This plane is not hard to build. After building the prototype I went back and cut a second plane. It took me less than one hour to cut all of the pieces, put on the tape for decoration and reinforcement and bend the foam. The hardest part is finding the fanfold foam or depron, the carbon rods and the EPP foam for the pontoons.
You don't need a foam cutter to build the plane. A hack saw. a hand saw or a band saw will cut the floats just fine and a sharp razor blade will cut the wings and tail. You can substitute white bead, blue or pink foam for the floats and depron for the wings and it will fly just as well.
The weight of foam parts including the EPP super strong pontoons is only 4.7 oz. Not bad for a 3.9 ft2 plane when flat and 3.5 ft2 when folded. The light motor and battery possibilities make it possible to make this an ultralight if you want.
The center of gravity is back 7" from the tip of the nose of the plane.
Testing is showing that taller floats help with take offs. The floats shown in the tutorial work well but if you get in deep grass the plane sits flatter and has trouble taking off. Cutting the angle into the foat to fit it to the wing shortens the functional height. If flying off grass a taller float would help. MY NEW RECOMMENDATION IS TO HAVE THE FLOATS 3 1/2 INCHES TALL.
Mount your radio in a designed dry place if you can. Seal the water tight box with light weight, clear, see through tape so you can look and see if there is water around your electronics. You might want to put cotton or another lightweight absorbent fiber in the radio box to catch the water drops that may find their way into the radio box.
The battery can be put in double layered thin sandwich bags and secured with a double wire tie. Put the battery in a designated battery box and seal it with a clear piece of see through tape for a double layer of protection.
Your motor won't be hurt by the water but I would recommend attentive drying and re-oiling the motor after flying. Your motor bearing may corrode and rust. Trying to run your motor under water will overload the ESC and possibly may cause overload damage to your battery and your other electronics.
This is an easy plane to fly. It is easy to keep the plane slow and close which are two qualities of a good trainer. It can easily be flown over grass which is a safer flying area than water or pavement. You can land in any direction because of the floats/pontoons. Because of the pontoons you can take off with both hands on your transmitter. I have done several ground loops and rolls in my playing with the plane and the plane is stronger than most flatfoam planes.
The motor angle helps the plane fly the same with different throttle settings. I have the motor set at about 4 degrees up thrust. If your plane pulls up with a throttle increase the motor is aimed too high. If the plane pulls down the motor is aimed too low.
This plane is easy to take off. It is easier to take off with both hands on the transmitter. You must make sure you use the (left) rudder stick to steer on the ground. This plane is sensitive to cross wind so start with taking off directly into the wind. The elevons will drop a wing and may roll the plane over if you try to steer with the right stick. You need the rudder on the ground but have to make the mental switch to the elevons for most of the flying in the air then back to the rudder on landing. I remember reminding myself on final approach to switch to the rudder on landing. Now it is just a reflex but it is something that needs to be learned.
This technique of 3D printing the wing ribs to hold a true aerofoil shape worked out super well! Combined with foam sheets, packing tape and the lightweight wooden spar, it performs amazingly well!
