Stout Single-Wing (oz16811)

About this Plan

Stout Single-Wing. Free flight peanut scale model for rubber power. Wingspan 13 in.

Quote: "STOUT SINGLE-WING

Drawing, in pencil on tracing paper, showing outlines of several different views of a Stout Single-Wing Airplane, including a top down view, profile view, and front view. Text at top left reads "Stout Single-Wing Airplane Forerunner of All Internally-Braced Aircraft Flown at Dayton Ohio in 1918." Text at bottom right "Original Stout Drawing Dated May 16, 1918." Detroit Historical Society, see: https://www.detroithistorical.org/learn/online-research/collection/archive/drawing-technical-5

It was this drawing that was used to make this plan of the Single-Wing by Stout. This aircraft wasn’t built to my knowledge. It was an engineering exercise. Hard to believe it was drawn in 1918.

Stout Metal Aircraft was bought out by Ford Motor Company and the Ford Tri-Motor came from this union.

CONSTRUCTION:
This aircraft is basically a flying wing. The fuselage is a tack-on to the front of the wing mid-section and back along the ventral center of the wing. I used 1/16” balsa to be the noseblock mount. I tend to use round nose/prop blocks and once trimed I add a key on the block and file a slot in the mount to hold the block in place.

I use reed for light round formers. This reed can be found at Walmart and Amazon. It comes in large rolls big enough for a lifetime. The diameter of the reed is very close to 1/16”. I soak it over night in water and it becomes easy to form around templates. I use foamboard from the Dollar store to make the templates. After soaking I wrap the reed around the template and tape in place with masking tap and allow to dry over night. When this makes a very stiff and light former. On the ventral tube from the prop back down the center of the wing. I use 1/32”x1/16” stringers to make the shape of the fuselage around the reed formers. This being a Peanut I want to keep this as light as possible.

WING CONSTRUCTION:
This wing presents several challenges. My approach to building this would be to build the outline of the wing with 1/16”x1/8” strips of balsa and 3/32”sq leading edges on edge.The ribs are cut with fishmouths to receive the leading edges.

I plan on building the outline of the wing and reinforce joints with gussets. Once dry I’d begin adding the ribs with #1 the both 2’s then 3’s etc. Once all these ribs have been added and dried it’s time for the stringers. I plan of using 1/32”x1/16” stringers added to from the longest to the shortest. Alternating top then bottom to keep the stress of the stringers even on the wing. Once the wing has been completed you can remove the #1 rib making room for the motor. Now add the ventral fuselage with formers A-E as noted above. Note the motor anchor on this model is vertical not horizontal.

The vertical stab is constructed with a laminated outline of the stab using 1/32”x1/16” strips wrapped around a template using carpenter’s glue. It helps to soak in warm water for a few minutes before you add the glue. The remaining structure is 1/16” SQ.

I must say this is not a beginner’s plan. I can see potential for many challenges for this model in construction as well as later in trimming.
The landing gear struts should be made with stiff 1/16” sheet balsa. I didn’t include piano wire for the gear struts but did show plug-in sockets in the wing bottom in 4 places

Wheels are laminated 1/16” sheet circles and rings. The two rings are glued to opposite sides of the central disc and rounded after drying to the wheel shape. I find a fingernail file borrowed from my wonderful wife does this shaping very well. (don’t tell her!)

Hope you find this proposal of a Stout aircraft intriguing. This one is so challenging I hope to get to it as soon as I can get back into my workshop since the move.

Big thanks to Steve and Mary for maintaining and managing such a great site! THANK YOU!!
Regards,
Tom Akery/Sky9pilot "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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