Balsaurus (oz11469)

 

Balsaurus (oz11469) by Earl Cayton 1958 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Balsaurus. Simple all-sheet glider model.

Quote: "Modern man patterns his planes like modern birds. Would ancient man have used reptiles for a pattern?

As every modeler knows, 'Balsaurus' was a rare prehistoric flying reptile with an uncanny skill of snifting out even the weakest thermal and riding it for hours at a time at its heart's content. It made its nest in the ancient Balsa tree and pacified its ravenous appetite by feasting upon the swarms of Balsa beetles that infested the Balsa trees of its day.

Presented here is a profile version of this old but interesting bird. Proportions and performance are commensurate with contest types. Plans are full size so what are you waiting for? Let's get started.

CONSTRUCTION: The wing is cut to shape from a sheet of 18 x 4 x 3/16 in fairly soft sheet balsa. Carve to the airfoil shown. Cut the wing apart at the polyhedral joints and cement it into position with the polyhedral shown on the plans. The tail group is simply cut from quarter grain 1/16 sheet balsa. The fuselage is carved from 1/4 in rock hard sheet balsa. Sand down smooth with progressively smoother sandpaper and then assemble, using plenty of cement. All surfaces are attached at zero degrees. The left side of the stab is 1 in higher than the right for a left turn in the glide. The model is finished with two coats of clear dope all over and then two coats of black dope on the fuselage. The face of the bird is easily sketched in with silver and red dope. The wing and tail are trimmed in black dope or black tissue strips.

FLYING: Half of test flying is performed before taking the model on the flying field. First double check all the flying surfaces and make sure that they are in neutral position. The left side of the stab is 1 in higher than the right side. The center of gravity should be in the position shown. Now we are ready to fly.

The glide circle is to the left and minor turn adjustments are made by bending the rudder trim tab. Add bits of clay fore and aft for longitudinal trim. Bank the wings for turn in the climb. Grip with the index finger at the junction of the wing and fuselage for extra altitude. The original Balsaurus climbed to the right and then performed a figure 'S' into a left glide. Turn adjustments are reversed for a southpaw. Best of luck with your Balsaurus."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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Balsaurus (oz11469) by Earl Cayton 1958 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz11469)
    Balsaurus
    by Earl Cayton
    from Flying Models
    April 1958 
    18in span
    Glider F/F
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 24/08/2019
    Filesize: 115KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: Pit, davidterrell80
    Downloads: 770

Balsaurus (oz11469) by Earl Cayton 1958 - pic 003.jpg
003.jpg

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Notes

* Credit field

The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.

Scaling

This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.

 

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