If I want to share, I use a 2D drafting program.  I use Libre-CAD, which is open-source but slightly quirky -- there's a lot of good 2D CAD programs out there of varying degrees of free-ness.  Lots more free-as-in-beer than open source, but there's enough open source stuff.

If you're not comfortable with that, you can draw up plans on big drafting paper, or on butcher paper.

If you're doing it on paper and you want to publish, negotiate with the editor -- they may be able to line you up with someone willing to CAD-ify your paper drawings.

There was a time when I was pretty good running CADAM (a large IBM mainframe running it), but for drafting projects at home, I use pencil + paper.  CLEARPRINT vellum with a "fadeout" 10 X 10 grid (to the inch) makes drafting machine unnecessary.  Mechanical pencil with 0.7mm HB lead.

You find theres only half a dozen or so ( curves ) that get regular use .

Long open ones ( Fuse Curve ) a few tightish ( radiuses  @ Tips ) and the AIRFOIL ones . Which are Most Usefull .

as they can do sequential stagger or shift , to maintain a curve or plain along a flying suface , and with a few datum marks
ca be used for cutting ribs. If you enjoy marking out ribs dimensionally . 1/2 mm's & 1/64 ths etc for thickness step & so on. 

The Traditional scale rules the WH*RE in Melbourne F***D off with gave a almost infinite choce of fractions , for wing lay out .

What'd Enzo ferrari's drawing gear be worth . or Pinnafarinas .  theres some really dumb bi**hes about , & rissoles .

Thisis Desin At Supermarine .



They have to go into a bit more detail .

If youve measuring sticks in 12ths, 20ths , 64ths etc , plus mm , depth of rib variation per bay , and sweep , are defineable .

But measurements are mainly conveniance and standardiseation .

Two marks on the edge of a strip of paper , and folding it in 10ths or 12ths or whatever , Give Equal & even divisions .

For wings, my favorite drawing material is Christmas wrapping paper.  I like it because on the back of the paper are 1" grid lines to make it easier to cut straight lines when you're wrapping presents.  I use the lines to ensure that I get the ribs at right angles to the spars and LE and TE when I draw up my simple planes.

Mark

... but for drafting projects at home, I use pencil + paper.  CLEARPRINT vellum with a "fadeout" 10 X 10 grid (to the inch) makes drafting machine unnecessary.  Mechanical pencil with 0.7mm HB lead.

I love that stuff.  But I like the 0.5mm lead.  I mostly do CAD these days because I can do moderately large revisions easier (as in -- "Hmm.  Maybe an aspect ratio of 5.5 would be better").

Going with computers, CAD isn't the only option. Vector graphics also allows you to get precise measurements and scale up and down without losing definition. You can also start from some CAD files, or maybe even export as a CAD file. Some PDF files out there are actually vector files that you can edit with a vector program. When I play with those, I use the free Inkscape.

Going with computers, CAD isn't the only option. (...) When I play with those, I use the free Inkscape.

I use CorelDraw, I like it.

Model Aviation has published pencil on vellum plan drawings without even going thru an inking step. The one I am familiar with was pretty legible even at the magazine scale. Nothing wrong with old school drawings. They have more soul, and often more style. In the past, by going thru the inking step, they were able to enforce a sort of editorial uniformity that we all came to expect from MA. In particular, I enjoyed looking at Joe DeMarco's work.

How did we get here, with everyone expecting CAD because somehow they believe it is more accurate? The mechanical engineers fought with the CAD developers for years to try to get software programmers to understand that mechanical drafting was a highly developed art, not just a bunch of lines in the right places. They continually proved that if you couldn't recognize a quality pencil drawing, then you certainly couldn't create programming to duplicate that same effort via computer. Most of the tools still do not make it easy to achieve what good drafters routinely did (as trained) more than 30 years ago. That said, the tools are way, way better than the sledgehammer code from the early 1980's. Nowadays the issue is different--all the effort is spent on correctly creating the 3-D model which allows you to pop accurate views (any projection or section) you want from the solid model. The drafting now typically gets short shrift. The hope is to supplant all drawings in a model-to-metal file transfer which is still going thru growing pains. Hence the tremendous boom in "maker hardware."  (I saw a pretty decent ME-109 fuselage in the hobby shop that was pieced together from plastic parts grown from a CAD solid model. The intent was to do enough handwork on it to create a master to make a mold.)


