Southern Martlet (oz16496)
About this Plan
Southern Martlet. Radio control scale model biplane. Wingspan 40 in. Scale is 1/7.
Quote: "This 44ins span model is outline and rib accurate and lends itself well to scaling up, then ailerons should be fitted and scale leading edge sheeting incorporated. The builder will note that the CG is close to the balance point, scale fidelity could be compromised by rigging the wheels further forward or slightly increasing the tail area and shifting the CG rearward. Gordon Whitehead's 'Scale aircraft' describes this in detail.
There are several Martlet variants and colour schemes on record. Aeroplane Monthly July 1980 shows details and photos of all six, including the only survivor G-AAYX under restoration at Old Warden.
Building should hold no surprises even for the less experienced, note the engine thrust lines are built-in. Use a jig to ensure fuselage accuracy, build the lower wing first in order to trim and fit fuselage/wing cut-out accurately.
Standard size Rx 600mA battery and servos can be used and still keep weight down to target of 3lbs if Litespan is used for covering.
The wings are built in the usual three components and jointed with spruce dihedral braces. I have never used ply since one collapsed like scissors ie alternate lamination grain is vertical thus contributing nothing to its strength! Dihedral is 30mm at base of R2.
Covering is builders choice, but Litespan is ideal as it is light and well represents aluminium doped aircraft fabric at this scale. This plus silver Fibafilm for the engine cowlings is airtight, waterproof and resistant to diesel and glow fuels.
Registration letters are photocopied and black Litespan stuck on the back with 3M Spraymount, the back of the Litespan is then coated with Balsaloc. Cut out and position letters by touch ironing in place..."
From Aviation Modeller International June 1996.
Direct submission to Outerzone
Supplementary file notes
Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
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(oz16496)
Southern Martlet
by Don Luck
from Aviation Modeller International
June 1996
40in span
Scale IC R/C Biplane
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Submitted: 30/12/2025
Filesize: 1626KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: Circlip, RFJ
Downloads: 436
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ScaleType: This (oz16496) is a scale plan. Where possible we link scale plans to Wikipedia, using a text string called ScaleType.
If we got this right, you now have a couple of direct links (above) to 1. see the Wikipedia page, and 2. search Oz for more plans of this type. If we didn't, then see below.
Notes:
ScaleType is formed from the last part of the Wikipedia page address, which here is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Martlet
Wikipedia page addresses may well change over time.
For more obscure types, there currently will be no Wiki page found. We tag these cases as ScaleType = NotFound. These will change over time.
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User comments
Is the span 40" (declared in red in the stats box) or 44" (declared in the magazine text)?SimonC - 06/01/2026
Depends what you mean. Which span exactly? So, are you asking what the designer intended? Or what actually got sent out in the magazine, as a printed plan? Or what the article text said it was? Or what the full size print wingspan of this here PDF file is? Each will be a different answer. It is certain that the magazine managed to print both the text and the plan to say two different values. This is such a common mistake in the printed magazines that I have lost count of the number of times I've seen it.
SteveWMD - 06/01/2026
The plan gives a wingspan of 39.5", the article quotes 44", wiki gives the full size wingspan of 25' 0" which gives a wingspan of 42.88" at 1/7 scale. Take your pick. Check the diameter of the wheels on drawing to determine if the drawing is to scale
pmw - 06/01/2026
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- Southern Martlet (oz16496)
- Plan File Filesize: 1626KB Filename: Southern_Martlet_oz16496.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 865KB Filename: Southern_Martlet_oz16496_article.pdf
- help with downloads
Notes
* Credit field
The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.
Scaling
This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.
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