Now that I have decided on the construction method, I will start the actual drawing. I’m using a program called Alibre. It is very similar to Solidworks in the way parts are entered. It doesn’t look as ‘polished’ as Solidworks, but the cost is unbeatable. They had an offer when I bought it; $99. Normal price $999. For reference, Solidworks is about $5000.

First thing is to import the 3-views. During import, I scale the drawings so that they are in 1:5 size of the original plane. I make all my planes in scale 1:5, which means 1 cm on the drawing corresponds to 1 cm on the model. I know some people use the scale of the original plane when they draw. That would make sense if you had access to the actual factory drawings, but I don’t.

Besides, I have a library of standard R/C components like engines, R/C receivers and servos, making it much easier to handle, when I draw it at 1:5 scale. There are many ways to skin a cat, and no hard and fast rules, so do what you are comfortable with. With CAD you can easily scale things up and down, so no big problem

OK, so now that the 3-views are imported, I can use them to take measurements off of. It’s also possible to trace parts and formers directly from the plans.

I know some people use the CAD software  to loft the entire plane and then slice it up into formers and what have you, but I haven’t had much luck with that method. Alibre’s lofting function is just not that powerful. In any case, I prefer to draw the plane, part by part, and then use Alibre to put it them all together.

Anyways, the import is now done, and I’m ready to draw.

The O-Maskine is my first “stick and fabric” type plane, so the construction method will be a bit different from the other planes that were planked and covered with fibre-glass. I really look forward to this build. I think it will be rather easier – particularly the wing/fuselage attachments.

Let’s GO!