White Trash (oz14113)

About this Plan

White Trash. Radio control sailplane model. Wingspan 3m.

The White Trash (oz14107) by Rick Walters first appeared in Model Builder, Jan 1972. This here is the White Trash as later republished in the Italian magazine Modellistica, in 1972. Drawings and text by GB Loffredo.

Note this plan was published with all ribs and formers shown at full size, the general layout at 30% scale. This version here has been rescaled up to full size at 200 dpi.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote (google-translated from the Italian): "Leafing through the American magazine Model Builder, among the many radio-controlled gliders that it publishes monthly, I happened to pause to examine the triptych and the review of a very simple model, the White Trash, which I had not previously given excessive importance to.

The thing which attracted my particular attention was a small photograph in the article, showing the White Trash among a large number of cups and trophies, which when I carefully read the review, amounted to more than forty, won in the most important US races, and among other things, those won in friendly or secondary competitions did not appear in the photo. Even more surprising was the fact that the races won were not limited to just one type of competition, but rather to endurance races with precision landing, multitask (known by us as the USAL formula) and to finish off slopes!

This demonstrates the versatility of the model which, without complicated devices (elevons, ailerons, aerodynamic brakes, etc.) is up to any situation, despite being within the reach of those about to build their first radio-controlled transmitter! This, to my way of thinking, is being able to do real model aircraft, and not the one reserved for the few specialists in mechanisms and gadgets, who with their complications end up driving away the mass of participants in the races.

Model Builder also highlights the very young age of the designer / builder Rick Walters (20 years old), who, with little experience, but with considerable ability in aerodynamic synthesis and aeromodel construction science, managed to create a model that, with the greatest simplicity, combines all the characteristics to define it as a plurivalent thoroughbred.

The magazine's praise of this young man is manifold, and I think it is right to report them on these lines: in addition to his design / construction and piloting skills, Rick offers ideas for fashion on the racing fields, which still make him more interesting from the point of view of personality. He even lent his reserve model to the fiercest opponents who, having damaged or lost his model, could not continue to compete. In a letter, signed by K Brewster who, having found himself in the aforementioned conditions, competed alongside US champions and, despite having this model on his hands for the first time, managed to place himself in the place of 'honor, always after Rick Walters, the writer says he found in the model all the qualities necessary in the race, proving to be a pure glider, ready to hinge with the wing tip at the smallest thermal, quick to take a trim fast, such as to easily overcome a Cumulus or a Kestrel (despite having a low wing load) and responding to the slightest command, so as to be able to do the best aerobatics.

Moving on to the model, as usual, I tried to convert all the dimensions expressed in inches into decimal measures. Furthermore, since the triptych is presented on a reduced scale, I have tried to reproduce the wing profile with the utmost care, which in my opinion could be the key to all the qualities and characteristics expressed by the model. Although this profile is a convex plane, it does not resemble any known profile whose coordinates are known.

The construction is entirely in balsa, with the due exceptions, and, also for all the details that I have developed on the natural boards, it should not present any difficulty. In the original the central part of the wing is in a single piece, but I would certainly recommend a modification, with the adoption of a steel bayonet, which allowing the detachment of the two wings, would facilitate the transport of the model to those who do not owns an American-sized station wagon. The terminals, on the other hand, are removable, and can therefore be removed if the weather conditions are very windy, or when you wish to use the model on a slope.

The particular constructs are highlighted in the tables; for those that did not appear from the original triptych, I have indicated some personal solutions, which in any case can be varied at will by the manufacturer, on the basis of the various systems used in other models presented in this same magazine.

For centering, position the center of gravity at 35% of the string, intervening with slight shifts in the position of the batteries, servos and receiver, and possibly adding a few grams of ballast. Once the model is statically centered, move on to the first hand launches, to control the glide, and correct any tendencies to hit or pull up, by acting on the elevator. If you have respected the incidences, you should not make any changes to the keyings in any case.

Remember to have the model, even in hand castings always under control, that is with the radio on and ready to intervene. Do not forget that it is a three-meter wingspan model, whose weight in flight order should be 1,100 - 1,300 grams. The White Trash is a very sensitive model, so keep the excursions of the moving parts to a minimum during the first flights, and in any case never exceed the maximum excursions shown in the drawing. Good flights."

Supplementary file notes

Article, in Italian.

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