Simple CAP (oz14314)

About this Plan

Simple CAP. Radio control sport scale model.

Note see also the ACE RC kit version of this design at: Simple Cap 21 (oz10487).

Quote: "Giant-sized fun in a micro-sized package! Simple CAP, by Fred L Reese.

Picture this, your model is idling on the runway arid you advance the throttle, push in a little right rudder to keep it straight down the centerline. The model gathers speed, the tail comes up, and then it lifts off as you pull back on the stick. The model flies out, gaining altitude. You turn back down the runway and pull up ihrough a loop and then up again into a half reverse Cuban and do a quick roll as you come back down the runway. This is followed by wing overs, snap rolls, spins, and a bunch of other unnamed maneuvers until you sense the tank is getting low, so you throttle back and land right in front of you. Wait you say, this is no big deal, all of the models do this, but then you look again. The model we are talking about has a wingspan of 35 in, is powered by an .049, and only weighs 21 oz.

The Simple CAP is the latest of a series of little .049 airplanes utilizing the Ace RC mini foam wings where the design has been simplified to the point where the model is recognizable, but everything is as basic as possible. The CAP 21 acrobatic airplane is a design that was easily simplified. In fact, the design just fell into place. It looks cute, flies great, doesn't cost much, and builds quickly. What more could you ask for?

I started building Simple Series airplanes 20 years ago, when I discovered the Ace RC mini foam wings, and these little airplanes have provided more fun per dollar than any other models I can think of. They have given me hundreds and hundreds of flights on very little fuel and a minimum of effort. They have provided a design outlet that satisfied my need to have a particular airplane without expending the time and money to build a traditional version.

Most of these designs were two channel, utilizing rudder and elevator control. I found that if the rudder was big enough, and there was enough dihedral, the model performed as if it had ailerons. These models would loop and tell, snap and spin with just two servos, and 20 years ago two servos were all that would fit in a model this size.

The first Simple Series design that I published, back in 1972 was the Little Mulligan (oz6642) that flew like a pylon racer and proved to be very popular with RCM readers. Over the years I have published ten other designs including a Sopwith Triplane (oz7024) and a Bede BD-5 (oz12610). I have designed, built and flown others using from one to four channels that weighed from 12 oz to 2 lb. Most were powered by TD or Medallion .049 engines. but I have used engines of .020-.10 with both the tapered and constant chord wings.

It has only been the last few years that I coined the name Simple Series, and published a Simple Citabria (oz7278), Simple Cub (oz6426), and a Simple Duster (oz9871). All of these designs sold very well for RCM, and Dick Kidd has been after me to do something more exciting with the series. Then I bought a new radio with the microsized servos and a Cox Dragonfly .049 engine with throttle and a built-in clunk tank and the Simple CAP had to be done.

The CAP 21 is a natural for the series because of its moments and general arrangement. I fudged the landing gear ahead of the wing and used the Ace RC small aluminum landing gear that I had used on the other models. What is exciting is that it is a 4-channel, fully acrobatic model using a stock radio, stock engine, and it only weighs 21 ozs. That is 11 oz less than a Mooney I built in 1976.

Construction: I use Zap CA Plus for all wood to wood joints including the fire wall and landing gear mounts. I used epoxy only to join the two wing halves, and to assemble the aileron linkage... "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Scan by MarkD, cleanup by Circlip.

Note this plan used the Ace Foam wing. For a plan showing how to construct a replacement wing in balsa (both tapered and straight-chord) see Ace Foam Wing (oz8557) thanks to AndyKunz.

Supplementary file notes

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