Whats the best material?

Question

I am building a model plane, very light and must have high lift, low speed. I know what shape the wing will be in i just don't know hat to build it with or how. Solid wood will be too heavy.

Answer 1

Like model makers have been doing for years, with balsa wood and covered in a thin film.

But it depends how light you want to go. Check out indoornews.com where they discuss the very lightest of planes.

The 46" wing for my Piper Cub weighs about as much as a cup of coffee. It has two balsa spars that run the width of the wing and a dowel leading edge. It has ribs every few inches and is bonded together with a gelled superglue (known as Slow Zap) and covered in a heatshrink self adhesive film called Coverite which weighs about 1/4 oz per square foot. The wing isn't strong or rigid until you get the film on and tensioned. You really need a temperature controlled iron or a heat gun to do that. Building the wing is the fun part of model aircraft building, to me.

You can get a small model for under $30 as a demonstration of construction, or continue as you are and just build what you want. Page 5 of the instructions in the third link shows how they start to assemble the wing.

Tower Hobbies is one of the biggest on-line suppliers, you can get anything you need from them.

Answer 2

Balsa Wood, for the price, availability and handling. Other type of exotic materials will be Expensive, hard to obtain and hard to handle. Just for a model plane???? Nah..... Balsa Wood.

Answer 3

Use Concrete mixed with Helium....

Gotta Fly...
Mike & "Jaz" in MN

Answer 4

aluminium, carbon fibre and/or pine or a light softwood