How-tos Archives - Page 5 of 17 - Model Airplane News

5 Tips to Dress Up Your Cockpit

With so many great-looking scale model ARFs to choose from today, one of the neatest ways you can make your particular Pitts Special or P-51 Mustang stand apart from the rest is to install a great-looking instrument panel for your pilot figure to look at. (You did install a scale pilot figure, didn’t you?) There’s […]

6 Super Shop Tips from MAN Readers

Here are seven superb workshop tips straight from the best modelers in the world — MAN readers! Have a tip you’d like to share? Send it to MAN@airage.com (no photo or illustration required!). KEEP CANOPY BOLTS FROM BACKING OUT Use this method to help hold on to canopies. Take an 1/8-inch-thick piece of rubber sheet, cut […]

Mastering the Figure M

If you want to become the best aerobatic pilot possible, you need to master key maneuvers by taking small steps. First, make sure you’re proficient in performing maneuvers like inverted flight, vertical and horizontal rolls, inside and outside loops and the stall turn. You can then perform these moves in sequence to create a show-stopping […]

DIY Airplane Tail Ski

During winter, most of the planes we fly are tail draggers and just have skis on the front. Small skis for the tail of the plane are unavailable. If the snow is soft or crusty, this more or less works: the wheel drags through the soft snow or stays up on top if the snow […]

Don’t cook your ESC!

Avoid these common power system mistakes Electric fliers all have one thing in common regardless of the size or type of models they fly—the electronic speed control (ESC). It doesn’t matter if you fly helicopters, airplanes, giant-scale, indoor, or micro models; at the heart of your power system is the speed control, and if it’s […]

Model Airplane Crash Repair — 5 Quick & Easy Fixes

One of the apprehensions all pilots experience is knowing our planes are at risk every time they take to the air. Then there is a real sense of accomplishment when the plane makes it safely back to terra firma. As our confidence builds, we start doing maneuvers closer to the ground and thereby increase the […]

Keep it cool: controling air flow

When working with an internal combustion engine, we always have to deal with the heat that is created by this process. In many cases, the opening in the cowl will allow enough air to flow over the engine to maintain a cool temperature. But when performing extended 3D maneuvers, we have only the air produced by […]

Functional Scale Cockpit Hatch RC Airplane Access

When it comes to RC Golden Age racers, no one does flying models better than the world recognized guru of scale Gee Bees – Henry Haffke. When I teamed up with Henry to build the 1/3-scale version of his Howard DGA-5 “Ike” Golden Age racer, I added several details that a racer this size needed to look right. One […]

Model Airplane News Favorite Reader Tips

Check out these reader tips! Betcha you’ll use at least one on your next building project. (Have a tip you’d like to share? Send it to MAN@airage.com … no photo required!) GET A GRIP Converting scale aircraft to electric is becoming commonplace. Here’s a neat trick that solves a simple but perplexing problem often encountered […]

Getting Started with E-Power

Today, our hobby is enjoying a literal “Golden Age” of RC electric flight. The amount of quality motors, batteries, controllers and connectors is just about limitless as are the types and sizes of airplanes you can fly with E-power. Even though there are plenty of plug n play packages out there where you get everything […]

Scale RC Rivets & Screws Video

Master modeler Phil Noel knows aircraft rivets and screws. After retiring from the full-size aviation industry, his company Pinnacle Aviation custom-builds composite model kits as well as offering painting, weathering and repair service. In this video, he shows how he creates rivets on and applies scale screws to a Comp-ARF Spitfire and a Jet Legends L-39 Albatross. Thanks to Pete and Dean Coxon for filming this […]

Master the Waterfall

When you’re flying a stable elevator, you can perform an inside “waterfall” (micro loop) by maintaining full up-elevator, and applying full power and a little right rudder to correct for increased propwash and P-factor. On the back side of the loop, quickly cut the power and neutralize the rudder. Then, at the instant the fuselage […]