Bellanca CF (oz14310)

About this Plan

Bellanca CF. Scale model for rubber power. Wingspan 24-1/2 in.

Quote: "The Bellanca CF, by Bill Bell.

I just saw her on a visit to the Paul E Garber Preservation Restoration and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. It was a case of love at first sight. No, I'm not talking about a beautiful woman. The object of my affection was the Bellanca CF. So, to get things started, I purchased Book #6 Bellanca CF of Famous Aircraft of the National Air & Space Museum. On the inside back cover was a 3 view which my good friend Kevin Sharbonda blew-up to the size that this model is built to. My thanks also go to Allan Schanzle for his help in preparing these drawings for insertion in Max-Fax.

Construction: I am not going to go into detail on construction as I believe the model builder who would build this beauty already knows the basics. However, I will try to explain some of the intricacies prevalent in this design.

Fuselage: The fuselage starts life as a simple box including the curved top. After the sides are put together with the cross-pieces, the sides, top, and bottom are covered with 1/64 plywood sanded to about .015 in or less as shown on drawing. Veneer from certain cigar boxes may be substituted. The cowl pieces (top, sides, and bottom) are made of soft balsa sanded to proper shape as per the drawing.

The nose piece is carved to a round cross-section to match the fuselage and spinner. The cylinders are of balsa, thread, pins, and aluminum tubing. See engine detail on drawing. windows are cut out with a Dremel tool. My propeller was made from a Paulownia wooden prop but a plastic prop may be substituted. A 7 in diameter prop is about right.

Landing Gear: Make landing gear of hard balsa or equivalent. Wire axle goes entirely across spreader bar and bent as per section A-A on fuselage drawing. Don't forget the fairing pieces at the 'V' of the struts. I used cut-off common pins to pin the gear to the fuselage. A pair of 1-1/2 in Williams wheels completes the landing gear.

Wings: The wings are fairly simple and follows conventional construction procedures. Don't forget the dowels for attaching them to fuselage, also reinforcement pieces at wing strut attachment points. Wing Struts These are built similar to the wings. Don't forget to cant the butt ribs at fuselage attachment points. I used cut-off common pins for correct alignment with the fuselage.

Tail Surfaces: These are simple to build. Follow the plans.

Covering: Cover wings, wing struts, tail surfaces fuselage aft of veneer with white tissue. Don't forget to dope paper to ends rib in wing as it has a reflex-under-cambered airfoil.

Painting: Cowling, engine nose block and spinner-silver. Engine cylinders-black. Propeller-natural with OD tips. Plywood (veneer), landing gear-stained mahogany with gloss coat. Rectangular housing on right side of fuselage in silver. Wheels, white, black tires.

Assembly: When assembling be sure you put dihedral in the wings 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 should be plenty. When attaching wing struts to fuselage drill pin holes to receive pins previously installed. The same goes for the landing gear.

Details: Add details as per the drawing. I used small aluminum rivets for oil and gas caps, aluminum tubing for exhaust stacks. A pilot would be a nice touch. The logo 'Bellanca C.F.' will have to be made larger due to the enlarged fin. Control houses, cables, LG brace wires, windows and windshield may be added at this time.

Flying: I will not include any flying instructions except plane should balance at front spar and I use a loop of 1/8 and a loop of 3/32 about 13 to 14 in long. Take it slow and easy. Good building and flying."

Supplementary file notes

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