Super Robot (oz14871)

About this Plan

Super Robot. Radio control sport trainer model. Wingspan 60 in, for .25 to .40 engines.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 21/10/2023: Added kit reviews from Radio Modeller, July 1975 and RCM&E, January 1976, thanks to RFJ.

Quote: "RCME Kit Review: Veron Super Robot, by Brian Tew.

SUPER ROBOT, the latest kit offering from Veron, is a large cabin monoplane, with tricycle undercarriage, for four function control in the trainer or intermediate-trainer category. It's a big ship, being 50 in nose to tail and 60 in span, with 11 in parallel chord wings, and if you want a little more than slab sides and sharp corners on a trainer or sportster take a second look at this one.

Although by definition the model must follow orthodox lines and methods to make the building reasonably simple, Veron have gone to some lengths to give the model what they describe as the looks of a real aeroplane and they have succeeded. The completed model is purposeful and quite elegant with a high swept fin and subtly rounded topsides to the long fuselage. There is both flying ability and looks in the pedigree as the parentage appears to lie between the veteran Robot trainer and the Skylane semi-scale model and the Super Robot proves to be a handsome model for its class, with smooth steady flight characteristics.

However, it is no lightweight. An ideal all-up-weight is not quoted on the plan and I would estimate that an average weight might be 6 lb. or just over as there's a load of wood to hang together. Mine came out at just over 7 lb. with fuel but as I had intended to go into the top of the power range I used an 8 oz tank, nylon covering on the wing and put on a lot of yellow paint finish. The quoted power is .25 to .40 but to fly this one on a cooking .25 you would need to build and finish super light and be a Baron with tarmac or suchlike for a runway.

I fly from a rough grass sportsfield and needed the .40. The engine used was a Fox 40, the '73 model but new. This reliable, lapped piston engine with its moderate power flew the model well enough but I have made it interchangeable with my old Merco 61 with an eye to the veneered foam wing kit soon to be available as an optional extra. The aircraft is weighty, smooth and balanced, instead of being skittish on the elevator like some of the floaters and any of the powerful .40 engines would carry the Super Robot over to the advanced trainer role with the symmetrical wing.

All very well you may say but what of the nuts and bolts of it? This is an easy kit to make accurately as the prefabrication and excellent fit of the components keep the construction to a fit and stick routine. It is no quickbuild and I like the approach of providing a comprehensive array of prepared components while still leaving enough to do for those of us who enjoy model construction. As mentioned before, it's no lightweight and the builder starting on the wing might be deceived into believing that he had begun construction of a house for brick chickens when looking at those mighty spars, 3/32 bottom sheeting and solid trailing edge. By comparison, the basic fuselage is light yet strong with just a nice degree of flexing and only makes up the weight when the mouldings and hatches are in place.

The Kit: The kit is packed into a relatively small carton, for these days, which immediately indicates there is some building ahead and this impression is reinforced as the open box proves to be packed solid with parts. All the wood is of excellent quality and well selected for component needs except perhaps the heavy spars, a bit of overkill here as you could hang a house on them. Where possible, all components are pre-shaped, saw cut, die cut or spindle moulded, all clean and flash free. All the die cut bits just pop out of the blanks, except the 1/16 ply components which have retaining tabs to be cut through.

There is a comprehensive inventory of metal and plastic parts including ready shaped undercarriages (the nosewheel is non-steering), three airwheels„very nice Vac-formed ABS wingtips, a hard plastic engine mount, 4 oz clunk tank, a large plastic spinner, four nylon wing bolts and fittings and a full complement of quicklinks, bellcranks, horns, hinging material and small nuts and bolts.

The documentation is good with the usual excellent plan which, with Veron, is always more than a plan with every spare area filled with sketches and instructions; the plan is in two parts which mate accurately when pinned to the building board to give the complete reference. Also supplied is a 3,000 word pamphlet of itemized building instructions and a set of 18 sequential photographs showing the main stages of construction, finally there is a 1/5 scale exploded isometric drawing showing how things go before you kick off.

The Wing: With its flat-bottom section and sensible prefabrication, the wing is an accurate and simple structure which can be made quite quickly. The design is egg-crate, partially sheeted top and bottom, with 'inset strip' ailerons operated by short coupled pushrods and bellcranks. Each wing has a 3 in dihedral at the tip, and the tips are excellent ABS vacuum mouldings which save time, dust and weight.

The whole is fixed to the fuselage with four nylon bolts, an unusual feature in a trainer with its greater opportunity for ground contact sports. The wing bolt anchor braces are bolted to in. sheet balsa members which are retained behind balsa crosswise ledges in the fuselage and only tack glued in place so that in the case of a severe cartwheel roundout there should be, to quote the building instructions, 'a breakout safety factor'. Hmmm! they must have proved it and it's neat but anyone wanting a demonstration by me can expect to pay well for a ticket to watch!

Construction proceeds rapidly. All the ribs have slots which mate accurately into the half depth saw cut slots in the 3/16 sheet full depth single mainspar. The trailing edge is of tapered section with saw cuts to take the ribs and the leading edge is a nice spindle moulding with notches for the rib ends, but also rebated at the inner surface to accept a length of 1/4 in square strip to half its depth... "

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