After flying some pre-made jets, I thought I’d have a hand in making my own.  To my surprise it’s very easy.  There are tons of plans online for a few dollars or for free.  People have spent a great deal of time designing and perfecting them already so all you have to do cut out the pieces from foam.

I was flying the F-117 in the PhoenixRC simulator and thought it was awesome so I bought the plan for it from rcpowers.com.  This is actually a prototype I slapped together.  If it flies good I’ll make one nicer.

Here’s what you’ll need:

F-117 plans from rcpowers.com
5mm or 6mm depron sheets
foam safe glue or hot glue
2200kv brushless motor
30A ESC
6×4 propeller
1300mah lipo battery
2 push rods
2 servos
3mm carbon fiber rod
motor stick mount
3/32″ bass wood sheet
1cm x 1cm bass wood stick
transmitter and receiver that does mixing

I went to my local hobby shop and bought some 5mm depron foam.  I printed the plans out and taped it together.  I transferred the plan to the foam and started cutting.  It’s a good idea to use a sharp razor knife to cut or you’ll tear the foam.

Making the motor mount was the hardest since you have to make sure that it is glued perfectly straight and in the center of the base.  If it’s off, the plan will behave erratically.  I won’t go into details about building it since RCPowers has lots of pictures and instructions already.

This park flier has 1 set of control surfaces.  Elevons that serve 2 purposes, elevator and aileron.  I used my FlySky TH-9X and it had a elevon setting.

Building your own plane from scratch is a blast.  A sense of accomplishment and better understanding.  The first time the plane leaves the ground, you feel like the Wright brothers who discovered powered flight.  It’s a very gratifying feeling.