Mr Clean (oz14909)

About this Plan

Mr Clean. Radio control sport model. Wingspan 42 in, wing area 272 sq in, for .10 - .15 engines.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Note this plan could use a cleanup. Ironically. [Fixed now, see later update].

Update 6/11/2023: Added an alternate plan scan, thanks to Derick Scott. This is cleaner, but is also at lower res (300 dpi) so details and text are harder to read. Suggest builders refer to both plans. [Fixed now, see later update].

Update 6/11/2023: Added article, thanks to RFJ.

Quote: "If you're looking for a low cost, small, good flying pattern machine, you've found it! Mr Clean is capable of all maneuvers and simple to build. Mr Clean, by Dick Remington.

Have you ever spent literally days looking through every available model magazine for a model to build that will suit your particular requirements, only to find that no such model exists? This is how Mr Clean was born.

I had just completed building the Royal Classic System (see Charlie Kenney report this issue) with KPS-10 servos, and wanted to build a .10 to .15 powered model with aerobatic capabilities. There was this burning desire (probably heartburn) to fly a model through all of the beautiful and intricate maneuvers the contest veterans do with such apparent ease and nonchalance.

I felt that the best approach to this type of performance was a model with a full symmetrical airfoil and zero incidence and thrust configuration. In addition to this it was desirable to have a force arrangement that would allow the rudder to provide yaw motion with little or no roll component. This would allow such maneuvers as knife-edge flight and hesitation rolls to be done with less difficulty.

Last, but by no means least, the model had to have a realistic appearance. I guess that the obviously 'home built look' of Mr Clean stems from my contact with fellow private pilots who are building full scale aircraft.

Mr Clean I was completed three weeks from the time the first sketches were made. It was powered by an OS Max .10 engine, and carried a Royal Classic system with KPS-10 servos and a 500 MA battery pack. The total weight was 37.5 ounces. It was covered with Super MonoKote in an effort to keep the weight down and reduce building time.

One of the design parameters (limited roll with the application of rudder), coupled with the author's very limited high performance multi-channel flying experience, nearly destroyed Mr Clean tir I on its maiden flight. The field from which I fly has no take-off and landing area. Therefore, all aircraft must be hand launched.

Bright and early one weekday morning when no one was around to see me trembling with anticipation and fear, I cranked up the little engine, checked the controls, set the elevator trim for full up, took a deep breath and launched the ship. Mr. Clean started out in a shallow climbing turn to the left and like a good single channel flyer I cranked in right rudder. As I should have expected the model yawed to the right but continued on a course with the left wing down and the nose up. I continued to feed in more right rudder, reduced power and completely ignored the ailerons. This placed the model in a steep slip to the left, all the way down to the ground. Luckily, the point of impact was very tall grass and no damage was sustained.

After my knees stopped shaking I decided to try again. This tie I used very little up-trim, remembered to use aileron and the flight was extremely successful. About 60 flights were made before Mr Clean I was reduced to a pile of sticks due to severe pilot error.

During the winter, skis were added and many flights were made from the snow where take-offs and landings were sheer delight. This model rolls very well, is exceptionally stable when inverted and has no bad habits when properly trimmed. While the initial rate of climb is not extreme, it is adequate. After trimming for level flight Mr Clean will surprise you with its speed and penetration, considering the power used.

Flight Trim: When building this model, it is advisable to keep the center of gravity at or ahead of the point shown on the plans. Due to the relatively short tail moment arm and limited fin area, a shift of the CG aft will cause problems with directional stability. In order to provide good handling at low speeds, each aileron linkage was adjusted one turn up from true zero. This gave the same effect as washing out the wing tips, and is much more accurate than warping wings.

A word of caution. Keep all control surface movements to a minimum for early flights. The control surfaces were deliberately designed on the large side to provide responsive control with minimum movement, thereby reducing the overall drag. If powered by a .10 engine the best performance was obtained using a 7 x 4 Tornado propeller.

Construction: Mr Clean is assembled in a very conventional manner. I prefer to cut out all of the parts prior to start ing the actual assembly. This usually eliminates many of the errors created by working piecemeal. I cannot stress too strongly, however, the importance of accurate layout and alignment. The smaller the model the more critical errors in thrust and incidence become. Above all, try to resist the overwhelming temptation to beef-up the model. It was specifically designed to be reasonably light yet adequately strong. If you give in to temptation, the result will be a model with a glide like a streamlined brick.

Fuselage: After cutting out the fuselage sides, formers, and doublers, accurately mark the formers position on the fuselage sides. Next, glue the fuselage doubler that goes between F2 and F4 to the fuselage sides and allow to set. While waiting for the glue to set, carefully mark the thrust lines on all fuselage formers and on the outside of the fuselage sides. When the doublers are dry, assemble the two halves of the fuselage using F2 and F4 only. Align the thrust line marks using pins through the marks on the fuselage sides. Cement F8, the cockpit floor, in position and clamp the assembly in proper alignment and allow to dry..."

Note see also the later 1973 version Super Clean (oz11033) which was enlarged to 56 in wingspan, and included retracts.

Update 15/11/2023: Replaced this plan with a cleaned up copy, thanks to hjsaxe. This has clear and readable text.

Supplementary file notes

Alternate plan scan.
Article.
Previous scan version.

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