A-Trax-Ya (oz11129)

About this Plan

A-Trax-Ya. Free flight power model.

Quote: "For the contest fan, lively performance with excellent glide. For .29-.32's, can fly on .19's. A-Trax-Ya, by Dick Werner.

This ship was designed with the idea of having a job large enough for an excellent glide yet light and streamlined enough to outclimb most competitors. With a hot Torp .29 or .32, it will do just that. It can also be flown with a Torp .19, if you want a slower climbing model.

Build fuselage backbone and pylon outline. Build crutch and put in all formers. Set backbone in place on former notches, add side pieces, pylon leading edge, pylon ribs, and square uprights in rear of fuselage. Remove from plans and install firewall. If you choose to use a round nose as I did you should fill the nose in with scrap blocks so that you will be able to taper and round nose as desired without losing strength. Add gas tank at this point if not using timer-tank.

Plank fuselage sides, bottom, and pylon with 1/16 balsa. Add wing platform, stab platform, tail; sand, add gauge around the nose, and fillet where desired.

Lay down leading and trailing edges. Set ribs in place and notch for spars (being sure to bevel properly). Notch the ribs where they cross each other, (the bottom rib should be notched from the top, half way down and the top rib should be notched from the bottom, half way up). Remove ribs and lay down bottom spar. Install ribs, add top spar, sub ribs, and wing tips. When dry, put in dihedral and polyhedral, being sure to put in plywood gussets and cement-ing well. Plank center section and sand smooth.

If at all possible, cover the entire ship with silk. Silk is easy to work with and adds much strength to your ship. After the ship is covered, use a good filler on the fuselage to fill the pores of the silk. I have had good results with Aero Gloss Balsa Fillercoat. Trim ship with desired colors and fuelproof.

Check for warps and key surfaces. Check the glide by hand launching. It should be fairly fast and slightly to the left. Stick a plug in the engine intake for the first few power hops so that you can have engine running as slowly as possible. The ship should climb to the left, making about 1-1/2 turns in 20 seconds. Make all thrust adjustments with 1/32 washers between engine and firewall. If the ship has a slight stall, add clay to the floating tab until this is corrected. As for props, I used 9-4 or 10-4 Tornadoes."

A-Trax-Ya, MAN, March 1954.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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