Foam Model Aircrafts

Construction of Foam Model Aircrafts

The way to build or assemble foam model aircrafts is in fact different than that of typical balsa kits and various kits of other materials. In the following we will outline some common features of model aircraft being made of foam material. We will also highlight some of model aircraft components that can be built from one or more types of foam material:

• Foam model airplanes often have hardened outer skins to resist dings, and hard points built in (i.e. often with hard plastics) to reduce scratches and dents at areas where the model airplanes contact with the ground when landings; 

• The colourful appearance of foam model airplanes could be the result of these model airplanes being made of a combination of foam materials with various natural colours, rather than being beautifully pre-painted with paints of different colours;

• RC airplanes use for combat actions are normally in favoured of solid foam construction. Veneered foam model airplanes are popular too, but they are physically not as ‘tough’ as the solid foam types during a head-on combating dogfight;

• Construction with hollow-molded foam is rather common over that of solid-core foam for large component such as the central fuselage section of model airplanes;

• Wings of foam model airplanes can be built either as ‘foam-core wings’ or foam-veneered wings’. The former (i.e. often made of white EPS foam) can be covered with balsa sheets (i.e. or with tapes or a low temperature heat-shrink finishing if the wings are made of EPP foam), while the latter involves a series of careful steps on sheeting stick-built (i.e. balsa ribs) or hollow-moulded wing frames with foam sheets such as the Depron or Zepron foam sheets;

• Like foam wing construction, the fuselage construction for foam model airplanes can be either of the ‘foam-core’ or ‘foam-veneered’ option. For ‘foam-core’ fuselage sections they can be made with hollow-molded or solid-core foam depending on the shape and size of the sections. For examples, the fuselage sections for motor mount, nose and razorback tail of model airplanes are smaller than the main fuselage section, hence they are often being made of solid-core foam. Meanwhile the construction of ‘foam-veneered’ fuselage sections involves cutting foam sheets (i.e. such as the 1 mm thick “Selitac” foam sheet) into different sizes and shapes, and holding them together (i.e. against a mold) with foam-safe contact glue (e.g. UHU and cyanoacrylate glues) to form the required sections of fuselage;

• Motor mount for foam RC airplanes can be made of the expanded polypropylene (EPP) type of foam that is a heavier but more durable foam material. There are two type of motor mounts: (1) fuselage-mounted and (2) wing-mounted motor mounts. The former can be fit into the central fuselage section, while the latter can simply slide anywhere along the wing sections of foam RC airplane;

• Stabilizers (i.e. horizontal and vertical) for model airplanes can be made of the foam sheet materials (e.g. blue foam sheets) available at thicknesses ranged from 3 - 10 mm. Depending on the size of the stabilizer, it is possible though to make a thinner stabilizer for foam model airplanes;

• Skids made of EPP type foam material are also a suitable base for adding landing gears to the foam model airplanes. They can simply glue (i.e. with foam-safe glue) or fit anywhere under the wing sections of the model airplanes, and

• Hydro-foam RC airplanes are originally made of Depron foam material, but there are increasing number of these model airplanes being made of EPP foam in recent years. Because of EPP foam is much more flexible than Depron, hydrofoam RC airplanes made of EPP foam material are durable and tough on withstanding severe crashes (i.e. likely with only minor damages on the airplanes). As can be found in typical hydrofoam kits available in the market, the construction of these model airplanes is not complicated and primarily involves assembling foam sheets that have been pre-cut into different shapes and sizes together with glues. Hydrofoam airplanes are mainly powered by a lithium polymer (Li-Po) battery and powerful electric brushless motor.