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Share Plans with the Community
This website is not just a place to grab some plans, it´s a sharing platform where you can share old, public domain plans scanned from vintage magazines, more recent plans from defunct magazines or even plans you designed yourself.

Scanning a plan
How to scan a plan from an old magazine.

Magazine plans come in four different sizes:

  1. A4 size (full page)
  2. A5 size (half page)
  3. A3 size (splited in two A4 pages)
  4. Full size plan (folded inside the magazine)
Note:

Scanning a split sheet plan requires cutting the pages off the magazine.


Before scanning:

  1. Clean surface scanner from dust and residues.
  2. Clean surface paper pages from dust and residues.

If this is not done the cleaning work will be much harder.


Saving the file:

  • A4 size (full page) -> 400 to 600 dpi, Jpeg, color.
  • A5 size (half page) -> 600 to 800 dpi, Jpeg, color.
  • A3 size (splited in two A4 pages) -> 400 to 600 dpi, Jpeg, color.
  • Full size plan (folded inside the magazine) -> 400 to 600 dpi, Jpeg, color.
  • Articles -> 200 to 300 dpi, Jpeg, color.

Based on Elijah's post.

Cleaning a plan
How to clean and restore a scanned plan.

When scanned in sections plans have to be assembled back together, this job can be done on Adobe Photoshop or Gimp that is a free application similar to Photoshop.
If the line quality is good enough there is no need to redraw a plan but usually there is the need to clean stains and artifacts, to do this, Photoshop or Gimp come to hand again, the following document gives you a good insight on how these processes can be done.

Assembling and restoring a scanned plan: Open pdf

Tools
Need to process files before uploading?

Merge PDF files: PDF Merge

Convert text on image pdf to editable text: Online OCR

Translate text: Google Translate

PDF manipulation tools for Windows: Noliturbare

Upload a Plan to your Account.
This page allows you to upload a plan directly to your account and set the bare minimum details, once the upload is complete you will be given the option to complete your listing details.Please read all the instructions before submitting.

1. Identification
Select a category, type a name, type a description and add a few keywords to your listing.

Category:*
Please choose the appropriate category for the type of file you are uploading.

Category Notes:

  • Please try to find the category that better suits the file you are uploading
  • In doubt just upload to one of the parent categories and we will correct if needed.
  • The 3D Print Independent Designers Category requires approval to upload. Please contact us if you would like to contribute to that category.
Name:*
Please type only the Airplane name and nothing else. Publisher, wingspan and other info will be added using specific menus.
Description:*
If you know something about this model or if you think you can give some advice to someone builting it you can write it down here.
Please don't write here information that can be added with the dropdown menus below or at the full "Plan Edit" page that will be shown to you once you upload this plan.
No links, no phone numbers, no emails, no advertising, no text from other websites, please.
Keywords:
Keywords are searchable and can be a great way to filter plans, if your editing a Bipe you can put: bipe, acro, oldtimer, plan designer... Or any other comma separated word or expression relevant to the plan.

2. Plan and thumbnail
Upload the main plan file and main thumbnail, you will be able to upload an article and more images later. Please don´t upload modern copyrighted material without the authorization from the owners, old plans from defunct magazines are generally OK to upload.

Plan:*
Max. File Size: 40000 kb
Max. Width: 40000 px
Max. Height: 40000 px
Valid extensions: pdf, dxf, dwg, stl. 		RULES:
Plan file: Must be a full plan, not tiled. You can add a tiled version later as a version of the main plan.
Preferred file type: PDF, cleaned and scaled to correct size.
Merge/Combine PDF files before uploading.
Non compliance: Listing will be set to inactive.

Thumbnail:*
Max. File Size: 300 kb
Max. Width: 2048 px
Max. Height: 2048 px
Valid extensions: jpg, gif, png 		The thumbnail should be a photo or a drawing of the model, you can get one on the internet or use a printscreen if you don't have one. Later you will be able to add the building instructions file, article and up to 3 more images with the plan thumbnail itself or other photos you wish.

3. Attributes
Set the minimum attributes in order to list the plan, many other will be available in the edit page after the upload.. The attributes are very important because the site's search engine depends on them to show results. You should edit the remaining attributes after uploading the plan.

Class:
According to the control Method.
Model Type:
Kind of Model or Plan
Scale:
The first selector is mandatory, the second is optional.
Aircraft Use:
Purpose of the Aircraft.
Wingspan Class:
Please fill out the exact wingspan too.
Landing Gear:
Style of landing gear.
Motor Type:
Type of motor/engine used.
Material:
Main building material.

4 Copyright
Set details about the plan designer, publisher and other.

Publisher:
Plan publisher.
Date
Month and Year
Ref:
Reference.
Designer:
Plan designer name.
Restorer:
Plan restorer name.
First Scan:
Person who did the first scan.
Found:
Where did you found this plan?.

5. Quality Control
Is this plan Scaled, Restored, Poor quality? Is it perfect? We need to know that.

Quality Control:

Unscaled: Has not been scaled to correct dimensions.
Cleaned: Dust and scratches removed on Photoshop.
Traced: Automatically converted to vector by software.
Redrawn: Redrawn on CAD Software by human hands.
Final Art: All perfect, no more work needed, originally done on CAD.

Marking plans accurately it´s very important.

Please note, if this plan is copyrighted, duplicate, not complete or not scaled it will be deleted!
Please don´t forget to edit all the remaining details. After uploading click the blue button and finish the listing.


What is copyrighted and what is not, in general:

For any work published after Jan 1. 1978, the copyright duration is from creation to 70 years after the author’s death.
For corporate owned works, (works made for hire) and anonymous and pseudonymous works, the duration of copyright is 95 years from first publication.
Also, any work published after Jan 1, 1978 is automatically copyrighted. That does not mean it is a registered copyright, it just means the author don’t have to register to prove the work it´s his. But the author will have to register the work to benefit from statutory awards or to file a lawsuit through.

For works published before Jan 1, 1978, copyright protection required registration with the Copyright Office and a notice of copyright © on the works.

The terms for a copyright varies because the law changed over the years, but generally, copyright terms were much shorter and required the registration to be renewed.

Here are some general guidelines.

Any work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain.
Any work published between 1923 and 1977 that doesn’t have a copyright notice, is in the public domain
Any work created between 1923 and 1963 with a notice but copyright wasn’t renewed, is in the public domain.
Any work created between 1923 and 1963 with a notice and was renewed from 1963 until 1977 is copyrighted for 95 years from the first date of publication.

Please check everything before uploading.

Alternative Upload Methods
Please use only if you have many plans, otherwise use the standard method for uploading.

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