Pietenpol Air Camper (oz16590)

About this Plan

Pietenpol Air Camper. Free flight scale model. Wingspan 39 in, for Cox .049 engine.

Quote: "Ever since Pietenpol flew the real Air Camper 47 years ago it has been a popular modeling subject. This .049 free-flight version has won 15 top places and was retired after wearing out two engines. Air Camper, by Dave Haught.

The year 1977 brings the 46th birthday of the Pietenpol Air Camper, a longtime veteran of the homebuilt movement. Of all the homebuilts of the thirties, the Air camper enjoyed a wide-spread popularity that secured it a place in the air for the years to come. Today it is still a popular homebuilt for the same reasons it was then. Simple, rugged construction, low material cost, gentle flying characteristics, and two-place capacity, making it an appealing piece of nostalgia.

Having a soft spot for airplanes of this period. I immediately became interested in this design when it was presented in the August 1969 issue of American Aircraft Modelerr Magazine. This is an excellent source of documentation for the Air Camper which will be invaluable to you if you build the model. A quick look at the real Air Camper plans revealed that little needed to be changed to build it as a model and so the project began.

The Air Camper is an ideal model for the beginner or pro alike. It can be built true scale, or sport scale, due to its good moments and tremendous wing area. The model pictured put in three hard seasons of campaigning and has accounted for a good shelf of hardware (among its 15 top places were three firsts at the Northwest Canadi-an Free Flight Championships and one at the Spokane Internals). A stable and consistent flier, the Air Camper is very rugged. On one occasion it cruised under power into the side of an awaiting chase car and still managed to put in its official flights.

The construction of the Air Camper is very straightforward and shouldn't give any trouble. It does, however, have a few points that aren't very common. The fuselage sides are built up a la rubber scale and, while still on the bench, the aluminum wing struts are fabricated, drilled, and epoxied onto each side. Take care to keep the wing wire holes aligned as the sides are joined and the firewall is added.

The engine mount is glued to a medium balsa block which serves as a cushion to allow the engine mount to knock off without damaging the fuselage. The cowl is fabricated from medium soft balsa and fitted to the firewall using large dress snaps epoxied in the corners, which allow the cowl to be snapped on and off... "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 25/2/2026: ADded article, thanks to rocketpilot.

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