In terms of CAD model airplane plans, there are some out there that are getting pretty close in terms of quality and readability of linework, section views and so on. But often one or more basic drafting skills is missing. I saw a plan referenced here not long ago that was done in first angle projection. Despite the fact that the title block said it was standard projection, which in the USA means third angle. Confusing, until you just chuck normal drafting conventions and assume the views are all backwards. Another error you see all the time is the join line between two curved surfaces is incorrect. Like between the canopy surface and the fuselage top deck. It is relatively easy to generate three or four points that define the curve and draw it in. These kinds of issues are why people are still building prototypes of laser cut kits, instead of going straight to production--because the modeling and the drafting are not complete or correct. (Check out the beautifully cut modern kit of the Wagner Dakota free flight. The angled firewall required by the plans is unachievable by the parts as provided, so you have to trim and extend parts because the design work is not accurate.) But since this is just a hobby for most of us, it is pretty close and that is way better than some plans and kits from years ago. This is a bit ironic, because the skills modelers gained from working from inaccurate and incomplete plans and still routinely managed to get the plane built were invaluable to industry when they chose to take advantage of them.

Dave

If you're not comfortable with that, you can draw up plans on big drafting paper, or on butcher paper.

Go for the butcher paper.  You can see through it better than regular paper for tracing (not as good as drafting paper but light years cheaper.  An $15 at Sam's or Costco will last you a lifetime.  It is super easy to erase which makes it easy to ink and it rolls up easily - since it comes in rolls!  Been using nothing but since my mother (not knowing what new smells and noises would follow) gave me some when I was 15 and got the incurable itch to design my own.

CAD is wonderful but my first job was at a drafting table and to me it is more fun to grab a pencil, a straight edge, a couple of triangles, a cheap French Curve, some coffee and a vivid imagination and block out the world while I visualize my new creation about to make a 40 point landing after a perfect flight only to be shattered by that terrible sound "Honey will you please walk the dog?"

Ken

A sheet rock T-square from Lowe's is more useful than a standard T-square. It's an aluminum 4' T-square.  Steve

A sheet rock T-square from Lowe's is more useful than a standard T-square. It's an aluminum 4' T-square.  Steve

   Exactly, I use that, triangles, an architect's scale, and white butcher paper.

     Brett

I have used butcher paper since I was about 7 years old. My uncle owned a meat shop, and gave me a roll back then when I asked for paper instead of the wienies they used to give away to customers. I expected to get maybe 6 feet or so. I got an almost full roll. Unimaginable riches!  I can't design any more planes now, because this year I got to end of that roll of pink butcher paper....

Actually, I started using vellum for serious projects quite a few years ago, but I was still using the butcher paper for sketches and templates.

My thought is you should use whatever works for you. But draw up something and build it! And if it flies really good, send it in to MA. I like reading about really good airplanes.

Dave

PS--Something that you may find helpful while drawing--and building--is a clear plastic material sometimes labeled as See-Temp. You can draw on it easily with a fine point Sharpie pen. You can trace templates and make exact left/right outlines of things like elliptical wings.

     http://seetemp.com/

You got me.  I was 12 when I got my first roll but I did use it up.  $18.99 at Sam's will give you enough to design about a100.  Erases beautifully.

Ken

Amazingly, I'm petty old school. I have Creo and SolidWorks but I still prefer to draw full-sized plans. They were cleaning out some old stuff at work andI found several rolls of 36" vellum waiting to be pitched - needless to say say I grabbed them.


