Simple Plastic Airplane Design (SPAD) is a type of radio controlled model airplane. The R.C. aircraft is usually, though not always, built with the body consisting of a lightweight

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

material such as PVC gutter downspout or an aluminium rail. The wings are made of an equally light material such as

foam Foams are materials formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foams, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of liquid or solid separating the reg ...

coroplast Coroplast is a brand name of corrugated plastic and a registered trademark of Coroplast, LLC, a member of the Inteplast Group of companies. Because of the success of this brand, it has become a generically used tradename and many people in North ...

. The remaining components added to the plane are virtually the same as can be found in any other R.C. aircraft of similar size. This concept of building simple radio controlled airplanes using cheap materials without the time-consuming and painstaking process of working with

balsa wood ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...

and iron-on

plastic coating Plastic coating is a term that is commonly used in technology but is nevertheless ambiguous. It can be understood to mean the coating of plastic (e.g., metallization of plastics) or the coating of other materials (e.g., electrical cable) with plasti ...

was popularized by a web site created in the late 1990s, www.spadtothebone.ne

While this web site, and the many original plans and articles still exist, the main gathering place for Spad enthusiasts on the web today resides at www.spadworld.ne

SPADs are preferred to other materials because they are cheaper and are easy to work with, painting is not required, the plastic can optionally be decorated with vinyl sheets which are available in any signboard making shop at very cheap price. The hinges for the control surfaces can be made by sheering one of the twinwalls of the plastic sheet and no special hinging device is required. SPAD Modelers use

corrugated plastic Corrugated plastic or corriboard – also known under the tradenames of Cartonplast, Polyflute, Coroplast, FlutePlast, IntePro, Proplex, Correx, Twinplast, Corriflute or Corflute – refers to a wide range of extruded twinwall plastic-sheet prod ...

sheets of various thickness, such as 2 millimeter (like the flying wing

or electric gliders for which 2mm sheet are preferred) and 4 millimeter. These sheets are generally used by

signboard Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ...

makers and many times, when these sheets are discarded, the modelers have a choice to use them to build model airplanes. The choice of propulsion can be either

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

or electric

motors An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

as with balsa counterparts. Corrugated plastic planes are simpler alternative to the traditional balsa wood based R.C. aircraft for a variety of situations. Most of the SPAD airplanes do not use balsa which saves considerable cost. They withstand crashes better than balsa counterparts because of their resilience and hence are a good choice for beginners. Good trainer planes and gliders can be made from SPADs. SPAD modelers make equally good advanced planes that can be made with corrugated plastic. They include: RC Airplane Combat, 3D Flying, and are preferred in places where the flyers would normally not risk a more expensive plane and yet want the same flying characteristics of balsa planes. For making a SPAD plane, the modeler (usually a beginner) can copy the dimensions of a well known balsa trainer and makes the SPAD plane using the same dimensions and adapting to the building techniques of a SPAD plane. The plane can also be built from plans or can be scratch built (usually, the modeler draws his/her own plans and makes the plane, though this is mostly attempted by experienced modelers)

References

SPAD World
- SPAD message forum

References

External links