For the ultimate do-it-yourself thrill, build your own radio controlled plane or helicopter from scratch. Start with a set of plans, buy the supplies, build the plane. And then, of course, go flying.
NOTICE: Link checked September 1, 2008. Lots of new sources of free RC airplane plans added. The two main lists organize these free airplane plans into basic and intermediate/advanced (more complex) plans - with thumbnail images to give you a little idea of what you'll find.
These free RC airplane plans feature fairly simple construction techniques with minimal frame components. Many of these are good for beginning modelers. The plans are not necessarily for beginner planes for flying, but the construction process is less complicated than some RC airplanes.
These free RC airplane plans are generally more suitable for intermediate to advanced RC modelers. The aircraft often require more individual components and complex construction, for more realistic scale models.
Here you can download images of aircraft plans. The quality may be a little iffy on some of them and not all of the images are actual schematics so you'll need to pick your way through the gallery.
These are PDF files of a variety of RC aircraft; however, you have to search hard to find full plans of any quality. There is no real organization that I could find and not all the PDF files contain actual drawings.
Want to design your own airplane plans? Scroll down on this page to find free CAD templates for airfoils, spinners, wing mountings, and other airplane parts to help jumpstart your own plans.
Download a viewer.
Once you download a bunch of airplane plans, use this software for resizing, tiling, and printing them. Reads DXF, PDF, PSD, TIF, and other file formats and will output BMP, JPEG, Targa, and TIFF files. Download an evaluation copy.
