Carousel (oz15332)

About this Plan

Carousel. Radio control glider model. A 2 channel glider for schoolyard soaring. Wing area 310 sq in (projected).

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 4/6/2024: Added article, thanks to RFJ.

Quote: "Carousel, by Larry Kruse. Got a schoolyard near by? The Carousel will fit right in there. The design is simple, clean, and uncluttered and everything comes apart for easy storage. No problem flying out of tight fields. A 'Schoolyard Soarer'.

The Carousel came about because I can't stand open spaces - open spaces of any size - unless they have an airplane flying in them. Since we moved into our new home last April with its accompanying schoolyard/park/tennis court complex just across the street, I've spent many pleasant hours flying freeflight, con-trolline, and - yes, pure hearts - my R/C Dragonfly from its confines. I had even built one of Micro-X's 'schoolyard scale' Stinsons for just zipping around, but somehow wasn't quite satisfied to have to think about landing whenever the engine quit.

What I wanted was a soaring ship, but one that I could get in and out of a 300 x 200 foot space-a space punctuated by a sizable amount of play-ground equipment and a dozen small trees on the perimeter. The space dictated a small, light, and highly maneuverable plane just to stay out of trouble and trees. A schoolyard soarer was what I needed.

Good Fortune smiled at this particular longing and Prompted my wife to get me a new Tower Hobbies System 500 Gold Series with mini servos for my birthday. Okay, so maybe it wasn't 'Good Fortune.' Maybe it was my wheedling and whining-or lining the cat box with Tower ads - or offering to clean the house for a full year or the rest of my life, whichever came first.

Whatever the cause, the UPS man brought my package right on time. And there it was-a tiny 3.5 ounce airborne unit of two jewel-like little servos, a miniature receiver, and a tiny 100 mAh battery pack. And so to work.

I thanked my wife profusely, expressed my amazement at how she knew exactly what I wanted for my birthday, kissed her goodbye, and disappeared into the basement. The Carousel became a reality.

Build it this way: The wing is the heart of any soaring ship, regardless of its size, so make every effort to use straight, lightweight wood in the wing construction. To save time and effort, all W-1 ribs can be stack-sawed, with W-2 through W-5 ribs cut out individually. Pre-shaping the spruce leading edge is also a time and effort saver. I made a small template out of metal from an aluminum pie tin to assure uniform-ity in shaping the spruce, and templates of the same material for the ribs.

Once all ribs are cut and sanded, pin down the leading edge, trailing edge, and bottom spars for the main and wing tip panels. Omit-ting the center ribs and the ribs at the poly-hedral break, set all other ribs in position and glue them in place. Block up each wing tip at its appropriate angle and glue it in place.

Construct the center section and then glue the two main panels to it, installing the ply-wood dihedral braces in their indicated loca-tions. Now the center ribs, polyhedral ribs and center sheeting can be added, then the top spars, and then all the gussets. Sand everything very carefully to eliminate any bumps that may stick up and show through the covering. Finally, add the small wire bumper at the back of the trailing edge which eliminates compressing the trailing edge with the wing hold-down rubber bands.

Tail surfaces are built-up of 3/16 inch square balsa and 3/16 inch sheet wood for the moving parts. Be very selective in picking the light-est wood you can find for the tail area. The tail is a long way back from the balance point. You'll pay a significant weight penalty if you have to over-ballast to reach the CG.

Square cuts of all framework pieces are important to strength and warp resistance. I found my Zona saw worked very well for this operation. The elevators are joined with a piece of 1/8 inch dowel epoxied into a slot gouged into the leading edge. Epoxy the dowel in place and then clean up the area af-ter the epoxy cures. The fin and rudder should be slotted for two small DuBro hinges..."

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