Mini Miss America (oz15634)

About this Plan

Mini Miss America. Free flight sport model. Wingspan 23 in.

The original 84 inch Scientific Miss America (oz5645) by Frank Zaic, dates back to 1935. This here plan is a smaller version redrawn by Al Lidberg for CO2 power.

Quote: "Mini Miss America for CO2 Electric or Rubber Power.

In one of life's coincidences, the prototype mini-Miss America (MA) was just being completed when John Pond's Model Builder column arrived with a nice coverage of the development history of this design. Originally named Miss Model Craftsman (MMC), in honor of a magazine of the same name, the plane had been designed by Carl Schmaedig in 1935. In response to a request, Carl and Frank Zaic developed the 7 ft MA from the 9 ft MMC as Scientific's first gas model. The MA has always been a modeler favorite in terms of a nice, and readily recognizable design.

Because the MA dates from 1935, it carries the typical symmetrical stabilizer airfoil of the times and a balance point about 1/3 back on the wing chord. The wing's airfoil is undercambered, but the shape is such that the trailing edge doesn't need to be elevated.

Our Miss America replica comes out to be about 1/4 full size, so the investment in time and material will also be smaller. The mini-sized model, however, can provide just about as much flying fun, and it can be flown in a smaller space. You may even want to get together with other mini- replica builders for some friendly competition. The MA can be powered by Brown, Gasparin or TELCO CO, motors, HiLine's Micro-4 or Mini-6 electric motors or rubber strips.

It would be best to decide on the power type before beginning and to have the motor/rubber/prop hardware on hand before beginning. You can, however, complete the majority of the structure and cover the flying surfaces before deciding on the power source.

WING: Begin the wing by cutting out the tip parts and gluing them together. Cut out the ribs now but don't cut the spar notches. Stack up the ribs, aligning their leading edge (LE) notches on a piece of 3/32 sq and lining up the bottom surfaces. Pin the stack together and sand the upper and lower surfaces to smooth their outlines. Due to the taper, you won't be able to finish sand the last few tip panel ribs until they are removed from the stack. Use a thin file or two fine-toothed hacksaw blades taped together to cut the spar notches. Shape the trailing edge (TE) stock with a sanding block before pinning the pieces to the work surface. Pin down the TE and glue on the tip pieces. Remove this assembly from the board and sand the inside edges to clean them up - makes a nicer covering job later on.

Glue in all of the ribs now. Add the upper spar, cracking it outside of the last ribs and fairing it into the tip pieces. Use a razor saw and cut the LE and TE of the center panel ribs. Remove the tip panels and sand the mating edges to allow for dihedral. Block up the tip panels and glue them to the main panels. Add the gussets now, and finish shaping the wing with a sanding block.

STABILIZER: The stab's LE, TE, and tips need to be elevated from the building board to produce the symmetrical airfoil. Block up the pieces as shown and then add the spar and the strip ribs. Remove from the board and shape with sandpaper, using the spar as a high-point reference.

FIN: The fin is a simple flat plate made from square and strip stock plus a few cut-out pieces.

BODY: Begin the body by making two identical side frames from 1/16 sq. Sand both sides of each frame to get rid of glue bumps and pin the frames upside down over the top view. Use a triangle or carpenter's square to keep the sides upright as you add crosspieces to make the body box. Cut out the ply motor mount, the ply landing gear (LG) mount, and the cowl pieces... "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 2/11/2024: Added later article from MB April 1994, thanks to Pit. This is really just some background on the earlier MMC plan.

Supplementary file notes

Article (1994, re MMC plan).
Instructions.
Printwood.

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