Websites with Free-Flight Plans for DownloadingThe internet has a wealth of resources for FF modellers. Here is my list of sites which have FF plans available for free downloading (over 50 sites currently listed, with more than 500 free plans available). One plan or 100 plans gets a site on this list. There are also many sites for purchasing plans, look at the end of the list for these, as I have only catalogued sites where you can download them for free. Let me know if you are aware of any more... and thanks to those who already have! You can send email to derek "at" buckmasterfamily "dot" id "dot" au. Note that some of the sites listed below may have posted plans in breach of copyright. You might want to mention this to the webmasters of these sites. While I am listing these sites, I do not wish to condone this activity. As a creator of plans myself, I am very interested in respecting copyrights. Occasionally some of these sites go offline. If you find any links that don't work any more, let me know. Click on the name of the site to be taken there... |
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Aeroclub Gladiatorerna
A Swedish club site with plans for one A1 glider and 12 HLG plans (JPG format). Click the link in the navigation bar (on the left side of the screen) for either "F1A Nordic" or "HKG Handluns" and then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the drawings (last checked 17/11/2004) |
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Aeromaniacs by Heman Lee
Plans for R/C and free-flight models, mostly in CAD format. Free-flight models mostly appear in the Old Timers section. (Last checked 11/01/2006) |
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Airplane Model Plans by Joe
Plans for simple indoor models and hand-launched gliders (as well as lots of control-line plans). (Last checked 17/11/2004) |
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Paul Bradley's Model Airplane Plans Page
Lots of no-cal scale models here (at least 12 of them), plus an Embryo and fun sheet models from the old Top-Flite "Jigtime" series. Plans in PDF format (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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The Centennial of Flight 2003 Australian Modellers' Tribute
Edited by Russell Naughton. "Be part of our Aeromodellers Tribute during the 2003 Centennial of Flight. Build an 'Australian classic' and next October, fly your model to celebrate the anniversary of our first flight by the Duigan brothers, John and Reginald in 1910". (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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Cloudbusters MAC
Club page from Michigan with some indoor competition models (10 different 55cm class models) & Science Olympiad plans. In JPG format. A site with pop-ups from Tripod (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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Cloud Tramp Homepage
The home page for the annual MIMLOCT (Memorial International Mass Launch Of Cloud Tramps). Featuring plans for C.H. Grant's Cloud Tramp sheet balsa rubber powered model, downloadable in GIF format (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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DB Design Bureau
OK, so I have to include my own pages on this list! Around 20 plans currently available (all in PDF format, all scale models of Australian aircraft) |
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First To Fly
Plan for the Wright Flyer for rubber power reproduced from the January 1911 edition of Fly magazine. In JPG format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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Flying Aces Rubber Scale Model Plans by Dave Livesay
Pages by a FF scale master, with dozens of FAC scale rubber plans, peanut scale, no-cal plans and some simple plans suitable for beginners. Dave also features the wonderful plans of Pres Bruning on his site. All of Dave's plans are in PDF format, and some of them are also in CAD format. I recently counted over 120 plans available at Dave's site! (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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Flying Scale Models Page by Mike Stuart
One of the masters of FF scale. Mike has several scale plans for download. In BMP format. Scroll down to the heading "Plan Downloads" (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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Fly Right Off the Ground - The House of FROG by Mike Stuart
Frog kit and plan details, with plans in PDF and BMP format (last checked 11/01/2006) |
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Free Flight Fantasies by Thayer Syme
An amazing collection of Free Flight and R/C Slow Flyer information. Plans, tips, models... its all here. 13 plans for several Peanut scale models, indoor & outdoor electric sport models and some beginners FF models. Mostly in GIF format. Thayer's site is also the home of the Free Flight Mailing List (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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Dave Fritzke's Place for Assorted R/C Things
As it says, an assortment of things... but including several Free Flight plans. Peanut scale, Old timers, Jetex, helicopters, all sorts of things here. In PDF, DXF and GIF formats (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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Handlaunchgliders
A Swedish site featuring CLG, HLG and He-Man gliders and plans in GIF format. 22 plans last time I visited. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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Hand Launched Gliders by Mike Chapman
