Bristol 138A (oz11655)

About this Plan

Bristol 138A. Scale model for rubber power.

Scan from DBHL, cleanup by rchopper56.

ref DBHL-5689.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Note this plan was previously titled wrongly as the Fairey Long Range. I guess that was the listing as it appeared in the DBHL system. Steve.

Designed by SD Marsh, this plan appeared in Aeomodeller, Jan 1938. Also republished in 1995 in Flying Scale Rubber Models No.2, one of a series of planbooks from Nexus publications. Pit

Update 21/10/2021: Added article, thanks to hjsaxe.

Quote: "THE BRISTOL 138A, by SD MARSH.

This plane established a world height record of 53,937 ft at the end of June, 1937. Flight-Lieut MJ Adam piloted the special supercharged Pegasus-engined plane aloft for 1 hr 35 min, when his altimeter registered 55,000 ft; he then cut out his motor and began a long, fast glide, landing at Farnborough after being 2-1/4 hours in the air. The machine is said to be the largest single-seater in the world.

Building the Model: Take lengths of 1/16 sq. balsa and construct two sides on the blacked-in portion. While these are drying, cut the top and bottom cross pieces and join the sides together.

Next make the block for the tail assembly and cement it to the fuselage.

Cut the bulkheads from 1/32 sheet and cement in place, then attach the stringers. Cut the 1/4 in square leading edge and the 1/16 sheet spars for the centre section and cement in place; shape the leading edge after cement is dry. Cut the centre section ribs from 1/16 sheet and sand to shape with leading edge after cementing.

The Engine and Cowl: The motor cowl is made from hard 1/4 in sheet or 1/8 sheet, sanded down with a light grade paper and covered with metal foil or several coats of aluminium paint smoothed in between each coat.

The nine balsa cylinders are made from scrap and bound with thread to imitate fins. A handy tool for making cylinders, plugs, etc, is the reversed portion of a penholder sharpened up on a smooth file or stone.

Cement the cylinders to the inside of the cowl, making sure that they are short enough to go round the nose plug; this is a piece of hard wood bushed with aluminium tube, and a cork plug cemented on the rear portion.

Wings: Commence by tracing the wing panel shown, so as to complete the drawing. Cut out the ribs from 1/32 sheet, except the root ribs, which are cut from 1/16 in sheet. Then cut the tapered 1/16 sheet spars. Do not taper the leading edge until the ribs are cemented on, when it may be shaped to the rib contour.

Undercart: This is made from hard balsa and reed reinforced with wire; a very suitable wire may be obtained from any hardware store, called cheese-cutting wire. The wheels are hard balsa or pine, with two discs of aluminium recessed and cemented in the centre.

Prop and Flying: Make the prop from hard balsa. Carve and balance the two blades independently, and give them a deep undercamber. Cement the joint firmly. Power the model with three loops of 1/8 in flat rubber.

If the model dives when testing, bend the elevator up slightly, but if she stalls, which is much more likely, don't use the elevators but take your penholder and make a hole in the oil-cooler block; then fill this hole with putty until you get an even glide.

Colouring: The empennage and fuselage are natural tissue, with a black stripe along the top and just behind the enclosed cabin. The, wings are black, with a silver sweep at the root and all black underneath."

Supplementary file notes

Article.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction