Razor (oz10254)

About this Plan

Razor. Radio control sport model. For .020 power. Quickie 100 class.

Quote: "Got a limited budget, but want to put some real excitement back into your flying? This may be your answer! Razor, by Carl Dowdy.

I dare you. Very simply, I dare you! Build a Razor and you will be pleasantly surprised at the speed and agility a plane of this size can possess. A Razor with the recommended throws is not twitchy like lots of small airplanes; however, it can and will be a handful with increased throws! If the truth be known, the first flight of the Razor nearly gave me heart failure. Its flight speed for such a small model is incredible.

The Razor can be used as a schoolyard flier, sport mini-aerobatics plane, or as a Quickie 100 racer. However, I do not recommend flying it indoors. As you might imagine, it hauls 'groceries!'

All that is needed is a radio with micro servos, about $20.00, and a few evenings of spare time. You will probably need to purchase a smaller battery pack; one in the 75 to 100 mAh range should work nicely. SR Batteries carries excellent packs with more juice for the size than just about anyone. On to the building of this beast! Since the Razor is not for beginners, I'll keep the construction article to a world record minimum.

Let me say before you begin, that it really does save a great deal of time to cut out all the parts to make a 'kit'.

Construction. Wing. Before you begin construction of the wing, I probably should explain the use of one aileron. As it turns out, an aircraft's roll rate is primarily determined by the roll rate generated from the wing's control surface(s) and the roll damping of the wing. Therefore, as long as the control power of one aileron is sufficient to generate the desired roll rate, you really do not need the other. The use of one aileron is asymmetric, however. it probably would not be a wise choice for a pattern plane, but, for pylon racing it does have merit. If you are always turning left, one aileron on the right wing (in theory) will help hold the nose up through the turn. A downward deflected aileron creates more lift, but also more induced drag due to the lift, thus yawing the aircraft opposite to the direction of bank (ie adverse yaw). For the Razor, this means when turning left, the single aileron should cause a right, or nose-skyward yaw. Besides, it just simplifies construction!

The wing is made up of a very small foam core using a NACA 0010 airfoil. I am sure that a similar built-up wing woud work just as well, but make it strong and light. I just get a kick out of making foam cores! First, using the templates, cut the core and sand the leading and trailing edges of the core to shape. Next, glue the 1/32 sheeting in place using the foam saddles as forms until the glue has cured. Finish by gluing the 1/4 x 3/8 in leading edge and 1/32 traileing edge sheet in place, adding the 1/8 tip ribs..."

Update 27/8/2024: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy, thanks to theshadow.

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