All you want to know about Hand Launched Gliders, including HLG plans in PDF format (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Indoor
Duration by Tim Goldstein http://www.indoorduration.com/indoordurationpics.htm Indoor duration website. Plans for numerous indoor duration models (mostly not for beginners). In GIF/JPG format (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Indoor
Flying by Yannick Grange http://indoorflying.uggy.org/plans.html A French site with scanned images of plans suitable for indoor flying... peanuts, pistachios, scale, CO2. Of course the plans are in French, but easy to read. Yannick will even give translations if you ask nicely. 20 indoor plans here. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Indoor
Flying in the Netherlands by Niels Brendel http://www.home.zonnet.nl/nbrendel/ Niels has several scale plans available for download (in CAD format as well) and 2 indoor model plans (last checked 27/01/2004). |
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| Indoorfreeflight.com
by Dan Slusarczyk http://www.indoorfreeflight.com/ Club page for the Cleveland Clowns indoor club. Lots and lots of indoor plans here. At least 20 files here (GIF format). (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Indoor
News http://www.indoornews.com/modules/news/ A US based site with news, tips, message boards, plans, everything for indoor duration! last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Jetex.org by
Benjamin Nead and John Miller Crawford http://jetex.org Jetex.org has been in operation since 1999 and offers the largest assembled collection of free downloadable model airplane plans specifically designed for the Jetex, Jet-X and Rapier micro rocket motors. History and technical specifications of motor types as well as model building and flying tip are offered (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Hans
Kuhn's Free Flight Plans Page http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~hak/freeflight/plans.php Hans has loaded several plans for indoor models to this page (including the Minnie Mouse - a 50% sized Hangar Rat by Danny Maslowicz). In GIF format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Marcel's
FF Home by Marcel Rivard http://www.rivard.org/aeromodeling/freeflight.html Marcel has some incredibly small models on his site. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Bob
Marchese's Website http://home.comcast.net/~bob.marchese/ModelPlanes.html Bob has designed 2 scale models, and he's loaded the plans onto his website. One Peanut, and one flying wing. Both in PDF format (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| MODELDELISI http://www.geocities.com/modeldelisi/index.html A site with several well known plans for download. Scale rubber models and gliders. In PDF and JPG formats (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| NFFS
Beginner's Corner http://www.freeflight.org/jlf/beginners_corner/beginers_corner.htm Downloadable plans for a simple indoor model, 2 Baby Bee 40 models and 3 different Science Olympiad models. In PDF format (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Nimbus
Open Home Page http://hemsidor.torget.se/users/e/enebog/nimbusopen/ The home page for a FF hand launched glider postal competition organised by the model flying club MFK Nimbus in Kumla, Sweden. The plans for 3 eligible HLGs are downloadable in JPG format (last checked 28/01/2003) |
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| NSW FF
Society edited by Barry Lee http://www.nswffs.com.au Scans of several significant model aircraft designs which "changed the course" of aeromodelling. Bitmap images - 6 of them (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| The O-Zone http://indev.hypermart.net/ An ornithopter site which has 3 free downloadable plans in GIF format. 2 of the plans look great, the other one looks challenging (if not impossible!). (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Oakland
Cloud Dusters http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/freeflight/ Club page from California featuring indoor models (an ROG, a Bostonian, a Pennyplane and an indoor catapault launched glider). In GIF & JPG formats. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Old Time
Magazine Homepage by Ken Horne http://www.ualberta.ca/~khorne/ Once a month Ken loads some plans from old magazines. He ususally has 3 different plans (a free flight scale model, a free flight sport model and a solid scale model), which he changes each month. Scanned plans are all in PDF format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Oxford Model Flying
Club http://www.oxfordmodelflyingclub.co.uk/ Click on "Downloads" from the menu at the top of the page. A club website from the UK with one Rapier boost glider plan for download. In DXF and GIF formats. They say that more plans are coming... (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Paireli's
Model Products http://paireli.s5.com Victor Paireli sells F1A models, and he has outline plans for his gliders on his website (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Peanut.Scale.Free.Fr
by Christophe Tardy http://paireli.s5.com Site Francais consacr¨¦ aux mod¨¨les r¨¦duits d'avions ¨¤ l'¨¦chelle Cacahu¨¨te - A French site dedicated to Peanut Scale aircraft. Monsieur Tardy has done a wonderful job pulling an amazing array of Peanut scale information and plans together on this site (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| The Plan Page
