Black Star (oz14844)

About this Plan

Black Star. Radio control sport model. For any Cox .049 engine. Uses the Ace Foam Wing.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Fun-flyer with foam wings and an .049 engine for radio control. Black Star, by Mike Saponara.

I enjoy building and flying swept-wing models. Vee-tailed models are rather rare, but even more rare is a Vee-tailed swept-wing model. Well, as you guessed, decided to design just such a model, the 'Black Star.' In all my years of modeling, I don't think I ever saw a swept-wing model with a Vee-tail. Whenever I show a picture of the Black Star to people, they invariably say that the model is one of the nicest they have seen. I hope you agree and decide to build the Black Star.

You may remember a model I presented in this magazine about a year ago called the Viking. That model used the Ace foam wing also, and I cautioned not to use a reed-valve .049 engine because not enough lift was created to keep the plane in the air. That plane used about 2 3 of the Ace constant chord wing and it was for this reason the plane would not fly with the reed engine. Black Star uses the full constant chord wing, which adds about 25 square inches, and thus allows the plane to fly with the less expensive reed engines. I would recommend using either the Black Widow engine or the best .049 engine for the money, to me, the Dragon Fly.

Don't be turned off by the Vee-tail, although you will need a mixer to produce turns or pitch control. The model is very easy to fly and can be flown by a rank beginner. Let's get to building.

FUSELAGE: Start by cutting out the two fuselage sides. Next, using white glue, glue the 318 triangle stack to the fuselage sides. Be sure to make one right and one left side. Now cut out the fuselage formers. Glue F-2 and F-3 perpendicular to the fuselage using five-minute epoxy. Now glue the other fuselage side to F-2 and F-3. Now install F-1, F-4 and F-5 using five-minute epoxy. It is time now to install the main landing gear and the plywood braces. Finally, add the top and bottom sheeting.

Now carve the top edge of the fuselage round and sand with medium-grit sandpaper. Add the triangle firewall reinforcement and the 3/32 balsa doublers. Next, cut out the hatch from 1/8 plywood. Finally add the 1/8 dowels. This completes the fuselage.

WING: Start by cutting 5/16 inch oft the trailing edge of the two tapered panels and the one constant chord section, bringing the trailing edge thickness to 1/4 inch. Because the wing molds don't match perfectly, it is necessary to sand the wing's root and tip sections smooth using medium-grit sandpaper. Now cut out four trailing edge fillers from 1/8 balsa; see plan. Glue two together making them 1/4 in thick.

Next, take the constant chord wing panel and draw the wing sweep angle on the bottom of the wing; refer to the plans. Using a coping saw, cut out the sweep angle. You should now have a right and left wing section. The plans show the right wing section full size; the left side is a mirror image of the right side. Glue the trailing edge filler to the right and left side of the constant chord sections.

It is now time to glue the constant chord wing sections to the tapered wing panels. Using the balsa trailing edge as a straight edge, line up the trailing edge of the tapered section with the trailing edge of the constant chord section. They should mate. Satisfied that they do mate, lay down a piece of waxed paper so the wing panels won't stick to the building board and mix some five-minute epoxy and spread it over the root section of the tapered wing.

Now join the tapered section to the constant chord section using the balsa trailing edge to align the trailing edges of both panels. Failure to do this will result in misalignment. Repeat this operation for the other two wing panels.

It is now time to glue the balsa trailing edge to each of the two wing panels. Spread white glue on the trailing edge of the foam wings and line up the balsa trailing edge with the contour of the wing. Use pins to hold the balsa trailing edge in place. Repeat this for the other wing panel.

Next, it is time to cut the sweep angle of the balsa trailing edge at the root of both wing panels using a razor saw. Also square offthe wing tips by cutting off the balsa trailing edge that extends beyond the wing tip. The dihedral of the wing is two inches for each wing panel. The two inches is from the building board to the bottom surface of the wingtip. Follow the instruction sheet included with each foam wing. Using five-minute epoxy, glue the two wing panels together. Now cut off the pointed tip at the center of the wing..."

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.

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