Customer Reviews

Basics of R/C Model Aircraft Design: Practical Techniques for Building Better Models: Practical Techniques for Building Better Models

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is an excellent, time-tested guide to designing radio controlled model aircraft. Mr.Lennon explains everything in a confident and crisp tone. But most people just starting out in designing might find this book a little intimidating owing to the large number of math-like graphs and formulas right from page one. But if you are willing to persevere in your interest to design extremely reliable R/C modelled aircrafts then you should definitely read this book/guide. Thanks.

This book is very good R/C airplane designers guide. However, covering so many topics it could use some more pages and better organisation (the graphs are small and scattered trough the book in disorganized manner making them difficult to follow while reading explanations). Looking forward to next edition!

Though overall a very useful book, this book seems to be a somewhat disjoint conglomeration of various articles about aircraft design that perhaps were once published in a magazine. There is no soft introduction for the beginner - be prepared to be inundated with a slew of graphs, equations and very dense writing that will demand some qualitative understanding of basic aerodynamics. (I would personally recomment _Understanding Flight_ by David Anderson and Scott Eberhardt, which is not very mathematical and quite easy to understand for a novice like myself.) The fact that these disjoint chapters don't flow together is a bit annoying, but on the other hand it is quite pleasant to have such a wide array of specific information in such a portable book. The section on reading airfoil charts is terse and yet intelligible. Be warned: if you're not familiar with the basics, you might get lost quickly and have to reference another text, as did I. If you're just a little dusty, however, there will be a very short review. (For example: how is angle of attack different than incidence, and how do these two things relate to both cambered and symmetrical airfoils? What causes a pitching moment?)

There is some discussion about exotic designs (three airfoil, canard, tailless and delta-wing, NASA safe wing, float design, etc.) although without much in-depth discussion about theory (for example, the NASA Safe Wing chapter described mostly about the history, advantages and characteristics of this device but very little about the theory or even implementation in a new design.) The author clearly tried to cover a lot of topics in a small amount of space, thus I would rate it more vast than in-depth.

Overall a good book with many examples (mostly from the author's own designs). Very useful, with an appendix of characteristics for the airfoils and models used in examples.

This books lacks organization of thoughts. It has a lot of information, but not well organized and not presented in a
methodical way. Some of the graphs and charts are just horrible
and difficult to read. If you keep at it and read the chapters
again and again, you will begin to understand airplane design.
Not really for a beginner.

This book helps a lot in understanding the basic concepts of aerodynamics, using mostly Layman's terms and having lots of graphs that can be used right out of the book in the design of real models.

If you're interested in building time tested design features into your airplane to maximize its performance, this book will certainly meet your expectations. It's not the kind of book you only read once, hence its worth, it's a reference book that you'll keep going back to everytime you undertake a new project.
Every chapter holds something useful you wish you had known before. The chapter on ducted cowls-i.e. building a nice, streamlined, good looking cowling- was one of my favorites.
A book I definetely recommend for the serious modeler.

This book expects some knowledge about model airplane aerodynamics. It covers design and choice of appropraite airfoil, wing planform, fuselage inertia and layout, control surfaces size and shape, canard design, flying wing, reducing drag, ducted cowl design and others.
He also explains all of the approaches on particular models that he designed and flew.
This book belongs to the library of every serious airplane modeller.

If you are new to model aircraft design, this book could be way over your head. There are other books that are quite a lot easier to understand. If you are an advanced designer, this is hot stuff.

This book is packed with information, most of it very good for the scratch designer, but it could use some better ogranization and clearer examples. There is also some misprints in the formulas (Ch1 formula 4 is repeated erroneously in Ch 3). The engine info is all given in volume units, making it hard for electric modelers to relate. Static stability could use more analytical treatment.

For more in-depth look at aerodnamics see Simon's "Model Aircraft Aerodynamics", a very good read.

For really hard core but clearly presented control and stability info, look at Brandt's "Introduction to Aeronautics", and Raymer's "Aircraft Design - A Conceptual Approach"

I bought this and Martin Simons' 'Model Aircraft Aerodynamics' at the same time, thinking that I'd have all the bases covered: Simons for aero, Lennon for construction techniques. Silly me. Why would I think a book entitled 'Practical Techniques for Building Better Models' would have anything to do with construction?

The reality is that both books cover the same topic: aerodynamic design. In my opinion, the Simons book does a better job.