Crikey! Doesn’t time fly? We are now in 2025 and to be honest I hadn’t even given Red20RC much thought since last year when I thought I might give it a reboot.
The weather here in NSW has been awful the past few weeks so I’ve had a bit of spare time at the weekends. I had a look at the site and decided I really didn’t do a good job of it! So, I’ve been having a bit of a play to make things look prettier.
To build or not to build?
I was brought up on balsa. To me it is the “proper” way to build model airplanes and foam has always felt like a bit of a lower quality modelling experience.
The problem is, a single sheet of 3mm balsa (100mm x 915mm) now costs around $7.80. Thats probably one wing panel worth of ribs in the image above!
Factor in the cost of glue, covering, and hardware and even a small electric model will cost over $100 to put together.
Folding foam…
Flite Test brought us the art of folding foam into model airplanes back in 2012(ish). Their earliest models flew okay(ish!) but quickly gained a massive following due to their ease of construction and high fun-to-value ratio.
Okay, so you couldn’t build highly detailed scale models, but even some of the early designs had sleek lines and aerobatic performance. One of my favourite models of all time has to be the “Bloody Wonder”, and of course the FPV wings took on a whole life of their own here at Red20RC and then back at Flite Test with the “Blunt Nose Versa Wing”.
So what next?
Moulded foam models are now becoming the norm for most modellers, and the quality of the scale jets and warbirds are truly astonishing. Even some folded foam board creations are pushing the boundaries both in terms of scale and shear size.
Whilst I think it is important that we maintain our heritage of stick and tissue building, the ever increasing cost of materials is making it prohibitive for all but the most financially gifted of us. I just can’t justify spending $300 for enough balse to build one sport model when I can pay $200 for 25 large sheets of foam board that will keep me going all year.
I reckon I’ll still use balsa for some smaller freeflight gliders, but maybe it’s time to embrace the dark side and push the boundaries a little…
