Information for the Do It Yourself Miata Owner
Mike has figured out how to strengthen a foam core and make it very durable. The words Foam core wings suggests that foam is the core of the wing. But what is it really the core of? Mike Waters discovered that there is strength in laminating a sheet of 3/4 ounce fiberglass and a sheet […]
Cutting foam with a hotwire requires several tools and a few skills. Some of the skills used are intuitive and some are more complex. The procedures discussed below will be for construction and use of a hotwire foam cutter. Foam can be cut with a band saw, table saw or other type saw. However, that […]
With the templates made and parts cut out, building the fuselage with the jig is “Super Easy”. The jig holds the sides nice and square resulting in a very professional fuselage. See the Fuselage Jig Use posting on the Fuselage Jig post. The firewall can be installed with the fuselage removed from the jig. It […]
Former templates are used to make the fuselage formers. They are necessary to securely hold the formers while the waste parts are removed. Former templates are constructed of 1/4″ MDF, oak strips and 3/16″ dowel pins. They are sized to match each former size. Close fit is required to hold the part firmly. But the […]
After cutting the sides to build a fuselage, a jig can be used to hold the parts straight and squarely while they are glued together. Using a jig speeds up the construction process. Making a jig requires a little time but the final product being straight and square more than offsets the investment of time. […]
“Foam Core Wings” is meant to infer a complete airplane. The airplane needs not only foam core wings but also an airframe. In keeping with making very light and durable planes using relatively low tech methods, the airframes are constructed mostly of Liteply. Unnecessary material is removed from the components by using a router table […]
Building Foam Core Wings planes requires the use of a router table. If you do not have one, you can build one yourself. It can be made of fairly inexpensive materials and some that may be free. You will need a router with a 1/2″ dia. x 2″ flush trim and plunge bits. You will […]
There are several tools needed to build the foam core wings and liteply components for our planes. These tools can be made with the tools found in many home shops.
Construction: Foam core wings often require holes drilled long distances into the foam to accommodate servo wires and wing tubes. Keeping these holes in proper alignment is almost impossible using a hand drill or even a common drill press. This is how we constructed a drill to drill almost perfectly aligned holes deep into a […]