How to Build your First Model Aircraft in 5 Easy Steps

a guest post by Marius Pivoine

Building an aircraft model is simpler than you may think, of course, if you know the things you have to look for and the exact steps you must follow in order to get your model done. In the rows below, I am going to list some essential tips about how to build your scale model aircraft with stuff that is not expensive or even free, and easy to be found at the local home decorating store or online. And if your budget is really tight here is a great source of free model aircraft plans and drawings, but make sure you come back to find out what to do with your favourite model aircraft drawings

Many people imagine that creating a model aircraft is challenging and requires an incredible amount of time; nothing further from the truth. Let's say I am going to tell you that it is perfectly possible to make a quite strong, robust, yet simple to fly scale model aircraft in no more than a day; besides that, it won't be very expensive to get it done either?

Step 1
Well, the initial step would be to select your material. Here, my advice would be to avoid the balsa wood because it is too fragile, breaking very easily, and for that reason, it is going to be quite costly over time. A much better material that is equally as light, but quite strong, is a type of plastic known as corex or flute board. These components may take some beating, it's lightweight and fairly easy to use.

Step 2
Next step would be to select the design of your future model aircraft. Here you might want to think about a pusher model aircraft. This kind of aircraft has got the propeller mounted behind and pushes the aircraft of pulling it. The benefit for this is that your engine and propeller are going to be protected whenever you crash and let us be sensible, you'll crash eventually!

Step 3
After you have solved this issue, now you have to select a plan or drawing. You will find countless free plans available online. Just print them out and start building your model. Here it might be easier to purchase the plan or buy the construction manual as opposed to just obtaining a free one without any further explanation. You can even find courses available online where you can learn how to build model aircraft along with all that you should know about flying a model aircraft.

Step 4
Well, this is the fun part - start building your model according to the plan you choose. I won't cover the full details here, but you can find some very good books on building model aircraft on Amazon.

Step 5
If the 4th step was the fun part, well this is actually the reward - enjoy the aircraft you built, but also learn from your mistakes. Remember everything that didn't turn out the way you wanted, and take care not to repeat those mistakes; at worst, come with new ones, but make sure you don't make the same error twice.

Final Thoughts
So don't let yourself be fooled and believe that you will have to buy a costly kit or ready to fly model plane get inside the aircraft modelling hobby. Learn how to construct it yourself. You never know this may lead you to something big, or just to earn some cash from your models to assist the investment in your hobby.