Rutan Starship One (oz11575)

About this Plan

Rutan Starship One. Ebineezer scale for .5 - .8 cc engines.

Quote: "17 inch span all-sheet FF for 0.5cc power. An Ebenezer variant that's different. Rutan Spaceship One, by John Kay.

I was looking for something different to build for the Ebenezer event at Old Warden when an article in the newspaper solved the problem. The successful flight of the Rutan brothers' rocket powered vehicle Spaceship One. It captured the $10,000,000 ANSARI prize for the first private venture vehicle to take a man up to 100 km into space and return back to earth twice in 14 days.

For aeromodellers, the most arresting feature was in the mode of return. At the descent stage, the rear portion of the wing and booms are raised at about 45°, producing high drag and stalls, so that the vehicle descends vertically. On reaching the lower atmosphere, the wing and booms return to their original position to glide back to earth.

Since the 1940's, free-flight modellers have used this retrieval system developed in America and this would be known to the Rutan brothers from their aeromodelling days.

At the time of making the model, I could not find any drawings and information was taken from photographs. At best it could be called cartoon scale (in the true Ebenezer spirit!).

Before starting there are some points worth noting: The booms are not parallel to each other; but angled in at the front. This toe-in gives the necessary spiral stability. The booms have a central carbon spar reinforcement from the leading edge of the wing to under the tail. This was found to be essential to withstand rough and tumble Ebenezer flying. The CG should be no further back than shown on the plan.

Construction: I prefer to make cardboard patterns for the fuselage and booms first, before transferring to balsa - these are shown separately on the plan.

Use medium weight balsa. Cut out two half-fuselage profiles from 4 inch wide sheet and join along the centre line. Fit 1/4 in hard wood engine bearers spaced to suit your engine and laminate both sides with 1/16 ply. In the case of radial mounted engines, mount the engine on ply formers and shorten nose so that the prop position is the same as on the plan.

Firm 1/4 in sheet booms have a full depth slot to take the flat carbon spar. I found a hacksaw blade best for this out of its holder: The booms are right and left-handed. Use clear plastic tape on the outer side of the booms to cover the slot to its length. Apply 15-minute epoxy in the slot before fitting the carbon spar and then add a balsa packing piece to make the surface flush. When dry, remove tape and sand all over; place on top of each other and drill a 1/8 hole to take the tail plane pivot... "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Hi Steve & Mary, I'm continuing to search through what remains of my lifetime of hoarding. I'm sitting at my PC, scanning and cleaning, cup of coffee on the desk, and some cool jazz playing on the stereo, it's almost as pleasant as model flying. And looking out the window today, it IS better than flying...(:-)

Here is my latest find, from Model Flyer, the Rutan Spaceship One. Cheers, KraftyOne

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