Indoor Contest Glider (oz15860)

About this Plan

Indoor Contest Glider. Simple all-sheet canard glider model.

Quote: "Flying Aces Indoor Contest Glider, by Julius Unrath. A glider must be constructed just as carefully as a built-up model. Follow these directions and plans, and you'll have an excellent glider of the pusher type that will win you a prize in any indoor glider contest. Try it and see!

THE easiest way to win an award in a contest is to build a glider. The tedious job of covering a cambered wing with microfilm is done away with, because a glider is solid, not built up, like most indoor models. A glider, however, must be built just as carefully. The most difficult part of making a contest model is designing and adjusting it.

The model presented here this month was designed as a pusher, because of the many advantages I believe a model of this type possesses over a tractor. A tractor glider, because of the large frontal wing area, needs weight in the nose to balance it. A pusher, on the other hand, being just opposite, will not need this weight and therefore will weigh less and, glide more slowly.

Another advantage of a pusher is that its glide is much flatter than that of any tractor, and still another is that it will pull out of a stall more quickly, using less altitude, and therefore will "hunt" less, if not adjusted 'correctly. Hunting is a fault due to stalling. A model that hunts will continually fly in a series of waves instead of in a smooth, flat course. The glider described in this issue is capable of consistently good flights, a thing very necessary in a contest model. During the tests the model was timed in its first three flights as follows: 18 seconds - first. 27 seconds - second. 22 seconds - third.

The best time reached was 29 seconds. As you can see for yourself, the model will usually fly around the 25-second mark, which will place, if not win the event.

BUILDING THE MODEL: THE fuselage of the Flying Aces Indoor Contest Glider is a piece of soft, clear, white balsa 3/16 x 5/32 x approximately 15 in. The rudder and elevator are 1/32 flat balsa cut to shape. The wing is 1/16 flat balsa sanded to an airfoil shape.

When all the parts are cut to shape, they should be . sanded smooth and the corners rounded. The rudder is then cemented to the rear of the fuselage. While this is drying, the wing and elevator are each cemented to obtain the correct dihedral.

The elevator mount is cut to the shape shown in the drawing, then streamlined and cemented to the fuselage. The elevator is cemented to the top of the mount, with,' the trailing edge protruding in the rear. This is done so that the elevator can be warped for adjustment more easily.

The wing is cemented in a V-shaped groove to fit the dihedral. The model should now be doped, then sanded with very fine sandpaper. To adjust the glider for longitudinal stability, the nose is cut off - very little at a time - until the model glides smoothly. Finer adjustments are made by sanding the nose for balance."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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