A 'Little' bit of fun

OK I saw this idea in an artical on RCGroups and I think it brilliant, especially to entertain the kids if it's raining outside. 

 Basically it very simple, you find a plane design you like, we did the F22 Raptor, and you make a mini model that you can use a chuck glider. You simply take the plan you like in full printout size and instead of printing out on to A0 size paper, reduce it to print onto A4 or Letter size. One you've printed them out, just build as you would the full size version. 

Here is our mini Raptor with my son taking out for a test flight....

 We used the Depron type foam that I build my plans out or as it is so much cheaper than Foam Board where we live. We used 3mm foam for the wings etc. and 6mm for the body. Just use the foam thickness that you think will look right proportionally to the plans. 

As with the real plane you have to find the correct CG before you can fly, we simply added hot glue (My son wanted to use some red glitter glue that came with my Dremel glue gun) to the nose until the plane balanced correctly, but I think we'll add a paper clip as well as it's still a little tail heavy.

After the test flight I left it to my son to decorate as he wanted. This is not just good idea to entertain the kids but you can also make test models to see any difficulties in the build process and also see the glide characteristics of the plane. Great fun and I think we'll be doing a bigger F22 Raptor in the future with a motor and radio gear!!