I completely get using modeling and think it's great, but I just enjoy drawing it up full-scale. It's easy for me to visualize, and I just enjoy being in the shop with the oldies station on, a cold beer and and drawing tools.

What I really enjoy is that I get to doodle illustrations of style concepts and leave notes to myself everywhere.

I use the pretty much the same method as Ty, lay in the thrust line and work from there. Wings are easy, and my plans are only as complete as they need to be functional anyway. LE, TE, Rib centerlines. I've been building basically the same airplane for decades so I know where the sheeting and cap strips end up.

I do the typical slab-sided stunter so it's really just where do I want to put the canopy and what will the rudder look like this time, lol. Sometimes it comes down to what I have for wood available. If I have a really sweet block of 4# it's going to be a canopy fwd jet style, otherwise a sheeted turtle deck. Gotta go with flow and work with what you got.

Chuck

I pretty much use CAD because I don't have room for a table.  Hand drawing is fun, but CAD makes it much easier to change/clean up drawings.  The transition from paper to computer is not easy or intuitive

Get a free program, almost any one. They have been designed since AUTOCAD and use the same style interface with rows of tools around the edge, places to enter absolute or relative points, and other fancier tricks.  If you want, you can put things on different layers- outlines on one, details on another, internals on a third.  If you can remember what belongs on each layer it's much easier.  Otherwise you end up drawing from one layer to another and then putting the wrong stuff on the layer.  More hassle than erasing a pencil drawing.

Before Windows 10 I used Drafix CAD Ultra, circa 1992-93.  It's quite limited, but more than sufficient to draw a very accurate set of plans.  It's especially helpful when printing something because you can see pretty much how the lines will look on paper.  More modern programs can get complicated because every line, in fact often parts of lines, can have its own parameters, or style.

The latest program is a version of Turbocad for  Windows.  It's OK, but I'm not fond of it.  It is perfectly accurate if you draw to absolute points, vertex, midpoint, it shows extend guide lines, etc.  If you draw more or less freehand it uses arbitrary limits for +/- distance, angle resolution, etc.  so sometimes nothing lines up if you draw on a full sheet and then look at a close up and nothing quite lines up. It can get lost.  It's kind of slow.  It can lock up unexpectedly. I need it because the core cutter needs DFX files to make Gcode for the cutter.  It will draw valid DFX files without too much trouble.  For lazer cutting the drawing has to be cleaned up to eliminate overdrawn lines, points, shapes etc. and has the right line with since many lazers interpret that as power.

Another program to think about is Coresdraw 12 or so.  It is an illustration drawing program and uses a completely different way of drawing.  It emphasizes lines, curves, shapes, fonts, fills, shading, etc and can make some stunning drawings.    I use it mainly to translate DXF files.  It will work on anything up to Autocad 2000 back to 2.6.  It also works on debugging a drawing.  I had one that had a "0 length line".  It would show up in an item info screen but couldn't be erased, moved, or drawn.  Corel  erased it easily by selecting it and hitting delate.

The problem with any CAD program on a home computer;  the screen is too small.  Hard to see fine details on a format only about 14" wide.  Going to "zoom", and you only see a little bit, and you lose the overall effect.

A full size paper drawing is nice.  You can see the "whole magilla" at one time.  Drawback;  changing anything involves erasing.

Could not agree more.  I gave up on CAD a long time ago.  Give me a triangle, a french curve, an 18" metal ruler, a cheap #2 pencil, one of those redish school erasers, 12' of butcher paper and I am in design heaven.  Don't need no stinken computer to design a stunt ship - especially if you once had a job as a draftsman.

Ken

$1.79 Triangle
    .10 #2 Pencil
    .79 Eraser
   -0-  10' butcher paper stolen from wife.

The best plans are the ones drawn directly on the wood!

Ken