Probably the cheapest RC plane !

For a long time, I’ve been looking for small, cheap, and lightweight RC plane. Here’s how I made one.

The Plan

My goals for the plane were :

• So cheap that crashing is OK, so it can be used to learn RC flight and aerobatics.
• Super simple : no autopilot, maybe gyro/stabilization but should be flyable without it.
• Small + light : fit in a backpack to take everywhere (we now have crazy portable RC Controllers, we need matching planes !)
• Powerful enough to have fun !
• Bonus points for being able to glide properly / do soaring flights.

The Plane

The plane turned out to be an amazing machine that checks almost all the boxes ! It is very lightweight and capable, costs around €30 to build and almost nothing to repair. Together with the Radiomaster Pocket Crush, it’s the perfect RC plane to carry everywhere !

Build & fly logs

Now for the interesting stuff ! Here is how i made the plane, and here is what I think after flying it.

Parts list

The various parts are listed in the different sections of the build log, but here is a quick list of the main components :

• Foam plane : Aliexpress

• Electronics :

  • 2x or 3x LiPo batteries with their charger (3 are plenty, see Batteries, charging and flight time )
  • 2x 2G Servos
  • 1x mini ESC
  • 1x Control horns
  • 1x Piano wire of the right diameter
  • 1x Props

• Transmitter / Receiver (if you have one, you can skip this !) RadioMaster Pocket Crush or Tx16s