How-tos Archives - Model Airplane News

Scale Cockpit Coaming — Recycling old Leather Hand Bags

I am always looking for things I can use in my scale modeling projects. So when I was finishing up my latest project I needed something to duplicate the leather coaming that protects the pilot from the cockpit opening edges. I found that an easy way to make good looking coaming right at a local […]

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 […]

Covering Wingtips made Easy

Covering a wing panel with film covering is fairly simple and easy to do, even for those with little skill; that is, until you get to the wingtip. Of course, all wingtips are different shapes, and not all fall in the category of difficult to cover. Some have a gentle taper to a rounded […]

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

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Workshop Soldering Tips

There is always that occasional opportunity to do some soldering. When you need to add some connectors to a battery pack, or to make a set of wiring adapters for your battery charger, using heat and molten metal to join wires together is one of the oldest do-it-yourself tasks for RC hobbyists. The task is […]

Scale RC Pilot Figure Painting — Add life to your fighter driver

I put a huge amount of detail in the helmets of my Best Pilots pilot figures because its the topmost thing that’s viewed when your pilot is sitting in the cockpit. Most flight helmets are leather and that’s what’s shown here. The following technique works like magic in replicating leather of all kinds, but it […]

RC Model Airplane Shop Table You can Build Yourself

As a long-time-fan of the PBS show “New Yankee Workshop” I’ve seen quite a few good woodworking projects, but none more handy than the large roll around shop table. I knew I’d have to build it one day when I had the room for it in a workshop I hadn’t even yet built. Sorry to […]

RC Model Airplane Wing Repair

We all make dumb moves when flying. Practice is the best cure for this problem, as the ones who make the least dumb moves are usually the ones who fly the most. Since I have moved about an hour’s drive from the flying field, I no longer go flying several times a week. And this […]