Trying daring new projects with your Radio Controlled aircraft can be a great way to learn. By pushing your own limits, you can develop your skills, expertise and knowledge whilst potentially making some memories. Here are five ideas.
1. Piggybacking
Putting one plane on top of another is great fun. Using an FT Piggyback Release, you can carry a friend to dizzying heights and then detach both planes to leave them soaring high up too. This works great with gliders, but you can also use them with powered aircraft.
This mount works perfectly with larger FT planes such as the FT Kracken and FT Sea Duck, but you can stick it on whatever you like really!
2. Towing
Why not build a simple three channel glider and have a friend fly it while towed behind another plane of yours? It's a great way to have fun with another pilot. It could also be a good way of teaching someone the essential principles of controlling an aircraft without having to worry about the throttle.
3. Dropping things
There's something satisfying about dropping things from RC planes. Be it fake bombs from a warbird or even just parachute men bought at the dollar store, you can have a lot of fun with a servo and rubber band.
Why not try something different and design some pods to hold eggs in? It could be like one of those egg-drop challenges to see who's pod protects the egg the best! Flying with an FT Guinea Pig, a servo activated door could release the eggs from different heights to see any differing results. This would be a great project to try with kids.
4. Speed challenges
How about pushing the speed envelope of your aircraft? Do a build challenge with a friend to see who can come up with the fastest foam board aircraft. You could even restrict the competition to only use certain components and batteries meaning it's all about the aerodynamics. You could take an FT Spitfire, for example, and see who can modify it to make the quickest.
5. Emergency parachutes
Here's an idea - attach a parachute to your airplane and have it deploy in an emergency situation to stop yourself from crashing. We tried this many years ago.
This great video (one of my personal favourite RC films of all time) shows this in action on an FPV pusher prop. Check it out!
If you feel compelled to try any of these projects yourself, let us know by writing about them here on flitetest.com!
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
- rc car tow. Very difficult I saw the wings of my easyglider forming a V! The rc car was much too fast even by idle.
- hand winch. With a pulley, one fix end of the rope to the ground and you pull the pulley running/walking backwards. The easiest way to feel and tow gliders. Doing it without any issue for years!
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