothespins for modeling in the comments below! CLIP TIP For electric RC pilots, keeping track of battery status at the field can be a challenge. It […]

Getting into Gas – Expert Setup Tips

There are lots of good reasons to use gasoline engines to power your model airplanes. Generally speaking, they are easy to start, and run very reliably while producing their peak power at lower rpm than glow engines of similar displacement. With lower RPMs they tend to make less noise and burn less fuel per minute […]

Spice Up Your Loops–Fly the Avalanche

The Avalanche will cause spectators to gasp, especially when performed close to the ground. The surprise is that both maneuvers date back to a time long before 3D was even an aerobatic style. We enlisted the help of our good friend, aerobatic pilot and designer Mike McConville, to guide you through this maneuver and offer some tips […]

Building a Competition Worthy Scale Cockpit

Scale competition is a segment in this hobby that I really enjoy. Like many, I grew up wanting to be a fighter pilot, but when I had to get corrective contact lenses in junior high school, those dreams ended so I decided to become an aerospace engineer instead. A big part of why I enjoy […]

Painting Proper Scale Markings

There’s one thing all scale warbird modelers need to know. How to paint proper warbird markings. If you are one of many RC modelers who has acquired an ARF model of an American warbird, the chance that its star-and-bar markings is correct is about one in 10. It’s sad but true. Among models built by […]

Making Strong Wood Splices

I was sitting under a shade tent at a giant-scale fun fly recently when someone asked me where I got the longer-than-standard-size materials I use to build my big airplanes. I didn’t know what the fellow meant. He told me that his local hobby shop carried only 36-inch lengths of balsa and spruce, and that […]