by Garry Hunter http://www.theplanpage.com At the start of each month, Garry posts a group of plans scanned from old modelling magazines. Most of the plans are for rubber powered scale models, but a few "gas models" are being added lately. Garry's website includes the full inventory of 46 Earl Stahl plans - "officially" authorised for the web by Earl himself! There are over 100 other plans here! (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| SAF-15
Club de Aeromodelismo Luis Font (Club Secretary) http://www.geocities.com/clubsaf15/luis/planosluis.html A Spanish club website featuring some FF model plans in CAD format (added 16/11/2004, but not yet checked) |
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| Shonai
Peanut http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/7165/index.html An indoor club in Nagoya, Japan... and home of the "Nagoya Nuts" bi-annual Peanut scale contest. They had 1 peanut scale plan (for a Mig 15) available for download, but the site appears to be down. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Simple
Flyers Yahoo Group hosted by Ramon ("Jun") Katigbak http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SimpleFlyers A Yahoo group for those who enjoy the simple side of flight. Beginners plans and advanced plans, but all simple!. (Last checked 27/01/2004). The Simple Flyers group also includes plans for Neil Dennis' "Dennydart" - a simple modified version of the AMA Dart beginners model - modified to fly better. You need to become a member of Yahoo to join this group. (Last Checked 17/11/2004) |
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| Small
Flying Arts edited by Bhagat Dillon http://www.smallflyingarts.com SFA is one of the hottest Free Flight web sites around. There are free plans available for downloading, as well as the incredibly popular discussion forums. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Billy
Stiltner's Tiny Gliders Page http://www.geocities.com/billy8601/mygliders.html Inspired by an e-mail based competition on the Free Flight Mailing List during 2003, Billy has loaded a couple of plans for 6" span gliders, as well as some construction photos. In PDF format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Stuka
Dave's Plans Page http://membersites.namezero.com/stukadave.cs.com/id1.html StukaDave (one of the FFML's subversive FF flyers) has posted a plan for the "Scofflaw", a model for "guerrilla indoor flying" in public places. In JPG format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Youhei
Takatani's Workshop http://homepage1.nifty.com/akatombo/e-product.html#e-dol2 The "workshop of the original ornithopter Atatombo", by Youhei Takatani. 4 ornithopter plans to view in JPG format. 2 beginners plans, and 2 advanced plans. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Thermal
Thumbers http://www.thermalthumbers.com/ Club page from Atlanta, with detailed construction information and a plan for a Pennyplane indoor model. JPG format. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Thermik
Sense http://www.iag.uni-stuttgart.de/people/thorsten.lutz/thermiksense/ A German site - click on "Tipps" to find plans for gliders (Sica F1H, FA13 F1A), as well as indoor models (Moustique, Babsi). The plans include building instructions (in German) in PDF format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Tyldesley
Model Flying Club http://www.tmfc.org.uk/chuckie/chuckie.html Another club in the UK, TMFC have plans for the "Tyldesley Chuckie" HLG. Good beginner's model, in Word and JPG format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Uttam's
Model Pics Page http://uttam.freeservers.com/ Uttam (from India) has loaded some plans to his page. Several simple electric powered free flight models. Beware of the pop-ups on Uttam's web host service (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| Westchester
Radio Aero Modellers http://www.wram.org/wrampager.html What? An R/C club with free Free Flight plans? Yes, that's right. A beginner's rubber model, which can be built in 12 different versions! Several different formats (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| The
Whipper Whiz FF Glider by Harley Michaelis http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/whipperwhiz/whipperwhizffhlg_harleymichaelis.htm Instructions and plans for the very simple Whipper Whiz sheet balsa glider (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| The
Windy Sock (Plans page) edited by Joe Joseph http://www.windysock.net/plans.htm The newsletter of the Alamo Escadrille FAC 26 in San Antonio, Texas. A wide variety of peanuts, FAC scale, no-cals and indoor models in this monthly newsletter. Mostly JPG format (last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Twin
Pushers & FF Oddities by Dannysoar http://home.att.net/~dannysoar/home.htm Wow! There were all sorts of incredible flyers here. Indoor, outdoor, scale... the name says it all. JPG/GIF files. At least 20 different plans here... too many to count. (Last checked 09/08/2006) |
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| Xoomee by Kenny Kaiser http://xoomee.com/plans.htm Kenny has a nice site featuring Free Flight models (as well as Micro RC models). He has a couple of plans, including an Embryo endurance class model. In PDF format (last checked 28/01/2004) |
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| 150 Years
of Australian Aviation (Plans) edited by Russell Naughton http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/plans1.html This is an historical archive of Australian aviation, but also contains several plans for indoor models. 3 plans available for downloading from this page, and links to around 20 pages with plans available (some links to paper plane sites). (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Inactive
