Elf (oz17037)

About this Plan

Elf. Free flight sport model for rubber power. Wingspan 22 in.

Note the Elf plan was published in a 'double' article along with the Wizard (oz17053).

Quote: "Elf and The Wizard. A brace of easy rubber models for beginners, designed by Mark Bees.

Both these models are of simple design and should offer no problems to the first time modeller. The 'Elf' was designed some time ago as a simple rubber powered model that my (at that time) eight years old son could build with little assistance, and as such has no over complicated parts - though its construction is robust enough to withstand young fingers. On the other hand, 'The Wizard' was designed as a simple sports model with a reasonable performance and a modern look about it. As both models follow traditional building techniques, I will describe both models' constructional details together and highlight any differences between the two models as we go along.

FUSELAGE CONSTRUCTION: The fuselage is built directly over the plan, one side at a time. Cover plan with cellophane first, pinning and gluing the wood in place. When the first side is completed and dry, cover with cellophane and build the second side directly over the first. Once dry, remove and glue the 3/32 sq top and bottom cross braces in place, starting with the ones directly under the wing positions. Once these are dry, bring together the rear of the fuselage and glue. Now fit in place the rear 3/32 sq cross braces up to the wing position. Again, when fully dry, repeat this same process to the front of the fuselage. Note that the fuselage must be built completely square - to help with this, use a perfectly flat building board and a small set square. If you do not have a set square use the edge of a playing card.

When completely dry, bend the wire undercarriage to shape, and then glue and bind with cotton at the location shown on plan. Assemble the nose block and ensure it's tight fit in the nose - do not glue now, just sand to shape shown on plan. We have now reached the point when we must carefully drill the nose block with the correct amount of side and down thrust shown on the plan. For a thrust bearing you may use either a commercially available bearing or, as I have, the alloy part of a suitably sized rivet.

WING AND TAILPLANE: Start by making a master pattern(s) of the rib profile using either thin ply or stiff cardboard. Now use this pattern to cut around and make the desired amount of ribs. Now you may start building the wing.As before, cover the plan with cellophane and pin the trailing edge in place (sand to shape first!) then pin the bottom spar and tip parts in place. Start fitting and gluing the ribs in their allotted positions, noting at this point that you will also have to glue in position the dihedral brace, and make a further note of the angle of the root rib! Once dry, fit top spars and leading edge. Before finally gluing the wings together,give all parts a light sanding.

The tailplane is built in the same manner as the wing, except you will notice on the 'Elf' that an optional all balsa sheet version is suggested - this has been done to simplify construction and has no aerodynamic/performance benefit to the model, though care must be taken when selecting appropriate balsa sheeting for its construction - it must be light... "

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Note see also Firefly (oz17014) with different wing layout.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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