Simple, Plastic, Airplane, Design

What's this SPAD stuff all about then ?

Well, this is the concept of SPAD as described on the Spad to the bone website

Simple Plastic Airplane Designs
Spad is the simple concept of offering free plans and ideas for designing very cheap, great flying airplanes made from Coroplast, gutterpipe, aluminum, or anything else we can find that works! The Spad concept is also the world wide sharing of these ideas and most of all, having fun with our hobby!

Sounds like a good idea, but why bother with Correx, downpipe and all that stuff, why not just go out and buy an ARTF or a kit ?

Why not indeed, how much are they these days ? ?80 ?, ?120 ?, ?200 ? hmmm, that's a lot of money to be throwing up in the air isn't it. Your average SPAD can be built for as little as a few pounds (excluding radio gear and engine of course) and can be built in an evening if your in a hurry.

Here are a few reasons why we like 'em

Ever had the desire to design your own plane but the hours of balsa bashing for something that might not fly all that well has put you off? Not a problem with the Spad concept, dream up your design, build it in a few evening's and try it out, if it doesn't work you could always make a weather vane out of it and fix it to the roof of your house, if it flies well you could even convert your design to a nice pretty balsa model.

Have you ever fancied having a go at combat with your mates at the club, but the thought of risking your expensive model in a midair has put you off?.

Would you like to try other funfly competitions at your club, such as limbo and spot landing but again have been put off by the risk of damage?.

All of the above things are possible with a SPAD, they are cheap, very resistant to damage, easy and, quick to build with a minimum of skills required.

All new things in this hobby are usually treated with some apathy by a few, ARTF's being one example, but where would we be without them now?, SPAD's are another. I believe you should try something before you dismiss it as some sort of cheap shortcut idea. SPAD's will never replace balsa planes built from kits, ARTF's or, plans. but they do have their place in this hobby, they are fun, quick to build and inexpensive, experimenting with different designs posses no problem other than the limit of your imagination (and the laws of physics!!), possibly the only trade off is in appearance, there are some really good looking SPAD's around but they will never stand up to a close inspection like a well built balsa model, having said that though the whole point of a SPAD is flying, and if that's what you really want to do then what are you waiting for, give it a go!!!!!.

A good place to talk about SPAD's