You do not have to be an experienced draftsman-after all you maybe the only person to see the fruits of your labors! Take a look at this page- Remote Control Airplane Plans of Scale Aircraft, for a listing of the plans I have designed and offer for sale,
Mechanical drafting, using a Tee Square and set square, can be very rewarding. If you use drafting paper. then you can produce blue prints from the master and build from that. A set of compasses and French curves will make the job that much easier.
If you have the experience, then CAD design can be extremely accurate and some CAD programs are very good at importing scans of 3-view drawings.
I have used Autocad for many years and now use it exclusively for drafting of RC planes.
The Great Balancing Act.
One of the most important steps in the designing and building of airplanes, is the balancing of the aircraft. If you are building from a plan or a kit, the balance or center of gravity (CG) is usually specified. See this page Radio Controlled Planes and how to Balance them.
If you are designing your own, then you are on your own! For info on how to locate that illusive CG, visit this page The Scale Model RC Airplane and how to find the Balance Point"
Recommended Reading
Maybe the best advice I can give you, is to direct you to a book I purchased, several years ago, and unfortunately is now out of print. I refer to "Radio Control Scale Aircraft-Models for Every Day Flying" by Gordon Whitehead.
This reference is used every time I start a design. Some of the information is way out of date, but the majority of it is applicable and very useful. Try and find a used copy-But do not pay too much! Some of the prices I have seen are crazy!
This book, Scale Model Airplanes is by a well known British author, David Boddington. Dave is responsible for a wide range of designs, both scale and sport and is very easy to read.
This book "R/C Model Aircraft Design" by Andy Lennon, is not specifically about scale RC planes, but is full of very useful information, that can be applied to scale.
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