How to Build a Plane in Besiege [Basic Vanilla]

A video and written guide on how to build a basic plane on Besiege. Covers everything from engine, designing wings and stabilizers, and how to controlling via realistic ailerons and elevators.

Video Guide

The video has more detailed explanation, but if you prefer reading I have written general step-by-step below.

Whatever format you like, please rate this guide if it helps.

Thrust

Plane need thrust to take-off and fly. A spinning landing gear will never work. Wheel with propeller is one of the easiest source of thrust to build.

Place four or more wheels on the starting block.

Make sure they don’t spin too fast or the propellers will be stretched and the wheel will start spasming. Use more engine if you want to go faster.

Add one block, add a propeller on each sides, then replace that block with a wheel.

How to bypass the intersection warning: gfycat.com/EvenValidCoati

EDIT: or you can just use Advanced Building Tools

You can use normal or small propellers. While their lift is the same, the longer one has higher linear velocity, so it will generate more thrust. Test it in zero-g to make sure it goes forward properly.

Add plane body with unpowered wheel or swivel joint.

Keep in mind about Newton's third law of motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you use one rotor; your entire aircraft will also roll in the opposite direction.
An unpowered wheel or swivel joint will usually solve the problem of aircraft rolling on their own,
However, this will halve the effectiveness of the rotor.

Add another unpowered wheel or swivel joint on the front and brace it.

It will secure the rotor and reduce engine vibration when moving in high speed.

Add flipped propellers on the opposite side.

This will create coaxial counter-rotating engines and increases the effectiveness of the engine.
The torque will already be negated if you build a double rotor plane. Just remember, make sure each propeller is rotating in opposite direction relative to its counterpart.

Wing

The force created by the engine is called thrust. When a plane gains speed from the thrust, the wings generate lift, which makes the plane fly.

Shape a wing with aerodynamic propeller block or wing panel block.

Do not use wing block. Wing panel is more compact, has good drag, and have many attachment points. Aerodynamic propeller is even more compact and provide lift.

Create your favorite wing shape with aerodynamic propellers. While each wing add lift, you can just disregard it and purely aim for good looks here. The different number of aerodynamic propeller will affect the number of propeller for stabilizer that will be addressed when I show you how to balance the lift later. Do not try to rotate the right side aerodynamic propellers, you have to flip them with F button.

Secure them together with wooden pole or braces. Keep in mind that each blocks add weight to the plane. A heavy plane needs more powerful engine or more wings to have enough lift.

Don’t forget to flip the aerodynamic propeller blocks on right side of the wing using the F button.

Even if you use Symmetry Tool. Never rotate them manually with R button or Advanced Tools.

Stabilizers

The tail section of a plane commonly consist of vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Stabilizers stabilize aircraft flight by providing drag. They prevent backflipping and drifting on plane. While they sounds cool in your head, it will make a plane feels really unresponsive to controls.

Add some makeshift stabilizer using either wing panel or aerodynamic propeller.

Place it on the furthest point from the plane center of mass. You will need two vertical stabilizers if you use aerodynamic propellers.

Move the machine above the ground, start the simulation in normal gravity and start the engine.

The plane will lose altitude for a brief moment but as soon as it reaches enough speed, it will start to ascend.

Starts calibrating the lift

For example, when your plane nose is rapidly pitching up it means the wings on the front generate too much lift and it rotates the entire plane. Add more lift using propellers on the tail so it adds up the front lift. Same goes when your plane is suddenly nose diving, reduce the lift on the rear.

Aileron Controls

When the pilot rolls the plane, one aileron tilts down which causes it to produce more lift. The other aileron tilts up which causes it to produce less lift. This imbalance in force causes the plane to roll.

Place swivel joint, hinge under it, and two pistons (with two different keys) on the hinge.

Brace piston to make sure they can’t move, and then check if that works. I explained how I moved the back rotor on the video.

Put some wing panel/aerodynamic propeller on the swivel joint.

They will act as control surface. Brace as necessary

Adjust speed on the rotor.

Mechanism like this are heavy and your engine probably will need some readjustment.

Elevator Controls

Elevator control will cause the nose of the plane tilt upwards or downwards when you tilt the control surface.

Add hinge, place another hinge, then add two braced pistons (with two different keys) on top and bottom of the hinge.

You might need to remove the vertical stabilizer, or place the mechanism near it. Don’t forget to put the stabilizers back.

Re-calibrate the lift

Since we have added weight to the back of the aircraft, we’ll need extra lift if we want the aircraft to fly properly so add some aerodynamic propellers. Keep adding more propellers until the aircraft fly level.

Appendix

You are done.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=630568871
Your plane is ready. Don’t forget to add weapons like bombs to kill those pesky knight.
If you feeling like to tackle more challenge, watch this video about realistic steering and create a brand new plane from it.

Any question? Need help with anything? Just write in the comments below!

You can also live chat with me if you need further assistance:
Facebook[www.facebook.com] | Discord[discord.gg]
Don't forget to show a screenshot and describe your problem

Thanks for reading and don't forget to rate up this guide!

[󠀡󠀡᠌ ⁧⁧СЫН АМБАСАДОРА]

ty bro

[Egg]

Thank god there exists people who make actual tutorials, and not just dummy blueprints

[ShawnieTwoZero]

Once the wings come into play it gets really hard to figure out what to do

[Shadé]

you can reduce the wasted energy by adding more weight to the other end of the propeller.
more weight = less rotation, you want more rotation on the front end (with the propeller).

the front already have four prop blades so there's already some weight on front. what i did was simply adding several hidden dummy braces on the other end so that it gains several weight to match the front end.

[meatball]

If I attempt to make a propeller spin, it spins too slow because of the way you cancel out excess unwanted roll. There is no way to combat this with what I know, and because of the block being spun wasting energy, the plane cannot fly because it always stays below stall speed. (The instructions are unclear, it cannot lift itself.)

[woods52314]

ah, thanks

[Shadé]

@woods52314
can be many things, hard to tell without looking at pics.

but usually it's the torque that has not been countered properly. i mentioned this on the Thrust section.
also in the video there are some demonstration of the difference between the countered and non countered propeller.

other than that it can also be caused by asymmetric wings or inefficient stabilizers.

[woods52314]

question, sometimes when i build a plane it turns without me inputting a key and it prevents me from lifting off, any tips?

[inside]

other than that awesome guide, helped so much :)

[Shadé]

true! these feature was added way later after this was written but yeah an auto-centering steering hinge for the control surface instead of pistons are recommended.