Electro Jet (oz11303)

About this Plan

Electro Jet. Radio control sport model for electric power, with 540 motor.

Quote: "A smart aerobatic design for electric power and two function radio. Electro Jet, by Chris Martindale.

I was first bitten by the electric flight bug over twelve months ago. At the time I was Contest Director at the Widnes Model Flying Club Open Thermal Soaring Competition, where Paul Channon from the Chester MFC gave quite a convincing demonstration of his Ermine Slipper electric model during the dinner break. Being extremely impressed with this demo, I purchased a kit from Paul on the spot and it has given many hours of clean, quiet fun.

However, as time went by, I began to realise that I wanted something a little more exciting but still utilising the same standard motor and battery pack ie Mabuchi 540 and 6 cell, 7.2v Nicad pack. The model I had in mind had to suit the following requirements:-

1. Relatively inexpensive to build.
2. Lively and aerobatic performance using the standard Mabuchi 540 motor and 1.2Ah, 6 cell nicad pack.
3. Micro radio equipment not absolutely necessary.
4. Sleek, futuristic and unusual lines.

Being reasonably inexpensive it should have some appeal to the average modeller who perhaps, until now, has looked at electric flight as yet another expensive and very specialised category of our sport.

So, after a few months doodling and calculating, I came up with this design. Without further ado I shall run through the construction sequence.

Wing: I would recommend that the wing be constructed first as this will form the backbone of the fuselage. Form the top and bottom wing skins from 1.5 mm balsa, preferably 100mm wide sheets, gluing with PVA woodworking glue. All the wing ribs can be cut from 2.5 mm balsa, the ribs can be cut to suit the tapered planform of the wing by skewing the template on a full size centre rib. Place the bottom skin on a true flat surface and transfer the rib positions, plan-form taper, and span measurements from the plan to the balsa. Glue the 6mm square leading and trailing edge strips to the bottom skin and pin securely. All the ribs and the short spar can be glued and pinned in position.

When dry, the wing can be lifted from the board and the leading and trailing edge strips planed to profile ready to receive the top wing skin. The top skin can now be glued on, use plenty of pins here, work from the trailing edge to the leading edge and make sure the wing is flat as any twists cannot be rectified afterwards due to the rigid nature of this structure. A useful tip for pinning the top skin accurately to the ribs is, to insert a pin into the building board marking the position of each rib at the leading edge and the trailing edge, join the pins with nylon thread to mark the line of the rib beneath the top skin, this acts as a guide when pinning the top skin to the ribs. Push plenty of pins into the leading edge to ensure that no gaps occur. It will be necessary to roughly trim the top skin to the taper of the wing to aid workability, do this once the skin is partly in position as a common mistake is to make the top skin the same as the bottom skin, resulting in a nice gap at the leading edge..."

Electro Jet, R/C Model World, November 1986.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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