Hello,
I am a retired/disabled electronic engineer with a limited income, but I don’t let that stop me from designing and building RC. I really love foam board, it has reduced the cost of building a new plane. My last balsa/ply model cost me over $250 while my last foam board plane cost me under $50.
I see a lot of people trying to learn how to design an airplane in 3D and God bless you, I love RC Desk Pilot. However, you need 2D prints to cut and build from not 3D.
I wanted to let you know about a 2D Cad program I use and before you ask no I do not work for them or have any connection to the company. I am cheap and I like simple easy to use programs. The program I use most is called DeltaCad and you can download a 45 day free trial from their website at www.deltacad.com and if you find it is for you it only cost $40 for the full version. This is a great deal, especially when real AutoCAD can cost over $1000.
For those of you that are familiar with AutoCAD this program works like the older 2D AutoCAD 10. For those that are not familiar with AutoCAD, DeltaCad is a 2D design program that is simple enough to teach yourself to use. The best part is the simplicity allows you to draw and edit a design in less than half the time it would take with any of the newer AutoCAD programs.
The program does have a major drawback; it is not compatible with PDF’s. It uses a DC file format, but easily imports and exports DXF, DWG and other files. You can use a program like Scan2Cad to convert PDF’s to DXF or DWG file formats so you can import them into DeltaCad.
If you have a plotter you are all set, if not you can do what I do. I save my designs on a jump drive and take them to a local blue print shop. They can plot them on paper or directly on foam board. I have also heard of some copy shops that can do this.
Give DeltaCad a try, if you don’t like it you’ve lost nothing, if you do like it send me a copy of your next design.
Have fun,
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