How to Make a Beer Can Airplane

How to Make a Beer Can Airplane. If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive project to work on and like building models, then making a beer can airplane is for you. Beer can airplanes make neat decorations for family rooms or home offices and also make great gifts. It takes just a couple of hours to make a beer can airplane, complete with a working propeller. This project is just plane fun! Remove the tops and bottoms of six beer cans, and discard the tops only. Cut the cans from top to bottom, and smooth flat.

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Take one sheet, and cut 6 long struts 1 inch by 3 1/2 inches and 2 short wing struts 1 1/2 inches by 2 inches. Fold long struts in half lengthwise and wing struts crosswise; crimp and shape the ends into tabs.
Insert tabs 1, 3 and 5 into the body of the plane, tabs 2 and 4 split to make tail support. Make one slit in the upright. Cut a 3-by-6 inch rectangle for the horizontal tailpiece, and cut 3 slits for tabs on the upright.
Form the wings by cutting 2 strips 3 1/2 inches wide. Overlap strips to make a rectangle 3 1/2 inches by 13 inches, and rivet strips together. Cut slits 2 inches from ends to fit the tabs of the long struts. Make 1/2-inch crease on both long sides and round wingtips. Punch a hole in the center of wing. Repeat process for the second wing.
Make a 3-by-7 inch rectangle for the tail upright, fold crosswise and rivet. Make 4 cuts that are each 1/2-inch along the bottom to create 5 tabs.
Slice the tops off of 2 cans. Make 3 slits in the side to accommodate the 3 tabs on the tailpiece and 2 side-by-side slits for the tail rest. Attach. On the second can, cut 2 4-inch slits 1 inch apart, punch a hole through the can and slide the wings through the slits. Cut slits for the short wing struts. On the bottom, cut slits for the wheel struts and attach.
Slide the 2 halves of the airplane body together. Attach the top wing to body with 4 short struts, and attach the wings to each other with long struts.

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Wheels and Propeller
Punch holes in the center of 4 bottoms. Place 2 bottoms together, convex sides facing out, and carefully press one edge around the other to form a wheel. Repeat for second wheel.
Clip a wire hanger 7 inches in length. Cut a 3-by-5 inch rectangle, and fold lengthwise with wire hanger in the fold. Thread the wheels onto the wire on each end.
Cut one can, with bottom intact, in half. Make cuts lengthwise about 1 inch apart around the entire can, and bend each strip up to form propeller. Rivet to the front of the body.
Thread the wire hanger through the holes punched earlier through the body and wings. Bend one end to form the hanger for the plane.

Where Can You Get RC Bodies?

These days when you buy hobby-grade RCs, whether in a kit or a complete RTR package, you get a body made of Lexan or similar light weight plastic. The RC body may come unpainted (clear) or pre-painted with a cool graphic and a colorful paint scheme; but, you may not want to keep that body style. You might want to go with a different kind of body style all together.

rc car

Answer:

There a lot of resources at your finger tips for finding a place to get an RC body. You could look in your local phone book or you could go on the Internet. The Yellow Pages is still a good place to get addresses and numbers for local hobby shops if you don't know where they are in your area. You can also check with the manufacturer for your RC because they may offer alternative body styles for some of their vehicles.

If there is one (or more) nearby, cruise down to your local hobby shop and see what RC bodies they carry. They'll generally have a selection of the most popular styles and sizes their customers buy. If you're looking for a specific body style most likely the hobby shop personnel can special order it for you if it's not a body they keep in stock. Get Custom-Painted RC Bodies.

rc boat

There are places that offer custom pre-painted RC bodies. These places also have a hefty price tag attached to the custom paint job. But it's an option if you don't want to paint your own body or if you want a custom look that's beyond your body painting skill level. One site that shows off some great custom work is RCXTC Custom Painted Bodies. RCXTC Custom Painted Bodies offers a variety of body styles and if you see a paint job you like, and you want it on another body, just ask. Also, your local hobby shop may be able to refer you to someone in your area who does custom paint jobs.

rc plane

After You Have Your New RC Body

Whether you purchased it online or locally, unless you're shelling out money for a custom paint job by someone else, you're going to need to paint that clear RC body yourself. Take the time to prep it and paint it properly. There is nothing worse than having an awesome muscle car or racing body with a hurried paint job to ruin it. See the Painting and RC Body FAQs, below.

