ArcaBoard 2: Designed Exclusively with Paper, Pencil, and a Pocket Calculator

By Dumitru Popescu - Chief Designer & Founder ArcaSpace

Designing the future with paper, pencil, and a pocket calculator. From initial sketch to physical hardware. No computers allowed.

In an era where mechanical and aerospace engineering is dominated by complex software simulations, elaborate 3D renderings, and CAD environments that try to anticipate every single detail, just as we did for the original ArcaBoard program (2015), the ArcaBoard 2 program (2025) followed a fundamentally different path.

The entire architecture of the vehicle, from the geometric shapes of the central fuselage, the layout of the propulsion units, and the internal composite structure, down to attitude and control mechanics, was conceived, calculated, and prototyped from scratch using only paper, pencil, rulers, set squares, protractors, slides, and a pocket calculator.

No CAD. No 3D models. No computer simulations.

Although I knew from the very beginning that the ArcaBoard 2 program would adopt a brutalist, neo-futuristic architecture with synthwave accents, the choice to completely abandon the computer even for sketches and technical drawings was not an exercise in nostalgia, but a deliberate working method.

When you design directly on paper:

1.Understanding the project becomes intimate: Every line drawn, every angle, and every dimension represented on paper passes directly through your hand and mind. Basic aerodynamic calculations, friction, ground effect, thrust as a function of propeller pitch, motor power, diameter, kV, ducted propeller integration, mass distribution, center of gravity positioning, and thrust vectoring are filtered through fundamental equations solved step by step. From the early concepts of propulsion module placement to the geometric visualization of the internal fuselage structure, the project evolved organically. Every technical solution, from attitude control in pitch and roll by modifying the pilot's body position, to yaw stabilization via direct electromechanical control operated directly from the pilot's hands, was drawn manually to scale. For ArcaBoard 2, ArcaSpace has also set another first: the first propeller designed, prototyped, and mass-produced entirely in-house.



2.Rapid iteration: Instead of wasting weeks and months adjusting parameters in an abstract virtual environment, the actual form of ArcaBoard 2 was refined directly from hand sketches on the workbench, moving immediately into the hardware manufacturing process in the hall. What we have discovered over time at ArcaSpace is that computers and computer simulations, although everyone believes they represent an advantage in time and resource savings, are actually the exact opposite. The computer does nothing more than delay you and implicitly increase costs, whereas paper, pencil, and immediate prototyping massively accelerate the process.



The absolute first conceptual drawing of ArcaBoard 2 (April 7, 2025)

Refining the initial concept: The closest initial version to what ArcaBoard 2 would become a few months later (Product 2)

From the concept paper to the physical world

Control mechanics and flight dynamics: Noting the fundamental stabilization principles. (1) Pitch and roll stabilization achieved directly through body/center of mass geometry and (2) Yaw stabilization achieved via vanes positioned on the outer motors.

Internal structural sketch (April 26, 2025): Determination of the cross-section, main composite frames (highlighted in colors), and internal compartmentalization for avionics.

Conclusion

The original sketches of the project, bearing technical notes, execution dates, geometric calculations, and profiling details, testify to a simple truth: real hardware is born from technical rigor and physical execution, not from computer optimization that offers an endless string of options and the chance to endlessly postpone prototyping in search of the optimal solution.

For many, optimization is nothing more than hiding behind a computer to justify why they never prototype. It is easier to justify that you are not starting construction because you haven't found the optimal solution than to actually start working.

The Romanian aircraft constructor and pioneer of the early years of world aviation, Aurel Vlaicu, said (paraphrased): “Designing an airplane is nothing. Building it is something. Flying it is everything.”

ArcaBoard 2 remains a pure proof of engineering executed following the classical method: a clear idea, basic aerodynamic equations and nothing more, electrotechnics and electronics, a well-sharpened pencil, and the discipline to transform the drawing directly into a carbon structure, fiberglass, and electric propulsion force.