Budgie (oz14384)

 

Budgie (oz14384) by Bill Bowne 2018 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Budgie. Radio control sport biplane mode, for electric power. Wingspan 32.2 in, wing area 400 sq in. Foam construction.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Budgie came about as a biplane version of another design, the Novice. I split the wing area between two wings (increasing by 120% to compensate for biplanes wings being roughly 80% as efficient as a monoplane of equal area). Of course, after I’d built the plane, I realized I’d forgotten to shorten the fuselage - then we flew the Budgie and found the model didn’t care - and that the ground handling was very nice, even on longer grass. Besides, it gave the Budgie a Hawker Fury-ish look!

Most of Budgie is ½” or ¼” house insulation foam I hot-wired from large sheets. The wing cores were cut from the same foam. The fuselage sides are ½” foam, routed down to ¼” between bulkheads and edge bits, but that could be converted to ¼” sides and separate ¼” shapes glued on with foam safe glues.

Speaking of glues, my main glues are clear polyurethane ('Gorilla' Glue – NOT the honey-colored stuff!) and Foam Tac or Foam Cure. I don’t use foam safe CAs as (1) they’re brittle when cured and (2) all the CA accelerators I’ve found attack the household foam I use. I DID use thin CA on all the sewn threads, soaking them after the braided fishing line was tied off (braided, not monofilament, as the latter doesn’t glue well).

For covering, I use a 50/50 mix of Titebond II aliphatic glue and tap water. I hinged all the control surfaces with CA hinges, applied using clear Gorilla Glue, instead of CA. It takes longer to harden, but has worked very well on several models.

The wings are covered with brown parcel wrapping paper, with the exception of the aileron bay edges. Those, the ailerons, and the rest of the model’s foam structure are covered with blank newsprint.

Foam is weak, so where the aileron torque rods and elevator joiner wires attach into those surfaces, I used bits of hardwood to hold the wires. Since building the Budgie, I’ve gone to using balsa blocks for these surfaces so, obviously, builders can also make the change."

Supplementary file notes

Build notes.
Covering notes.
Pilot decal (budgie).

CAD file

This plan is available for download in CAD format.

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Budgie (oz14384) by Bill Bowne 2018 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz14384)
    Budgie
    by Bill Bowne
    2018 
    32in span
    Electric R/C Biplane
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
  • Submitted: 04/02/2023
    Filesize: 754KB
    Format: • PDFvector • CADfile
    Credit*: BillBowne
    Downloads: 449

Budgie (oz14384) by Bill Bowne 2018 - pic 003.jpg
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Budgie (oz14384) by Bill Bowne 2018 - pic 004.jpg
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Budgie (oz14384) by Bill Bowne 2018 - pic 005.jpg
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Download File(s):
  • Budgie (oz14384)
  • Plan File Filesize: 754KB Filename: Budgie_oz14384.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 20KB Filename: Budgie_oz14384_build_notes.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 51KB Filename: Budgie_oz14384_covering_notes.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 1616KB Filename: Budgie_oz14384_pilot_decal.zip
  • CAD Zip Filesize: 98KB Filename: Budgie_oz14384_cad.zip
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Notes

* Credit field

The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.

Scaling

This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.

 

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