Gafanhoto (oz14530)
About this Plan
Gafanhoto. Free flight towline glider model.
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Quote: "Hello, Outerzone administrator! My name is Wagner Aoki. Now I´m sending a Gafanhoto hand glider plan. This glider was made by Casa Aero-Bras. It was a hobby shop in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This shop was opened in 1943, April 17th and unfortunately closed its doors in 2020, Aug. Gafanhoto means grasshopper. It is amazing glider and very popular for beginners. Enjoy it.
Thank you."
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(oz14530)
Gafanhoto
from Casa Aerobras
33in span
Glider F/F Kit
clean :)
formers unchecked
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Submitted: 14/04/2023
Filesize: 409KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: WagnerAoki
Downloads: 662
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User comments
Dear Steve and Mary, I am writing to contribute an incredible piece of documented history for the Aerobrás Gafanhoto plan currently on Outerzone [pics 005-010].My name is Fabrício Mater, a modeler and manufacturer from Brazil (Jell Planes). We are currently working on modernizing and relaunching classic vintage kits, including this legendary glider.
Recently, we recovered an amazing article from the Brazilian magazine Esporte Modelismo (Issue #74, published in 1993). It documents an epic adventure where a journalist borrowed a built Gafanhoto straight from the ceiling of the Aerobrás shop in São Paulo, packed it into a Brazilian Air Force C-130 Hercules, and took it to the South Pole. On December 29, 1992, at Base March on King George Island, that little balsa and tissue Gafanhoto officially became the first model aircraft to fly in Antarctica.
To fully document this milestone on your site, I am attaching:
The Magazine Scans: The original pages documenting the expedition.
Restored / HD Event Photos: High-definition restorations of the historical photos (the signed wing, the crew, and the launch over the ice) that we produced to celebrate and illustrate this feat.
Our Updated Model Catalog: Information on our modernized Gafanhoto rework, keeping the classic free flight soul alive for new generations.
Please feel free to add this to the Gafanhoto's plan page. The world deserves to know how this humble 80cm glider conquered the Drake Passage!
Thank you for your hard work in keeping our global modeling history alive.
Best regards,
Fabrício Mater Jell Planes – Brazil
Fabricio Mater - 15/05/2026
Print wood scans please; anyone?
KvdB - 17/05/2026
Printwood would be a useful shortcut to building this model but the plan itself is excellent and contains sufficient information to enable the glider to be completed. The fuselage is a simple structure with a couple of nose sections shown full size. Formers 2 & 3 can be generated from the wing centre section plan and the fuselage side views. After former 3 the fuselage sides taper straight down to the joint at the rear. The assembly views show where all the reinforcing members are to go. As far as I can see the main items that would need work are the ribs for the wing and tailplane. The aerofoil section for both is shown and the spar positions can easily be added from the plan views. Wing rib 5 would not be hard to scale down from rib 1, after which ribs 2,3 & 4 would be made using the sandwich method. That leaves only the cockpit canopy to be formed from acetate. If that's felt to be too difficult to mould, why not just shape a balsa one and paint it - it's not going to be visible most of the time anyway since the glider will be overhead!
Skippy - 19/05/2026
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- Gafanhoto (oz14530)
- Plan File Filesize: 409KB Filename: Gafanhoto_oz14530.pdf
- help with downloads
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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