Chicken Trainer (oz11040)

About this Plan

Chicken Trainer. Radio control sport trainer model.

Quote: "Here's a sports model that is definitely no turkey! As a next step up from a basic trainer, try this 54 inch span .35 to .61 powered acrobatic bird. Chicken Trainer, by Terry Badis.

IT IS INEVITABLE that R/C modellers like Designer Terry Badis who were balsa bashing in their youth, and who now return to their hobby some thirty years later, will have found it hard to come to terms with the modern quick build plastic and foam models of the 1980s.

Although the construction of built-up models takes a little longer, it is very satisfying to go through the process of fixing your drawing to the bench or building board and converting the balsa into a flying machine that will give you hours of flying pleasure.

Chicken was designed by Terry to be a strong, practical and versatile club model that could be built by most people who aim to move on from basic trainers to something more exciting, and visually stimulating. If you have not undertaken the structure of a built-up model before this is the model for your, as it will help you to acquire building skills that will enable you to construct the most complicated models.

Development. Why Chicken? Most modellers ask this question as the Chicken is a bird that cannot fly. The first built did not fly well due to small ailerons and wings set up with a few degrees of positive angle of attack and it is easy to understand that these design faults resulted from vintage model habits where models were basically free flight with radio assist.

Pilot error provided the opportunity to construct another model (!) together with a third model being built by Terry's son Ian, and many experiments in aileron and rudder size have produced an acrobatic model that will perform most manoeuvres even with the standard flat bottom wing section. The model has survived many prangs and the undercarriage is very robust and has a nice wide track.

The Chicken, then, is much like its farmyard namesake in that it can be either a docile bird or a fighting cock and the choice is therefore yours in tailoring your model to fit your current flying ability, together with the advantage of converting to the symmetrical wing section as your flying experience grows..."

Chicken Trainer, Radio Modeller, February 1986.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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