Flying Aces Stick (oz14347)

About this Plan

Flying Aces Stick. Radio control sport model for electric power. Micro RC test bed.

Note the 60 inch free flight Flying Aces Stick (oz225) was first published in 1936. This here is a later, smaller version at 24 in, for RC.

Quote: "Designed by Thayer Syme, the Flying Aces Stick is a test bed for micro RC power systems and radio gear. It is a reduced reproduction of the larger, gasoline-powered model of the 1930s. The prototype model is powered by a Hiline Micro-4 motor and uses Sky Hooks & Rigging's Hybrid RX and ESC, one WES-Technik servo on the rudder and a 4-cell, 50mAh battery.

In the early to mid-1930s, Bill Brown and a few others experimented with small, internal-combustion engines that were light enough to power models. These small gas engines presented all sorts of new problems. Adventurous modelers of the day needed to learn about - and maintain - batteries, ignition coils, fuel tanks, fuel lines and spark plugs. Modelers quickly learned that, compared with rubber power, a gas engine could much more quickly - and spectacularly - reduce months of building efforts to a pile of kindling.

In November 1936 Bill Effinger and Thracey Petrides came to the rescue when they published a plan for a 60-inch-span, dead-simple model - the Flying Aces Stick. The model was little more than an overgrown, rubber-powered, ROG stick model with a fuselage platform for equipment installation. Because everything was mounted out in the open, it was easy for the modeler to get at. Of course, the model was also built up much more quickly - and with significantly less emo-tional investment - than a full, former-and-stringer model covered with silk and dope. The model met with great success. Not only was it quick, easy and cheap to build, but it flew exceptionally well, to boot. All of these traits made an updated and reduced-size version a natural when it came to experimenting with and testing the new micro RC gear and propulsion systems.

My version of the Flying Aces (FA) Stick has a 24-inch span and 108.5 square inches of wing area - plenty of wing area to keep the model flying slowly. Going slow is key to successful indoor RC. The fuselage platform has plenty of room to carry small RC gear. The design can easily be scaled up or down, depending on which radio gear and motor systems you want to use.

Construction: If you have built more than one or two models, I can add little to help the process along. Instead of a detailed, step-by-step construction sequence, I will just offer a few thoughts about how the prototype was put together.

The wing was assembled very quickly using standard techniques. The ribs were cut to a depth of 3/16 inch from some 1/16-inch (6 lb/cf) sheet. If you want to add a little strength with only a slight weight increase, cut the ribs so that they are flat-bottomed. Leading and trailing edges (LEs and TEs) are shaped from 3/16-inch-square balsa..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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