Back Pocket Plane (oz12502)

About this Plan

Back Pocket Plane. Simple chuck glider model. Wingspan 3-1/2 in.

Quote: "Recent trends in indoor craft seem to be toward ultra-large aircraft. For example, the Big D by Al Rohrbaugh and the Monster by Ery Rodemsky. Being a deviant sort of person, I decided to take a step in the other direction. I came up with this; my back-pocket plane, after many seconds of deep thought.

I drew the plans on the wall in order to get the right perspective in space. I then transferred them to paper, which I promptly cut up and used for a template. I had just finished cutting it out and glueing it together so it could dry in peace on my workbench, when my mother cleaned my room and threw it out!

The second plane was a complete success, requiring only 16 flights to get trimmed to perfection, except for this funny spiral dive in the glide, which was fixed on the 17th flight.

I think this is about as small as you can get and still have a decent glide with the ability to gain enough altitude to fly in competition. About 20 feet seems to be maximum altitude without folding the wings. This is a perfect plane for those low ceilinged school gyms.

Send $.40 to Oldtimer Models, P.O. Box 18002, Milwaukee, Wi. 53218 and order a sheet of .015 (1/64) x 2 x 18 inch indoor balsa. Cut out the wing, stabilizer, and rudder from the sheet of .015 and sand the wing and stabilizer to an airfoil.

Cut out the fuselage from 1/32 and round the corners slightly, except where wing and stabilizer mount. Breathe on the wing and shape it with the fingers to a little more undercamber than the plans show, as the wood will tend to spring back some. Cut the dihedral joint and sand it to a bevel so that it mates pro-perly when raised to the proper dihe-dral of 5/16 inch under each tip. Glue it in this position. Glue the wing to the fuselage. Glue the stabilizer on with one side blocked up 3/64 inch. The plane will turn toward the high side, so block up the right side to turn right (from rear) and vice-versa. Sand the rudder to a streamlined shape and glue onto the fuselage. Let the plane dry 1/2 to 1 hour.

Indoor cement and Hot Stuff work best because they do not warp the wood.

Check for warps, and if you find one, breathe on it and bend in the op-posite direction. Add clay to the nose until it glides smoothly. If it turns too sharp to one side, try bending in opposite rudder. I have an old 'Charms' candy box, and this plane just fits in it. I can carry my plane to any contest in my back pocket!"

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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