Commando (oz14055)
About this Plan
Commando. Radio control sport model. Wingspan 50 in, wing area 402 sq in, for .10 engines.
Note the original Commando design was a 1942 kit by Modelcraft of Ontario, see Commando (oz9142) for more details, and the nearest thing we have to an original plan. This here is a later plan for RC.
Quote: "Commando Building Notes: Dear Modeler: Thank you for purchasing a COMMANDO kit. The Commando originally appeared in 1942 as a kit by Model Craft. As a free flight model, it was originally intended for engines such as the Bantam and Ohisson. The Midway Commando kit is a faithful reproduction of the original (based upon the John Pond drawings) except that it is modified for R/C. As it is now offered, the Commando makes a fine sport model for either a gas .10 or an electric 035 to 05. For competition, it is just the right size(when kept light) for 1/2A Texaco R/C using a Cox Texaco R/C (or equivalent) engine. We hope you will enjoy building and flyin this classic Commando.
Fuselage Construction: Assembly is quite conventional for a built-up design.
1. Build a side flat on the plan surface. Cover the plan with plastic wrap so as not to glue the fuselage side to the plan. (Exception: If you are going to use one of the cyanoacrylate (CA) glues such as Hot Stuff or Jet, cover the plan surface with waxed paper, not plastic wrap.)
2. First check out the 5/32 sq balsa strips in your kit and select the 4 firmest for your longeron strips. Place the lower longeron strip over the plan (do not cut it to length yet), pinning with T pins and Pin Clamps (Rocket City Co). Pin along the edges. Do not pin through the longerons. As the lower longeron bends rather sharply at the front of the fuselage, extra pins may be needed to hold the shape. If you think the strip might need it, dampen the strip with water, as this will make the balsa soft enough to bend easily. Permit the uncut end of the strip to extend beyond the drawing to give a little bending leverage. It will be trimmed off after the glue has dried/cured. Fit F6 in at the tail and glue in place.
3. Next, cut, bevel and glue the top longeron to fit the drawing. Use T pins and and Pin Clamps to hold in position over the plan. (Note: the area under the wing indicated as scrap balsa filler is not added until the fuselage is fully framed up.)
4. Cut and fit 5/32 sq uprights, one at a time, to the fuselage longerons, and glue into position. (I like to cut them slightly over size, using a Zona saw, and then sand carefully for a perfect/tight fit.) Then add the few additional cross pieces at the fuselage front.
5. When the first side is laid up and the glue is fully dry, pull your building pins, but leave the structure over the plan. Now, with the completed side still over the plan, place the plastic wrap (or waxed paper) on top of the completed side and build your second fuselage side directly over the first. (The object is to make sure that the two sides match, exactly.)
6. With the second side complete (and the glue fully dry), remove both sides from the building surface and begin the process of joining the two sides. This you will do over the plan Top View. Orient the sides with the top down against the plan surface. (That is, the flat cabin top is pinned over the plan Top View.) Pin this area to the plan surface and carefully square both fuselage sides to the building surface. (You should check squareness rather often, using some type of squares. ACE R/C building triangles have worked best for us -the regular ones, not the bent or cut-out ones.) Now, cut to size and glue in the cabin area cross pieces clamping and pinning as needed..."
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Quote: "Dear Steve and Mary, Here are the plans and building instruction manual for the 1942 Commando as re-published by the Midway Model Company. Plans say model designed by Bob Sliff, but it seems he is the one who re-drew it for radio control. This version has the lifting horizontal stabilizer. I've included the four page "Commando Building Notes"... Thank you for continuing to keep this site up and running, it is very
appreciated. Is mise le meas, Marc Bird"
Supplementary file notes
Instructions.
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(oz14055)
Commando
by Bob Sliff
from Midway Models (ref:505)
1970
50in span
IC R/C Cabin Kit
clean :)
formers unchecked
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Submitted: 30/08/2022
Filesize: 890KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: Marc Bird
Downloads: 636
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User comments
The original was a design by Ontario Modelcraft from Canada. When Model Craft went dormant they photographed this plan at a reduced size. I have the reduction size. Another prominent Canadian company, Easy Built bought out Model Craft products, hence these days we see all of them together under US ownership. The two brothers, Don and Ron Wilson, sons of the Easy Built brand owner, put out some kits in the 1970s, but not the Model Craft stuff. I discovered the Commando while travelling in the UK and a couple of years later found the Wilson brothers. They gave me the plan photo and I had it enlarged to the correct size and gave the Wilsons some copies. The Model Craft items, three in all, were soon kitted again.This plan, though muddled for RC, is one of the best redrawn plans. On the original the full rib spacing is at 3 inches with half ribs in between to the front upper wing spars. The dihedral as shown in miniature upper right corner is correct. It was designed as a free flight model. The engine shown on the original plan was a Roger's .29 slag engine on spark ignition. The wing is undercambered which provided a very slow flat glide. You might guess correctly that I am a free flight enthusiast. The model was built in the late 1990s and still flies today !
This plan shows a cambered stabilizer unlike the original design, which I found impossible to trim. I was using two different 1 cc Brit diesels for power and either one produced a wicked inside power loop... quite spectacular, actually ! Off came the tail group and I built a new one with significant Camber tapering lower towards the tips. Boom ! Problem solved ! And what a consistently stable and majestic flyer it has been over the years.
I think the glow power engine sizes suggested would be perfect if anyone MUST do it up for RC. You could not find a better sport free flight model ! I have lost my full size plan, but hope to have a new scale up to original size done soon. AW
Allen Wale - 07/09/2022
Thanks for your comments Allen! If I use these plans to construct this model for RC would you recommend keeping the same amount of dihedral you used for your free flight version? I would love to construct this model for free flight but do not have access to a flying site.
Would anyone happen to have templates for F1 and F3?
Thanks Steve for the great website!
David
David L Hammond - 09/09/2022
The dihedral shown may be excessive even for free flight, so I would imagine it might be troublesome for RC. Motor and a small rudder surface with a bit of dihedral reduction might work, but I am guessing. I do not do RC with model aircraft, but I examine a lot of plans of all types. I notice that most RC conversions of free flight ships and purpose designed RC ships feature low or no wing dihedral and avoid significant longitudinal dihedral i.e. wing incidence and stab incidence are both set at near or exact neutral to allow the radio signals to do the flying, and not be interfered with by inbuilt free flight trimming setups. To me, a non RC type, the changes to free flight models look grotesque. Sadly, finding available free flight flying sites is difficult. Whenever my wife and I are out driving together, she watches intently to make sure I am not sizing up potential flying sites as we move along ! AW
AllenWale - 10/09/2022
A fantastic flyer! Built it from a very vintage kit and used a LA .10 and RET. Flys better than any sailplane I've had! It doesn't want to quit flying!
Ben Calloway - 09/12/2022
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- Commando (oz14055)
- Plan File Filesize: 890KB Filename: Commando_oz14055.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 1447KB Filename: Commando_oz14055_instructions.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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