Sport Bipe (oz10496)

About this Plan

Sport Bipe. Radio control sport model, for .049 engine and 2 channels.

Quote: "Sportbipe. A tiny model only 24 inch wingspan, for the light-weight R/C sets. By Jack Headley.

Sportbipe. Now for a power model. I've built biplanes of and on for numerous years, and have always been attracted to this configuration. This is possibly because my first aeroplane ride was in a biplane, a de H Dominie, from RAF station Church Fenton. It was also my last biplane ride.

As you can see, this isn't a scale model of a Dominie, but a much more racy design. It's quite a small model, 24 inch span, and needs a small radio, because of the restricted space in the fuselage. The original was fitted with a Cannon two-channel set, but I have heard of successful flights using a rudder-only radio.

One of the problems I have with biplane designs is getting the proportions satisfactory. I usually end up with the wings too big, so my latest technique is now always to build the wing this way, but not to install the wing tips. The wing span is then decided after the uncovered model is assembled. The wings get cropped bay by bay until a satisfactorily balanced shape appears. At this stage the wing tips are attached. I found this to be a much easier way of getting the proportions right than spending time on endless amounts of sketches.

Again the power plant is the ubiquitous Cox .049. The only problem I've had with this engine is its annoying habit of sucking up debris into its air inlet, so that the engine has to be removed from the model for a clean-up job too often…"

Sport Bipe, Aeromodeller Annual, 1978/79, Jack W Headley.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 7/11/2022: Added further article, from RC Sportsman Jan 1978, thanks to theshadow.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
Article (RC Sportsman)

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