Eastbourne Monoplane (oz10661)

About this Plan

Eastbourne Monoplane. Scale model for micro-RC using a PZ brick or similar setup.

Note this plan was posted online by Peter Rake himself in 2014 as a free download on the RCGoups forum (see Datafile link) .

The plan (and article) also appeared in FSM, July 2013.

Update 28/9/2023: Added article, thanks to hlsat.

Quote: "This month our columnist wrings the changes, to present his 18 in wingspan EASTBORNE MONOPLANE with full size centre-spread pull-out plan.

The model we'll be looking at is my 18 in span Eastbourne Monoplane. Just lately I've been getting more interested in what are termed ‘micro' models, despite the fact that 18 is hardly micro in its truest sense. What it is, however, is the ideal size for utilising that salvaged gear I mentioned and for flying outdoors on nice, calm days or evenings. Since these models use up very little space to fly, virtually any area of open ground can instantly become a flying site. Sports grounds, local parks, even a very large garden all become fair game where these tiddlers are concerned.

When you also take into account how little storage space they take up, how cheap they are to build and how they so epitomise those rubber power models of our (my) youth they become a very attractive proposition indeed. And before anyone asks, yes, I can remember that far back. If I recall correctly it was some time between the extinction of the dinosaurs and the first Ice Age. Then again, maybe it just feels that long ago.

The Eastbourne is simply a reduced size version of my already very successful Speed-400 size design, so drawing the plans was a fairly painless exercise. The intention was to produce a smaller version, but retain the original's very pleasant flying qualities. Having thoroughly enjoyed building the model, and seen how nicely it flies, I think I may well have succeeded.

Let's get building As a quick look at the plan will reveal, this is going to be a fairly cheap model to build. Even if you don't have a scrap box to raid, a little carbon rod, some small pieces of ply, a sheet of 1/16 balsa, another of 1/32 balsa and a few pieces of strip are all that's required for the airframe. Add in a sheet or two of tissue and you are looking at all the ingredients of a nice little model.

Since they are probably the easiest part of the model to build, let's make a start with the wings. Try to make sure that the spars, trailing edges and wingtip pieces are fairly hard balsa while the rest is ‘medium' grade. Don't be tempted to use very soft balsa for the ribs because it's surprising just how much force-shrinking tissue can apply to structures. One of my ribs was on the soft side and has buckled quite badly as the tissue shrank.

Pin down the leading edges, trailing edge, tips and spars over the plan. Notch the spars to fit over the tips and glue as required. If you can avoid actually pinning through the wood, so much the better. Glue the ribs in place, ensuring that you use DH to set the angle of the root rib. All other ribs are upright. If in any doubt about how hard your root ribs are, add a narrow strip of 1/32 balsa to prevent them bowing as the tissue shrinks. I did this on my model by simply trimming the root ribs by 1/32 and gluing the sheet to them after the wings were set and removed from the board.

Trim and sand overall and you have a pair of wings awaiting the addition of rigging tubes (I used aluminium tubes), covering and locating dowels gluing in place. That was pretty painless, wasn't it?

Tail Surfaces: Absolutely the hardest part here is laminating the outlines. Cut yourself some 1/32 x 1/16 strips of balsa and put them in water to soak. While they're soaking cut some templates to laminate around (I used Depron) and wax the edges to prevent the laminations sticking.

Pin down the templates and mop off any excess moisture from your soaked strips. Glue the strips together using white glue (woodworking glue) and carefully pull the still wet strips around your formers. You could just use pins to hold them, but I prefer to pack them in place using scraps of balsa - it avoids risking grooves in the wood where the pins have cut in. Allow the glue to dry completely before removing the laminations from the formers.

Pin down the outlines over the plan (again avoiding pinning through them) and build the tail surfaces from strip balsa. Although the plan shows sewn hinges, I actually make 1/8 wide strip hinges from an old floppy disc with the magnetic coating roughened. Good if you have a floppy disc but sewn hinges work just as well if you don't have the disc. Either way, hinge the surfaces after they are covered and doped. Sand overall and your tail surfaces are complete and ready to cover. Control horns will be fitted during the installation stage..."

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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