Karatter (oz14409)
About this Plan
Karatter. Control line Rat Racer model for .40 engines.
Quote: "THE ORIGINAL 'Karatter' was conceived and designed in a day as a simple rat racer for use in the Blackburn Welfare MFC's display team, and as such needed to be impressively fast, yet attractive, and recognisable as a model aircraft!
This first model was rather handicapped with a in. plywood fuselage and a somewhat elderly ETA 29, well past its peak, but nonetheless flew at 103-106 mph. Later versions used the sandwich fuselage - as shown on the plan - which is 40 per cent lighter. Using a hot '40' engine in the lighter model would see the speed and acceleration rise considerably, and 120 mph should be quite within its capabilities.
Karatter is both quick and easy to build, as well as being a stable flyer, thus providing an ideal introduction to the very popular, and competitive rat-racing class.
Fuselage construction is straightforward, using 3/8 plywood or preferably (because it is much lighter yet adequately strong) a ply-balsa-ply sandwich of the same thickness. The fin consists of three cross-laminated layers of 1/8 medium balsa and is epoxied to the top of the fuselage.
Using a fretsaw, carefully cut out the slots for the wing and tailplane, as well as the cut-out for the engine mount. The ETA used 1/8 thick dural plates under the mounting lugs to provide clearance for the carb, and also to increase rigidity.
Taper the fuselage from the line shown to the rear, then round off the edges - taking the section to a knife-edge at the fin. A 16 swg mild steel skid is screwed to the 1/8 plywood let into the underside of the fuselage, which facilitates replacement.
The wing is made from a sheet of 1/2 in x 4 in medium balsa, with a 1/2 in sq hardwood LE cemented on. Taper the thickness to 3/16 at the tips, then carve the section shown..."
Karatter, Aeromodeller, February 1970.
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Supplementary file notes
Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
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(oz14409)
Karatter
by KR Poulton, C Thurley
from Aeromodeller
February 1970
36in span
IC C/L
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Submitted: 13/02/2023
Filesize: 391KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: Circlip, RFJ
Downloads: 196
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- Karatter (oz14409)
- Plan File Filesize: 391KB Filename: Karatter_oz14409.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 1235KB Filename: Karatter_oz14409_article.pdf
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Notes
* Credit field
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Scaling
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