T-Shooter (oz10540)

About this Plan

T-Shooter. Radio control sport model. Wingspan 60 in, wing area 720 sq in, for .45 to .60 power.

Quote: "A sport trainer with fun-fly credentials. T-shooter by Johnny Litchenburg.

IF YOU'VE ever wanted to experiment with flight thrust and airframe arrangements as expounded by aero-dynamicists, here's the airframe to do it with.

Let's start off with a short review of the various desirable flight modes and each mode's positive and negative aspects. The so-called trainer or Sunday flyer airframe is expected to be slow, forgiving, and predictable. How is this achieved? Simple, by making it dirty.

'Dirty' in this case refers to a setup at 0° base point, for example the horizontal stabilizer. Set the wing at a positive incidence, say 2° to 4° to that base, and counter it with 2° to 4° engine down-thrust. This way the induced drag plus varying lift forces allow the airframe to wallow around in all sorts of weird attitudes. Of course this dirty setup isn't too sharp for axial rolls, inverted flight, or other hot little capers, but it sure is good at takeoffs and landings.

Next in line with response sensitivity is the fun-fly or Sunday aerobatic configuration. All we need to do is temper the amount of airframe variance and reduce the wing incidence to 1° to 2°, counter it with a like amount of propeller down-thrust, and the airframe becomes cleaner and more efficient. Of course, it also becomes much quicker on response, and the landings get a little hotter.

Now, all you experts who are chompin' at the bit to tear me apart with compounded theory, relax! This is obviously an over-simplification of a much more complex problem, but with the building tolerances most modelers use, this simplification will help the low-timers to cope with flight trim and fine tuning.

Back to the third mode of airframe efficiency. A fully symmetrical, maneuverable airplane corkscrewing all over the sky seemingly effort-free can be achieved on almost any airframe with all thrust, drag, and lift factors fairly close to the centerline of forward motion. I've done this with the T-Shooter by adding a fully symmetrical wing option down close to the fuselage centerline, and the engine and horizontal stab on centerline.

This arrangement calls for a 0° setup all the way. With this arrangement you'll have a hot potato on your hands, but it sure grooves. I've been able to do a climbing two-turn flat spin with this zero-zero setup and clean, ultra-light airframe.

But don't expect this arrangement to be a pussycat in any way; if you land it hot with power, you'd better have lots of smooth runway.

Now that you have some background on the T-Shooter, let's get to the construction so you can try it out yourself.

CONSTRUCTION. Everyone who draws a set of plans and writes up building instructions starts with the wing because tThe wing is the hardest to build, or because they don't like to build them. Well, we're going to start on the wing because it's fun to build any part of a model airplane!

Start by cutting all of the parts, then set the lower spar flat for left and right panels, and glue on ribs using a 3/16 inch square strip under the trailing edge of the ribs to help hold them even. Next add the rear spar. Let that assembly dry fairly well before proceeding. Add the top spar and leading edge strip, and let the whole thing dry thoroughly. Next add the leading edge sheeting and all of the cap strips. Cut the ribs between the spars on the two center-section ribs, fit the ply dihedral splice plate, and then add the front and rear dihedral plates..."

T-Shooter, MAN, October 1984.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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