Aeromodelling for Beginners

How should I start Aeromodelling?? This question have been by asked all the Aeromodelers around the world when they began Aeromodelling; just that their mentor would have been different. Learning Aeromodelling is not like learning to play with a flying toy but lot more than that. It is an art for which you need not possess at the time of your birth. Now don't scare yourself by thinking that since I am not an artistic person, I won't be able to fly the plane. All you need to be is passionate with Aeroplanes and determination to become Aeromodel pilot. Somebody has said:

"It's neither theory nor experecience, it's curiosity and patience,
hard work and determination which makes something airborne" - AKS & GKG

Mind it, if you don't possess above mentioned qualities; you are not to become an Aeromodeller. Do something else....else you'll end up with nothing but a hole in your pocket and frustrated with Aeromodels.

The first basic thing you need to undestand is nothing in this world wants to leave the ground happily, except birds, hopefully. And if flown somehow then it wants to come back to ground whenever possible. So your plane do not want to go up in the air, it's you who force it to do so and always be attentive to make sure that it doesn't come back to ground unless you desire so.

Now there is wide variety of Aeromodels available in the market with varying complexities. To do the mastesr or doctrate in Aeromodelling, you need to start from class one.

Class 1:
First of all understand the basics of a plane. There are many websites which gives you very brief about Aeroplanes and how it flies. However there is one very interesting site: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0122082/
Visit this website and I am sure you'll become Aerospace Engineer after reading it.

Class 2:
Catapult Gliders : There are many kits available for catapult gliders... They come in ready to fly condition.. u just have to place different pieces together and chuck it from hand from the help of a catapult. One example for the same is available here...http://www.guillow.com/GuillowDetail.asp?UID=&prod=36&SeriesId=12&FamilyId=2
You can make one by yourself...here are the plans http://f4bscale.worldonline.co.uk/plans.htm

Class 3:
Powered Gliders : These are gliders with engine or electric motor and radio controlled. Most of the time they are very stable and easy to control. They fly at smaller speed and self correcting so that you develop your controlling skills without loosing your plane. However, it doesn't mean that gliders do not crash.

Class 4:
Radio Controlled Planes and Helicopters : Huhhhh.... Now you are at the first stage of becoming real Aeromodeller. From here, actual fun starts. Purchase a good learning model first and have fun with it and then advance to highly maneuverable Aeromodels and participate in the competitions.

I hope this article would help you in pursuing your hobby/interest. Pass it on to your friends if you find it useful.

!!!!........Happy Aeromodelling........!!!!

Battery charge

Voltage State of Charge
12.6+ 100%
12.50 90%
12.42 80%
12.32 70%
12.20 60%
12.06 50%
11.90 40%
11.75 30%
11.58 20%
11.31 10%
10.5 0%


Discharging and storage really go hand in hand. For NiCd packs, you should completely discharge them, to 0.9v per cell, before you store them NiMH packs should be stored with roughly a 50% charge in them for best performance. And before you charge a NiMH pack for the first time in the day, simply drain the pack completely on a discharger or in the model and you are then ready to charge the pack for use throughout the day.

LiPo batteries are completely different when it comes to discharging and storage. Depending on the output voltage of your pack, you should only discharge your pack so far. For example, during use, a 7.4V LiPo battery (also known as a “2 series” or “2S” pack) should never be discharged below 6.0 volts under load (3.0v per cell). For storage of 2 weeks or more, LiPo packs should be stored at approximately 3.8v per cell to prevent overdischarge or imbalance from developing among series cells in the packs due to differing levels of each cell’s self-discharge rate. In the case of a 2S 7.4v pack, the pack should always be stored at 7.6v. You should also store your LiPo batteries in a fireproof container or cabinet and never store your LiPo, or any other battery for that matter, in the model itself.

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