Faster Way to Transfer Scratch Build Plans

I found flitetest almost 2 years ago and fell in love with the idea of creating planes my self for just a few bucks.  I cannot thank everyone at flitetest enough for helping me turn my desire in to a hobby.

For years, when transferring the plans to the foam I would poke holes through the paper plans on to the foam board, then take a pencil and trace or connect the lines with a ruler then proceed to cut them out from there.  It is labor intensive and time consuming, but I didnt mind because building is half the fun!

As I became a better pilot, flying became just as fun as building and I needed a faster way to build.  

With the release of the FT Bushwacker, I decided i needed a new way to build. So I built a jig.

I had some spare 7/16 inch OSB from Big Box home store from a previous project and decided to cut it up, about a 1/2 inch larger than a piece of Dollar Tree foam board.

After cutting that, I traced out the board on the wood.  This gives me a good boundry mark when laying down my plans.

Next I hammered some finishing nails on the traced line from the foam sheet.

I placed about 10 nails around the perimeter.

And extra in the corner of one side.  This help align the board and keep it square.

Next you can begin to layout your plans, keeping in mind that you should keep them about 1/4 of an inch away from the edge.

Then peel the paper of one whole side of a piece of foarm.

Then spray the back of your plans (NOT the foam) with a Spray Adhesive and let it sit for about 10 seconds.  Here is what I used.  It is available at most large retail and home stores.

Once you spray you plans, lay the foam on top and VUALA! Perfect plans, ready to cut.

I did use good, even pressure to make sure i had good adhesion and I do, better than the original paper and the weight it identical. (40 grams)

Once you cut them out, start your build it is just that easy.

I am very excited to have this jig. Yes, you end up with plans on one side of the foarm, but you wouldnt even notice unless you looked very closely at my plane (it is mostly on the inside anyway).   In my case, this jig cost me nothing, just spare parts I had laying around, but you could use anything you have.  This process made the build of the FT Bushwacker so much faster.

I will definitely be using this from now on.