Plans-built projects
by Gene Smith
grwhiskey@brightok.net
In my March 2016 column, I mentioned that the aircraft in the Flying Aces Club (FAC) Embryo event had a maximum wingspan of 16 inches. That is incorrect. There is no wingspan limit on the Embryo, but there is a wing area limit of 50 square inches. Thanks to those who pointed this out.
Piper PA-16 Clipper
Mike Welshans built another model from plans in Mike Nassise’s Tailspin newsletter. It’s a Piper PA-16 Clipper. He built the model for FAC Modern Age Civil Scale, but added enough details to make it FAC Scale-worthy at local contests. The weight of this 20-inch wingspan model without rubber is 32.9 grams.
For simplicity, Mike used an 8-inch GizmoGeezer freewheeling propeller assembly. The neat convex hubcaps are made from wet 80-pound watercolor paper stretched over a large marble and dried overnight. The unique markings are Danish. The red and white should show up well on the field.
Douglas A-26K
Phil Thomas built a nice Douglas A-26K Invader from modified Comet plans. He enlarged the horizontal stabilizer, lightened the fuselage formers, used cracked-rib wing construction, increased the dihedral, added tip tanks carved from hollowed, lightweight balsa, and vacuum-formed the canopy.
The 6-inch Peck Polymers propellers rotate counterclockwise. Both propellers have downthrust—the right one more than the left. The right propeller also has some right thrust to tame the torque.
Phil started with two loops of 1/8 rubber, roughly 15 inches long. The finish is Model Master acrylic paint brushed on with a camel hair brush. The airplane he is modeling had no national insignia. At the time of this writing, the model was awaiting its first test flights.
Volaré Short Kits
George Bredehoft, of Volaré Products, has produced an amazing variety of short kits during the last two years. Among those are the Cessna Centurion and Turbo Stallion No-Cal Short Kits. These are designed for outdoor flying.
You supply the 1/16-inch square balsa sticks, the motor stick, propeller, propeller hook and bearing, and a little wire for the rear rubber hook. Volaré Products provides the plans and a laser-cut sheet of balsa parts.
These models should perform well in your local park. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were competitive in a contest as well.
Super Pearl E-222
Bob Sowder sent along a picture of his Super Pearl E-222, intended for the E-36 event. The model has a 35-inch wingspan and 222 square inches of wing area. With an onboard tracker, Bob’s version weighs 158 grams, which should give excellent performance.
Don DeLoach designed the model around the powerful Red Max motor, resulting in a fast-climbing contest model. The versatile model can be flown
not only in E-36, but also in A Electric, B Electric, and F1Q.
Bob covered the wing and stabilizer with clear ¼-mil Mylar. He added Airspan covering to the bottom main panels to minimize punctures.
For additional color, he used Design Master spray paint on top of the Mylar. It’s available at arts and craft stores, comes in a variety of colors, and it’s lightweight!
Bob was concerned that the 1/16 balsa rudder would be prone to warp. As a precaution, he covered the rudder with .6-ounce fiberglass cloth using three coats of nitrate dope. He advised that some extra tail weight might be needed to compensate for the weight of the Red Max.
Bob needed to move the pylon forward of the location shown on the plans to get the center of gravity at the recommended 83%. Motor thrust and wing washin were set as per the plans. Built and balanced, the Super Pearl E-222 flew off the board with only minor tweaks. Bob reported that the 5-second climb is nothing short of awesome.
There are many excellent choices for the electronics. Bob chose Texas Timers for the motor, propeller, and electronics. Hank Nystrom from Texas Timers has what is essentially a plug-and-play package.
You can order the Super Pearl E-222 directly from Don DeLoach. It’s available as plans-only for $9, including shipping, or plans and a short kit of laser-cut ribs, shear webbing, gussets, and plywood parts for $39, also including shipping.
With the short kit you’ll need leading edge and trailing edge stock, strip wood, and sheet balsa for the pylon and rudder. Tailbooms are available from Stan Buddenbohm and are approximately $12, plus shipping.
Valkyrie
Bill Schmidt recently completed a downsized Valkyrie and found it to be slightly more difficult than the usual build.
The original 1936 Valkyrie model, designed by Carl Goldberg, spanned 10 feet. Amazingly, it was Carl’s first gas model! There were 1,547 sticks in the wing alone. Friends built parts of it for him because it was so labor and time intensive. At the 1937 Nats in Detroit, it flew out of sight, into Canada, with a borrowed Gwinn Aero engine, and was never seen again. Carl gave the man a new Brown Jr. to replace the lost engine.
Bill’s considerably smaller Valkyrie was based on kit plans with a 24-inch wingspan. He enlarged it to 30 inches because he likes his aircraft a bit larger. Bill simulated the Brown Jr. engine, even turning a scale spark plug on his lathe. The kit for the small Valkyrie was only marketed for a little more than a year and then disappeared from advertisements.
The plans are not in the John Pond/AMA Plans Service collection, but Bill’s friend, Jeff Englert, had the original kit plans. What a guy!
The covering is silk and lightweight Polyspan. The folding 9-inch propeller was carved per directions in the booklet, How to Make Scale Model Airplanes Fly, by Bill McCombs. It’s available on Amazon.
BMJR
I received an email from Brian Malin at BMJR Models. He will have kits for the 2017 One-Design Gas models (Zingo and Witch Hawk 500) at this year’s Nats.
SOURCES:
Tailspin
Mike Nassise, editor
22 Greenfield St.
South Easton MA 02375
GizmoGeezer
(306) 955-1620
www.gizmoge ezer.com
Volaré Products
(269) 339-9795
www.volareproducts.com
Design Master
(800) 525-2644
www.dmcolor.com
DiscU.S.Kid (Buddenbohm Products)
gliderbohm@aol.com
www.discuskid.com
Pearl Free Flight
www.pearlfreeflight.com
Texas Timers
(423) 282-6423
www.texastimers.com
BMJR
(321) 537-1159
www.bmj rmodels.com
National Free Flight Society (NFFS)
www.freeflight.org
