Vee Villy (oz17020)

About this Plan

Vee Villy. Radio control sport model. Wingspan 55 in, for electric power with speed 400 motor.

Quote: "Free Pro Plan. Speed 400 scrap box soarer. Vee Villy, by Bill Burkinshaw.

The inspiration for Vee Villy came from various sources, firstly the close proximity of the village recreation ground, little more than two minutes walk from my front door, and secondly seeing a new Sanyo 1000 rnAh cell at the Sandown show earlier this year. I had tried my Sonata E on the 'rec' a couple of times but didn't feel entirely happy, the space was limited and a smaller, more manoeuvrable model was really necessary.

The new Sanyo batteries looked really promising, a little larger than AA cells and not much heavier but with dramatically better capacity. A couple of 7 cell packs were purchased and laid out on my building board alongside all of the other components that go to make up an electric power RC model. From my box of electric odds and ends, I found an old MFA 'Humming Bird' set from more than 20 years ago, a Mabuchi 380 motor, the 1970's equivalent of today's Speed 400, with suppressers, fuse, connectors, etc. The local model shop provided a 6x3 two bladed folding propeller and I already had a miniature receiver and servos for my Fleet radio.

All in all. it looked good for dropping into a model of around 50 to 55 inch span. I don't really know why I opted for a vee tail, it seemed like a good idea at the time so I went with it - a decision that was to give me some minor problems further down the line.

With the major dimensions settled upon, dictated by the sizes of the various components, I set to with Autocad to draw up some shapes. Once these were on screen, it was a simple matter to slide things around until the moments and areas looked right. I wanted a really quick build, simple model so all the fuselage lines are straight. To make sure that the fuselage builds square and true. I've incorporated a liteply servo tray cum battery locator. This could be built up from two 1/16 balsa laminations with the grain at right angles, as could the formers F2 and F3. For ease of control connection, I also decided upon nylon snake outers with 20swg inners for the V tail control surfaces.

To arrive at the sizes for the V tail surfaces. a very simple system was used. First, draw the top and side elevation just as if the model had a conventional tailplane and elevator set up, then. draw the front view of the model with the tail drawn as if it were a T tail. Now, if the V tail halves are drawn in from the base of the T to the tailplane tips, the correct V angle results and the true length of the V halves can be measured off. Simple isn't it? The included angle of the V is 110 degrees.

Construction is very simple. Cut out the three formers and mark the centreline all round (including the edges) and the servo tray. Pack the tray up from the board and glue the formers in place at either end. The resultant 'H' section can be sanded smooth on its sides before further assembly. Cut out the diagonal grain 1/16 balsa doublers. glue the longerons onto the sides and chamfer the longerons down at the rear until they feather away to nothing at the tail end. Glue the doublers in place and drill the holes for the wing band dowels, I used cyano but contact glue could be used. I recommend that you tape the sides together at this point and sand all the edges square so that you have two identically shaped sides - always remembering that there should be a left and righthand. Now with the 'H' pinned down over the plan upside-down, glue on the sides. Pull the front in and fit the front former. Check with a square that the centreline on the former coincides with the centreline on the drawing.

Fit the 0.8mm ply fuselage bottom using little strips of masking tape to hold it firmly to the sides. Glue the fuselage sides together at the rear also checking alignment with the centreline on the plan. Take a look at the end view also, it is very easy to join the sides with the vertical join line out of plumb. Now turn over the fuselage and add the rear sheeting. Make the two V tail halves and sand the root angle. Prop up the sides one by one at the edge of the building board and run a sanding block along your bench to get a nice uniform angle on each half. Sand the parts to a streamline section then glue the two halves of theV together. Cut a rough V notch into the top of the fuselage and then wrap a piece of abrasive paper round the V of the tail and use it as a sanding block to match the fuselage V exactly to the tailplane. Now for the wings. Either add the leading and trailing edge balsa strips to the foam panels (if you're using foam wings) or cut out a set of ribs..."
Vee Villy from RCM&E, January 1999.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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