American Tractor (oz16982)

About this Plan

American Tractor. Rubber duration model. Wingspan 36 in.

Quote: "The designer of this model, which is of a type seldom seen in England, should need no introduction to our readers. Frank Zaic has been a member of the United States Wakefield Cup Team on a number of occasions, and has become internationally known through the Year Book which bears his name, and which deservedly has a large circulation in this country and abroad. Frank Zaic brought this model with him when he came over with the American Team last year, and it was flown by him on a number of occasions during his stay in this country, and it has an excellent performance, one of its chief features being a spectacular and typically American climb. The model does not, of course, conform to the SMAE Fuselage Formulae, nevertheless it is an ideal type of machine for general purpose flying, and its easy construction makes it particularly suitable for beginners.

To satisfy ourselves that the performance of the original model could be repeated, we handed Frank Zaic's model to Mr SA Smith, of the Bromley Model Aero Club, and requested him to build a replica, when this was completed it was given two short test flights, and on it's third flight the model made a perfect flight of ten minutes duration (out of sight) on 500 turns. The model was released from Bromley, Kent, and was subsequently recovered from its landing place at Coulsden, Surrey.

Commence the construction by cutting out from 1/32 sheet balsa two fuselage sides, cement to these sides the upright strips of 1/8 x 1/16 balsa. Set the two sides up vertically on your drawing board, and cement in the cross pieces of 1/8 x 1/16 to the front of the upright pieces. You now have a framework consisting of the two 1/32 sheet balsa sides, strengthened vertically by the uprights, and joined together with the cross pieces of the same section.

The next step is to cement to the top and bottom of this box-like structure two sheets of 1/32 balsa, these should be held with rubber bands until thoroughly dry, the edges of these last two sheets can then be trimmed with a razor blade and glass paper, and you now have an enclosed balsa covered box.

Cut away one corner of the fuselage between the sections marked A and B on the drawing, saving the piece which you have removed. When cutting out this section, trim the opening left in the fuselage so that it is 3/4 of an inch deep at the front..."

Supplementary file notes

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