Oliver Twist Mk VII (oz15974)

About this Plan

Oliver Twist Mk VII. Control line combat model.

Quote: "Premium Plan Feature. MARTYN COWLEY tells the story of his 1970 Nationals Combat finals design - just the ticket for the Oliver Combat class, described in this issue.

I never could understand why anyone would want to build a Vintage model, instead of a new one! That is, until a few years ago, when I saw a magazine photo of a familiar group of smiling faces with their Combat models, which I also recognised - Vintage ones. I knew these guys, I had flown with them. But it was a long time ago, when we were all around 16 years old. Suddenly it all made sense.

In the intervening years, everything has more than doubled; manoeuvrability, speed, noise, complexity and yes, cost! But are we having twice the fun? I think not. Good Combat happens when two pilots have equally matched equipment. Models that have excess performance or are hard to start and which are less than robust do nothing to increase that enjoyment, except for the truly world class die-hards, who, unfortunately, are fewer and fewer in number.

A chance letter from my old friend Frank Smart really turned back the clock. During a subsequent visit back home from my job in California, I found some of my original '60's and '70's Combat models still up in the loft! I took them to show Frank and some careful documentation has resulted in a fabulous set of drawings, in his own inimitable style, which I am proud to see presented here. Ahh, yes - fame at last! (almost 30 years later).

My original series of Copeman tuned, Oliver Tiger powered Combat models was suitably named 'Oliver Twist'. One of the more interesting being the Mk VII, with which I reached the 1970 Nats Final. The original concept came from reading an American magazine featuring a .35 size, Fast Combat model called Werewolf (oz4668). This model had a distinctive, extended centre section (similar to another US design, the T-Square) but with twin fins, which I thought might enhance stability and elevator authority. I blended this idea into my previous designs which were based on the then popular, generic Razor Blade/Warlord layout.

On the Mk VII, I extended the trailing edge to produce a root chord of 11 1/4 inches (to the hinge line), which, for this era, resulted in quite a large wing area and by keying onto the square cross-section leading edge, which is shaped to an airfoil section after assembly..."

Oliver Twist from Aviation Modeller International, May 1998.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction