Eliminator (oz14270)

About this Plan

Eliminator. Radio control sport model. Twin boom pusher layout. Wingspan 65.25 in, wing area 636 sq in, for .60 engine.

Quote: "With all due respect to the fine people at Chance Vought, my Eliminator is how I feel the F4-U Corsair should have been designed. By MA Fallandy.

Many years ago, more than I care to remember, I joined an organization that sent me on a field trip. The field trip lasted six years, the organization was called the United States Navy. While associated with this merry band of itinerant indigents, it fell my lot to fly the F4-U Corsair. A fine airplane, but a little long in the nose. If you were long in the groove coming aboard the carrier, that extended nose had a tendency to block out the Landing Signal Officer. Also, it had a rather bad habit of flipping over on its back when it stalled. However, it was very good at what it was designed to do; eliminate the enemy, also fairly good at eliminating Naval and Marine aviators. These attributes plus its inverted gull wings earned it the nickname of 'bent wing eliminator.'

With all due respect to the fine people at Chance Vought, my Eliminator is how I feel the F4-U Corsair should have been designed. Granted my version would have been a little difficult to bail out of, but what the hey, you can't have everything.

The Eliminator is a rewarding airplane; it builds fast, flies well and is guaranteed different.

Construction: Although it looks somewhat difficult, don't let it fool you. Construction is not all that difficult, I started with the fuselage or 'pod.' Even though you may have a big enough block of balsa from which to carve the whole pod, split it into quarters, This will always give you a centerline from which to measure. The pod separates on the engine centerline. Both mating halves are surfaced with 1/8 plywood.

Before you start whittling, cut out the two wing spars that form the gull part of the wing. Also from 1/8 plywood, cut out the two wing spar center sections only just that part. goes into the pod. Also cut out F-1, the nosewheel support. Now cross-cut the two blocks that make up the lower half of the pod where the two wing spars go and up front for the nosewheel support.

The bottom half of the pod may now be glued together. Apply glue only to the center of F-1 and the wing spar center sections in an area that win fall out when you scoop out the insides of the pod. Now glue the top half of the pod to the bottom half, but replace the two 1/8 plywood liners with 1/8 balsa. Again place the glue in the center section that will fall away when the insides are removed. The reason for replacing the plywood with balsa is for ease of carving. It is very difficult to get a constant surface with varying hardness of materials.

You should now have a rectangular block and can trace on the top and side view. With your handy bandsaw, cut out the side view. Carefully glue back these cutaway pieces. Use just enough glue to hold the block together while cutting out the top view. Always remember to put the glue in the corners or in an area that will later disappear.

For those of you without a bandsaw, I have found that if you ask around the local junior high schools or high schools and explain what you are doing, they are more than glad to help, or let you use their equipment. Now that you have the general shape of the pod in two dimensions, you can turn loose your pet beaver, pocket knife, Dremel tool, belt sander, or whatever device you use to remove undesired balsa.

When you are sure you have the outside to shape, split the top from the bottom. Use the 1/8 sheet balsa for patterns for the 1/8 plywood liners. Before gluing the 1/8 plywood liners permanently in place, make sure you have the six 2-56 T-nuts in the lower half and matching 2-56 washers on top of the upper half..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Scan by MarkD, cleanup by Circlip.

Supplementary file notes

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