or Broken Links The following sites appear to be inactive. Let me know if you know otherwise... |
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| Australian
Postal & FF Model Airplane Homepage by George Carr http://golum.riv.csu.edu.au/~gcar/FF.html Details of several Postal contests compiled by George Carr, with downloadable plans for the Lulu glider and the original Ebenezer (both in JPG format) (last checked 17/11/2004) |
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| Aus Free Flight
Plans by Nick Car http://www.austfreeflightplans.org/affp/plans.php Dozens of free-flight plans collected by Adrian Bryant (in PDF format) (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| e-Aeromodelismo
Plans Page http://www.e-aeromodelismo.com.ar/Planos/Planos.htm Claims to have 1001 plans! Including around 46 high quality rubber-powered plan scans in zipped GIF format. In Spanish. In Zipped GIF format (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Front
Room Flyables http://www.frontfly.com/frntroom/freestuff.htm An indoor model site (obviously) with several free plans. Including plans for a Mini-Stick model and a simpler beginner's model (GIF format). (Last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Alejandro
Garcia's Free Flight Page http://www.elale.net/Aero/FreeFlight.htm Alejandro has several photos of models he has built and a couple of plans he has designed. A neat rubber powered canard model and a flying wing for electric. Plans in GIF and PDF format (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Indoor
Flight International http://home.student.utwente.nl/g.h.brendel/indoorflight/home_ifi.html Gert Brendl from Holland edits this indoor free flight newsletter. He has several plans on the site in GIF formats. A couple of scale models and a couple of indoor duration class models (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Indoor
Free Flight http://netcity5.web.hinet.net/userdata/bv2ci/ff/main.html A Japanese site with several scale model plans to download (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| The
Indoor Model Airplane by Daniel Hartstein http://w1.871.telia.com/~u87106779/ Indoor scale and duration website. Plans for a simple indoor canard available for download. In GIF/JPG format. (Last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Indoor
& Outdoor FF Home Page edited by Gert Brendel http://home.student.utwente.nl/g.h.brendel/gert.html Plans for an indoor competition model here (Bernie Hunt's "Big Square" 55cm model). In JPG format (last checked 12/08/2006) |
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| Leinster MAC http://gofree.indigo.ie/~gkiernan/planlist.htm A model club in the UK. Among several R/C plans, they have 2 free flight plans available for download: a 26" sport model for .020 engines and a 24" rubber powered Volksplane (both in CAD DXF format). |
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| Mayday
Catapault Glider http://www.cameronalex.co.uk/ By Alex Cameron - just one plan here (in GIF format) but it was good quality, and an innovative CLG (Catapault Launched Glider). (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| SAM21 http://home.earthlink.net/~steveroselle/_wsn/page2.html A Society of Antique Modellers site which appears to be offline at present. 1 plan for a twin pusher in PDF format can be found by following the "Newsletters & Misc" link. (Last checked 27/01/2004) |
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| Plans
for sale: There are also many websites where you can puchase FF plans. Here is a partial list: |
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| AA Lidberg Model Plans Service | |
| Aero Aces | |
| Aerodyne Online | |
| Ageless Wings Model aircraft plans from the 1930's (Harley Dixon) | |
| Aircraft Artwork | |
| Bob Hollman plans | |
| Diels Engineering (or see the Diels Kit Builders Group on Yahoo! or check out the Diels plans list at Aerodyne Online) | |
| Freeflight Model Airplanes | |
| Free Flight Supplies | |
| Hannan's Runway | |
| John
Low Plans (Available from WNYFFS- Contact Hugh Jones ) |
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| Model Airplane Plans (Allen Hunt) | |
| National FF Society | |
| Peck Polymers | |
| Pete's Plans | |
| Sams Models | |
| Supercraft Plans Service | |
| Velivoli (Tom Thumb) Plans | |
| Volare Products | |
| X-List Plans | |
| Sky Hooks
& Rigging |
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| Magazines: Some modelling magazines also sell FF plans: |
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Airborne Magazine Browse their plans list on-line |
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| Radio Control Models & Electronics Nexus stock former Aeromodeller plans | |
| Flying Models Carsten's sell FF plans, but no on-line listing | |
| Model Aviation On-line plans listing by year | |
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| Thanks... Finally, a word of thanks to those who have helped with additions and corrections to this list: |
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| - Bob (Cranfield?)
passed on the new URL for the NSW FF Society website (12/08/06) - Benjamin Nead highlighted the fact that the Jetex.org site includes downloadable plans (27/01/2004) - Harley Dixon mentioned that his site had moved, so I've fixed the link above (28/12/2003) - Jack Sugamelli noted that Bill O'Reilly plans are handled by Scalecraft Models, but a separate list (02/07/2001) - Larry Peavy reminded me to include Yannick Grange's Indoor Flying, a great French site (26/06/2001) - Bob Munson, who sent a long list of corrections and additions (29/06/02) |