Alert (oz12473)
About this Plan
Alert. Free flight power model. Wingspan 53 in, wing area 417 sq in. For Class B/C competition.
The Alert (oz4909) design was first published in Air Trails, December 1942. This here is a later redrawn plan from MB in 1989.
Quote: "Old Timer of the Month. The Alert. Design by Michael LaTorre. Text by Bill Northrop. Plan by Phil Bernhardt.
When this month's Old Timer was originally published, there weren't too many modelers around to appreciate it - most of them had joined the US military forces, and those who hadn't for one reason or another were finding it difficult to obtain the main ingredient - balsawood. The 'Alert,' an appropriate name for the period, was published in the December 1942 issue of Air Trails magazine, and was designed by Michael LaTorre, a well-known East Coast (New York) modeler. Like his C-Raider (oz5964) which was a simplified version of Schoenbrun's Gladiator (oz4), the Alert is a greatly simplified Goldberg Zipper (oz387) or Mercury.
Our plans were drawn by Phil Bernhardt, and the model shown was built by Phil's father, the late Otto Bernhardt, about 18 wars ago. It has always been an excellent flier in free flight events. After reading the construction portion of the article, we've decided to let Phil's plans talk for themselves; the article is somewhat confusing. Flight pattern of the original model was left power, left glide, with a bit of wash-in applied to the left wing panels to prevent any power spirals."
Direct submission to Outerzone.
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(oz12473)
Alert
by Michael Latorre
from Model Builder
February 1989
53in span
IC F/F Pylon
clean :)
all formers complete :)
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Submitted: 07/08/2020
Filesize: 744KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: MB2020
Downloads: 543
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User comments
Nice to see the Alert featured on Outerzone. It's extra special for me because the ship pictured in the Model Builder article, with the 77 on the side of the pylon, was built by my Dad, Otto Bernhardt. The model still exists; I took the attached pics just yesterday morning [main pic, 004-008]. The model is still in great shape despite being in storage for the last 35 or more years. It's covered in fuchsia colored silk (black silk on the bottom of the wing and stab and lower fuselage) and nitrate dope with a finish coat of K&B Superpoxy clear. The engine is one of my Dad's early 77 Products spark ignition conversions -- a cross-scavenged Supertigre .15 running on crankcase pressure. A real screamer! The engine is gummed up some after sitting so long but wouldn't take much to get it cleaned up and ready to go.Thank you Mary and Steve for your work on Outerzone! It's a godsend for us modelers who enjoy building as much as flying!
Phil Bernhardt - 17/09/2020
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- Alert (oz12473)
- Plan File Filesize: 744KB Filename: Alert_oz12473.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 109KB Filename: Alert_oz12473_article.pdf
- help with downloads
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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