How to Mount Floats on .40 RC Airplane

Floats, like the ones pictured above, allow airplanes to take off and land on water.

Remote-controlled (RC) airplane flying has recently become a very popular hobby with the general public. Although many fly their aircraft from land, some daring souls have decided to take off, fly and land their RC planes on water. In order to proceed with this activity, you will need to install floats on your aircraft. Once you have received your floats, there is a very specific way to place these on your plane.

Things You'll Need

• Airplane floats that are 80 percent the size of the airplane's fuselage (body)
• Wire clothes hanger or wire that came with the airplane floats

Instructions

1. Purchase or make Styrofoam floats that are approximately 80 percent of the body of the aircraft. Although you can make your own, a safer and often cheaper alternative is to buy your specific plane's floats from their manufacturer's website.

2. Position your airplane and floats so that the floats are about 5 inches past the airplane's propeller. If they are not already, bend the floats so that they are slightly (2 to 3 degrees) vertical to the ground. This will allow more lift from the wings on take-off.

3. Attach the floats to the airplane using a wire clothes hanger or the wire that comes with the floats. With the wire, make a half-square shape, with a cut in the middle of the wire, so you have two bent pieces of wire. Repeat this step again with a separate piece of wire. Insert the top pieces into the fuselage of the aircraft, and place the bottom pieces of the wire into the floats. If there are no holes available for you to place these wires, simply poke through the fuselage and super-glue the wire in place. These two "supports" should be at the back and the front of the fuselage.

4. For added stability, super-glue a wire inbetween the two wire pieces, holding the floats onto the airplane body. This piece of wire can prevent the floats from breaking apart in the case of a rough landing.

References

• Seminole Radio Control Club: EZ Float Design
• rc-airplane-world: RC Float Planes