Simple Simon (oz13638)

About this Plan

Simple Simon. Radio control sport plane for 1/2A engines.

Quote: "Here's a quick and easy R/C model for .049-.051 glow or 05 electric power. Ace foam wings make the construction part even simpler. Simple Simon, by Frank Roales.

Line it up for a fast low pass with a big loop. Rack it around and come back with an in-line axial roll, pull the nose up, climb out, roll it over and split-S out. On the way back roll it over and make a low inverted pass. Grab some altitude and when the engine quits enjoy a long flat glide home.

Fun? You bet, and that's not all. This performance and the good manners that go with it comes in a very economical package. A couple of ounces of fuel, a Tee Dee, along with your favorite small radio, and your off and flying.

It has all the performance one could want from just two functions, with
absolutely no bad habits - a very flat glide, and no tendency what so ever to snap when really slowed down during landing. In fact, to illustrate this point, let me tell you of an incident that happened during the early testing of 'Simon.'

The early version of Simon had a 36 inch straight ACE foam wing with 4 inches of dihedral. One day while out flying, I took just one too many flights on my 100 ma pack and 'lost it.' The elevator was full up and the aileron's were in a very slight right turn. I set the transmitter on the ground and watched Simon loop its way up to a tiny dot in the sky before the engine quit, then it set into a big right glide circle just like a free flight. After a short chase on motorcycle, we watched it make a perfect landing about a 1/2-mile down the airport. Not even the prop was broken! Later I learned that total 'free flight' time was about 12 minutes. So if you want a super-stable trainer type, just substitute a 36 inch straight foam wing with 4 inches of total dihedral for the one shown. All else should remain the same.

How simple? Well a foam wing and sheet tail together with a fuselage that has no formers, not even one, make for quick, simple building. Also, the whole thing can be built with just three sheets of balsa and a little 1/16 ply, plus a foam wing. Also, as all gluing is with cyano-crylate and 5-minute epoxy, the con-struction goes very quickly and the same goes for finishing, because of the exclu-sive use of mylar covering. So, if after reading all of this you are interested, let's have at it.

WING: As I hate to build wings, I always get it out of the way first. This one is foam and very easy to build. You will need either an ACE Pacer foam wing kit, or if you prefer to do it the hard way, a set of ACE tapered 1/2A wing cores and a 5-3/4 inch section of straight core. If you have decided to use the ACE Pacer wing kit, just assemble according to the instruc-tions and change the fuselage wing cut-out to fit.

If doing it from scratch, start by using a square on the trailing edge of the tapered cores to make cuts of 90 degrees. This will gain the swept leading edge we are looking for. Next, trim 3/16 off the trailing edge of all parts and 1/4 inch off the leading edge of the center section. Epoxy the 1/4 x 1/2 x 5-3/4 inch hard balsa leading edge on the center section, remember to always use epoxy sparingly, because it's very heavy. Next, epoxy together all wing panels, keeping them straight and even.

After the wing drys, a groove is cut in the top for a spar. A metal straightedge can be taped to the top of the wing with the front edge approximately 3-3/4 inches forward of the trailing edge. Now, with your soldering gun, make an 18 inch groove along this, centered on the wing center line, 1/4 inch deep for the spar. Practice this on some scrap foam and you'll get the hang of just how fast to move the gun for the size hole you need..."

Simple Simon, Model Builder, March 1982.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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