Willit (oz16116)

About this Plan

Willit. Radio control sport model. Wingspan 42 in, for Cox Black Widow engine. Uses the Ace Pacer wing.

Note this model used a pre-formed foam wing, so this plan does not show any wing ribs, parts.

Quote: "This RC airplane is an interesting change of pace from more complex and conventional subjects. A Cox Black Widow engine, Ace Pacer foam wing, two-channel radio, two sheets of 1/8-in. balsa, covering film, and a few hours of your time are the main ingredients. Carefully remove the center pages for the full-size plan. Willit, by Dave Pastor.

THE CALIFORNIA rain kept falling, and the snow pack was approaching 30 ft. in the mountains. The skiers were in their heaven, and I was looking for a project to take my mind off the weather. It had to be something that I had not done before, something unusual. The result was the Willit, an inexpensive model that can be built in just a few hours.

Let me answer the inevitable question, one that I've been asked many times. Will it fly? Yes! And the Willit is a fun model to fly. A Cox Black Widow .049, with the fuel pickup relocated to the bottom of the tank, pulls it along at a good pace with sufficient power for most maneuvers. It is very stable. After getting used to the strange configuration, you will find that you can trust it not to surprise you. It goes where you point it.

Fuselage Construction: The only curve that will be cut, with the exception of the hatch, is the wing saddle; make a template of this area out of cardboard. Lay out the fuselage sides, bottom, F3, and F4 on a sheet of 1/8 x 3 x 36 balsa. Cut a second balsa sheet of that size in half. and edge-glue it to make a 1/8 x 6 x 18 sheet. The top hatch, vertical stabilizers, and wing saddle doublers will be cut from the 6 in wide piece, taking care to orient the grain properly. What is left will be used for the canard doublers and the cross-grain front bottom fuselage sheeting. Do not trace or cut out the canard hatch at this time.

From a piece of 1/8 ply, cut out F1, F2, and the hatch hold-down pieces. Cut two pieces of 1/8 sq balsa for the fuselage bottom corner fillers and two 3/8 sq hardwood blocks that the wing hold-down screws will go into.

To assemble the fuselage, first glue the 1/8 sq. fillers to the fuselage bottom and the wing saddle doublers to the fuselage sides. When dry, glue the fuselage sides to the bottom and F2 and F4 between the sides. If this is done as one step, fuselage alignment will be correct.

Wet and/or steam the fuselage sides forward of F2. Pull the sides together, and clamp F1 into position at the front Let this dry, then glue Fl into place. Follow with short pieces of 1/8 sq. balsa for additional support..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

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