Before You Buy Your First Hobby-Grade Electric RC

Some people may think of moving up from RC toys to hobby-grade RCs as a chance to step up to the speed and power of nitro. But there's plenty of speed and power in a hobby-grade electric. They may run on batteries just like toy RCs, but most of the similarities end there.

rc plame

Hobby-Grade Electric RCs are More Expensive Than Toys
Electric hobby-grade RCs cost substantially more than their toy counterparts. The more durable parts and the complexity of the construction increase the manufacturing costs so hobby-grade RCs cost more to buy. Yet, they do break. Fortunately there are plenty of replacement parts. However, you'll need to purchase and install those parts to keep your RC in top condition. You'll also need to include the cost of batteries or battery packs over the life of the vehicle.
Hobby-Grade RC RCs Require More Driving Skill
While nitro RCs are the fastest overall of the hobby-grade RCs, the RC "hall of fame" speed records are held by electric RCs. If you clocked a hobby-grade RC vehicle at top speed using a police radar gun, you'd probably get a speed anywhere between 10 to 70 mph. Driving tiny cars at that speed requires practice and better motor skills than with the slower electric toy RCs. And with the increased cost, you'll want to minimize the expensive crashes.
With most toy-grade RCs, replacing the batteries and an occasional wipedown after a day in the mud are the extent of the maintenance requirements. With hobby-grade electric RCs you'll probably be tuning your motor, loosening or tightening the suspension, oiling the gears, realigning the chassis, and doing body work to repair cracks, dents, and scraped paint. You'll want to spend as much time as possible keeping it in good working order. And if you want to race professionally, you'll need to spend even more time tweaking and upgrading for top performance.

rc tank

Even though they are smaller, many electric RCs can travel as fast as a full-size car making it necessary to choose a safe area of operation. Highly-tuned electric RCs are fast-moving and can pose a risk on the ground or in the air when operated in a crowd. Fast-spinning tires, moving parts, and hot battery packs are also potential dangers so children should always be supervised when operating hobby-grade electric RCs.
If you feel that you are ready to move from RC toys to hobby-grade electric RCs, I recommend starting with a Ready-to-Run car or truck. An RTR vehicle lets you get up and running quickly and is good if you aren't intimately familiar with radio controlled vehicles and model construction in general. An in-between type of electric RC, such as the RadioShack XMODS, is a good way to ease into the fun of hobby RCs with a few less of the worries. XMODS are less expensive initially and you can purchase easy-to-assemble upgrade kits.

How to Operate Remote Control Helicopters

Remote control helicopters (or RC helicopters) allow users to control their very own miniature helicopter. Using the remote, the user can control the acceleration, rudder and blades of the helicopter.

RC heli

Since the remote for a basic RC helicopter has a small number of controls, learning how to operate the toy is an easy process.
Turn the "on/off" switch on both the RC helicopter and remote to activate both devices.
Turn your accelerator switch upwards to make the helicopter blades spin faster and lift the helicopter off of the ground. 
Turn the directional knobs on the remote to move the helicopter in the air. The left directional stick should control forwards and backwards movement, while the right stick controls left-to-right movement. 

helicopters

Land the helicopter by taking your hands off of the direction sticks, making the helicopter stand still in the air. Slowly turn the accelerator down, and the helicopter will slowly land on the ground.

Why RC cars is a great need of every age

RC cars play an important role in a boy's life. Some of the girls are also passionate about getting remote controlled cars of various types. 
It is imperative for every RC car enthusiast to understand the controls of remote controlled cars. Most of the people don't have complete information about controlling the RC cars perfectly.I must say that handling such types of cars is not a big problem if you are fully determined. User-friendly remote controls come with RC cars that are used to control the direction and speed of these cars. It may be difficult task for a person to choose a special gift for a little boy. However, you should never overlook the important aspect of remote controlled cars.

rc car

It is significant to choose a right kind of wireless car that can give maximum amusement without creating any problem. New striking designs can attract the people belonging to different age levels. Remote controlled cars are not only famous among youngsters but mature people are also very zealous about them. Electric cars come with rechargeable batteries. You can easily recharge your electric car after running for some particular time period. Never try to run your car with low battery. This can be damaging for the efficiency and power of your car. 
You should not get worried about assembling or RC cars because they don't require any kind of assembling. You just have to get your desired remote controlled car in order to bring a great fun to your life. This hobby can be enjoyed by all the family members. You can run a wireless car in the backyard of your home. It is preferable to run RC cars at open places in order to avoid crashes. You should never forget that the parts of these cars are not cheap. If your electric car gets damaged due to a serious crash then you may have to buy new parts to replace the damaged ones. This can be very costly for a hobbyist. Therefore, you should adopt all the safety measures in order to prevent all these consequences. 

racing car

RC cars are very easy to operate both outdoors and indoors. You should run an electric car carefully if you are using it inside your home premises. There are some simple models of remote controlled cars that are perfect for indoors. They are light weight and do not bring any harm. On the other hand, there are some heavy RC cars that are ideal for enjoying ultimate racing fun at outdoors. Hence, popularity of remote controlled may never end due to their higher demand.

Questions for the Beginner RC Racer

If you've read around the site or you've seen a race up-close and think that you may want to get into this hobby, there are a few questions that you should be asking yourself. By learning the answers to these questions, you're going to be assured of getting the right RC vehicle the first time, thus saving you time, money, and frustration. 

What Surface Do You Want to Race On? This may seem like a silly question, but it merely means, do you want to race around on water, in the air, or on land? Do you want that land to be dirt, carpet, or asphalt? Flying an RC plane, motoring an RC boat, and racing around an RC car or truck will all be different experiences and need very different things. Learn where you want to run before you get something to run on it. Are You Playing or In It to Win It? 

Are you going to want to dive into competitive RC racing or are you just wanting to play around in the yard? There are beginner boats, planes, cars, and trucks designed for fun and have everything you need to get started. For the more competitive in nature, there are other kits that are more in-depth with a higher degree of customization designed to tweak out the most a racer can bring out. 
 

rc car

Do You Want to Build a Kit or Have One Ready to Go? This is directly tied to the question of whether you want to have fun or if you want to be competitive. Most RTR kits (ready to run) or ARF (almost-ready-to-fly) planes are either completely ready to go out of the box or nearly so. This means that they have standard items meant for the beginning RCer. Those that buy kits will need to painstakingly go through and build their car, truck, boat, or plane. There is a huge advantage to this for the racer, as they can learn all about their RC from every piece. 

If You Are Into Cars, On-road or Off-road? Do you want to deal with precise turns and intricate tuning or do you want to launch your car or truck off jumps and power it through the turns with raw force? On-road and off-road racers deal with many different things. It may help you decide by going to both an on-road race and an off-road, and perhaps even test-driving one or two. There are some tracks that will have rental vehicles. If one near you does, I'd strongly suggest renting one and getting some laps in before making the decision. 

Gas or Electric? All vehicles have options for nitro gas burning or for electric power. Choosing which you'd like to run may be difficult. Nitro means dealing with fumes and loudness, but you can run for as long as you keep fueling the engine. Electric is cleaner and quieter, but you are only going to be able to run for as long as you have a charged battery before needing to recharge. Nitro fuels come in varying percentages of oil and nitromethane, and you'll need to learn about what this means if you should choose to drive anything nitro-powered. 

rc helicopter

New or Used? Do you want to buy a brand new RC or get one that is used? Used is usually cheaper and can come with parts and upgrades that may not come on the kit in question. Plus you may get tons of accessories that help you dive into the hobby. Figuring out this question can be a matter of finances but it can also be a matter of being in the right place at the right time when someone is selling off or upgrading. There are many places to find a good used RC vehicle to buy.

These are just a few questions that you should think about before you pull the trigger on that RC purchase. I've seen many purchase everything they needed to do one specific type of racing, only to completely fall in love with something totally different. Get a few controllers in your hand and test everything, you may see that you want something that may surprise you. 

How to Choose Remote Controlled Toys

Remote controlled toys are scale model cars, trucks, helicopters, boats, and other vehicles that are controlled by a hand-held controller that sends radio signals to the vehicle. Although not technically vehicles, remote controlled toys also include some robots and remote controlled animal toys such as dinosaurs, spiders, or dragonflies.
 

rc car

To help avoid making a bad buy when choosing radio control toys there are a few specific steps you can take.
Here's How:
Pick age-appropriate remote controlled toys. Although most remote controlled vehicles are designed for older children and adults, there are several remote controlled and remote controlled toys aimed at preschool and elementary school age kids. In addition to the age indicators on the package, consider these guidelines for choosing age-appropriate remote controlled toys. Pick the right frequencies. Some remote controlled toys only come in one particular frequency, such as 27MHz or 49MHz. It should be clearly stated on the package. Others may offer a choice of frequencies or have selectable bands. The main thing to look for when choosing the frequency is getting different frequencies or bands when buying multiple remote controlled toys for two or more people. For two people to operate their remote controlled toys together each vehicle must operate on a separate frequency, band, or channel. Learn more about Choosing RC Toy Frequencies and look for helpful frequency labeling found on some toys.

rc tank

Be skeptical of marketing hype. Some manufacturers, even those considered leaders in the field of radio control toys, may overstate the features and abilities of their vehicles.
Check for recalls. Reputable toy stores are generally good about removing toys from the shelf that have been recalled due to safety concerns. Lead paint, small parts on toys intended for very young children, and battery overheating problems are some of the common reasons for recalls on radio control toys. But it's always a good idea to take a look at the recall list for toys at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (US) before shopping. This is especially important if you are buying used remote controlled toys.
Pick the right type of vehicle. In addition to being age-appropriate, your remote controlled toy should be one that you or the recipient has a suitable area in which to operate. A large remote controlled boat needs a pool or pond. Indoor helicopters often need medium to large rooms.Very large remote controlled toys may not be suitable for indoor use.
Get extra parts and accessories. It is difficult to find replacement parts for most toy-grade radio controlled vehicles. That often includes batteries. When choosing remote controlled toys, look at the battery requirements. Get extras, especially if it requires special batteries. Buying Extra Batteries or Parts can extend the life of your purchase and extend the fun of owning and playing with remote controlled toys.