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Cox Engine of The Month
Latest plane. Finished yesterday, maidened today
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Latest plane. Finished yesterday, maidened today
So, since the Delta Park fly-in was today, I needed a new plane to fly there. I decided I wanted to do a PeeWee powered plane, so I dug around for designs for the .020. I settled on the Little Gem from the June 1961 issue of Model Airplane News. It had a few unique things about it that made it my choice for the next building project:
1) It wasold Vintage.
2) It had an offset fuselage.
3) It had a diamond airfoil.
4) It wouldn't take up too much of my on hand balsa.
5) I could fly it all day on two ounces of fuel.
As usual, I forgot to take a picture of the "kit" I cut out from my wood supply. I was almost finished with the wing before I remembered to get the camera:
And gluing on the leading and trailing sheet. Diamond airfoils were a fad for a while back then. I don't know that they had any flying advantage, but I wanted to try building one as I figured it'd be easy to build the wing flat on the board with the straight angles, instead of a curved airfoil that would need a jig to build.
The wing, minus the center section, and the rest of the "kit".
Mounting the bellcrank. The plans call for an aluminum sheet bellcrank, but I find that it's easier for me to just cut one out of 1/16 ply and put a layer of thin CA over it to harden it. I've done this with two other planes, as it's cheaper for me to use my scrap ply than the $2.00 Goldberg bellcranks from Cox International (sorry Bernie). I just trade an hour of fabrication for the $2.00 for the plastic ones. I guess my time is pretty cheap. Time will tell if they last.
The parts covered and ready for final assembly.
And assembled, waiting for the motor. I had to test run the motor and get it tweaked in before mounting.
With the motor mounted. This is my $6.00 eBay PeeWee.
The plane ready to fly weighs 2.25 ounces, or for our friends across the pond, 64 grams.
At first, I was a little worried that it'd be really squirrely, since the bellcrank holes are only about 1 1/8" apart. But, it was okay after I got a toss from Duke's eldest son. But, on 18' lines, this thing was FAST! I tried counting, and it seemed like I was doing about 2.5 second laps. this was with the standard 4.5x2 Cox prop. The MAN article says to use the 3 bladed prop if using a stooge for great verticals and for speed. I don't even want to know how fast this thing would be on the 3 bladed prop.
The Vintage Mark
1) It was
2) It had an offset fuselage.
3) It had a diamond airfoil.
4) It wouldn't take up too much of my on hand balsa.
5) I could fly it all day on two ounces of fuel.
As usual, I forgot to take a picture of the "kit" I cut out from my wood supply. I was almost finished with the wing before I remembered to get the camera:
And gluing on the leading and trailing sheet. Diamond airfoils were a fad for a while back then. I don't know that they had any flying advantage, but I wanted to try building one as I figured it'd be easy to build the wing flat on the board with the straight angles, instead of a curved airfoil that would need a jig to build.
The wing, minus the center section, and the rest of the "kit".
Mounting the bellcrank. The plans call for an aluminum sheet bellcrank, but I find that it's easier for me to just cut one out of 1/16 ply and put a layer of thin CA over it to harden it. I've done this with two other planes, as it's cheaper for me to use my scrap ply than the $2.00 Goldberg bellcranks from Cox International (sorry Bernie). I just trade an hour of fabrication for the $2.00 for the plastic ones. I guess my time is pretty cheap. Time will tell if they last.
The parts covered and ready for final assembly.
And assembled, waiting for the motor. I had to test run the motor and get it tweaked in before mounting.
With the motor mounted. This is my $6.00 eBay PeeWee.
The plane ready to fly weighs 2.25 ounces, or for our friends across the pond, 64 grams.
At first, I was a little worried that it'd be really squirrely, since the bellcrank holes are only about 1 1/8" apart. But, it was okay after I got a toss from Duke's eldest son. But, on 18' lines, this thing was FAST! I tried counting, and it seemed like I was doing about 2.5 second laps. this was with the standard 4.5x2 Cox prop. The MAN article says to use the 3 bladed prop if using a stooge for great verticals and for speed. I don't even want to know how fast this thing would be on the 3 bladed prop.
The Vintage Mark
batjac- Diamond Member
-
Posts : 2336
Join date : 2013-05-22
Age : 61
Location : Broken Arrow, OK, USA
Re: Latest plane. Finished yesterday, maidened today
Mark,
I built one of those too for my son. I didn't offset the wing and I chose to sheet the entire wing. It flies ok.
I too built a bellcrank out of ply. I am using the 3 blade prop.
Your's looks great! Here is a pic of mine.
Ron
I built one of those too for my son. I didn't offset the wing and I chose to sheet the entire wing. It flies ok.
I too built a bellcrank out of ply. I am using the 3 blade prop.
Your's looks great! Here is a pic of mine.
Ron
Cribbs74- Moderator
-
Posts : 11895
Join date : 2011-10-24
Age : 50
Location : Tuttle, OK
Re: Latest plane. Finished yesterday, maidened today
Mark let my son fly this little plane yesterday and now wants to build one. He loved it!
duke.johnson- Diamond Member
- Posts : 1734
Join date : 2012-11-05
Age : 52
Location : Rochester, Washington
Re: Latest plane. Finished yesterday, maidened today
Ron, that looks great! I was thinking about doing another one without the offset like you did. I have another fuse cut out, so I could just do another wing and tail set. I was thinking of making the wing tips and tail tip diamond shaped also, just using a wing rib cut in half to give the half-diamond shape. And maybe making the snout a little more pointed also.Cribbs74 wrote:Mark,
I built one of those too for my son. I didn't offset the wing and I chose to sheet the entire wing. It flies ok.
I too built a bellcrank out of ply. I am using the 3 blade prop.
Your's looks great! Here is a pic of mine.
Ron
The Pointed Mark
batjac- Diamond Member
-
Posts : 2336
Join date : 2013-05-22
Age : 61
Location : Broken Arrow, OK, USA
Re: Latest plane. Finished yesterday, maidened today
Mark,
I would consider adding some offset. As designed it has no tip weight or rudder offset. While rudder offset is not really needed without engine offset I feel it would go slack in anything besides a large flowing inside loop. Not to mention it may have a tendancy to roll in without the tip weight.
Just a thought, I haven't given mine enough of a workout to get a true feel of things. For some reason my controls are stiff and need to be looked at. It was my second or third scratchbuild and I did things I would not even consider doing now.
Ron
The Jr. Falcon decals were for my then 6yr old son. He wanted something on the wing and I had those laying around.
I would consider adding some offset. As designed it has no tip weight or rudder offset. While rudder offset is not really needed without engine offset I feel it would go slack in anything besides a large flowing inside loop. Not to mention it may have a tendancy to roll in without the tip weight.
Just a thought, I haven't given mine enough of a workout to get a true feel of things. For some reason my controls are stiff and need to be looked at. It was my second or third scratchbuild and I did things I would not even consider doing now.
Ron
The Jr. Falcon decals were for my then 6yr old son. He wanted something on the wing and I had those laying around.
Cribbs74- Moderator
-
Posts : 11895
Join date : 2011-10-24
Age : 50
Location : Tuttle, OK
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