Gengangaren (oz1870)

About this Plan

Gengangaren (the Spectre). Control line model. Swedish F.A.I. Team Racer. From Model Aircraft, November 1957.

Quote: "THIS model was designed with the following ideas in mind:

1. strength and reliability
2. small-ness, for low drag
3. complete accessibility to tank and controls
4. tank located to ensure positive starts
5. control of oil seepage
6. crankcase cooling, for consistent motor runs
7. extremely quick and easy building
8. good looks

Points 1, 3, 5 and 7 are met by the semi-bolted together assembly, while the high starboard tank location gives a positive feed and minimises the risk of the motor leaning out in the air. The bearers-below-engine system gives the smallest possible model, crankcase cooling is easy to arrange and as for looks, well that's for the individual to judge. Other interesting features that have been designed into the Spectre, include an asymmetric wing, leadouts rigged for clean tangential flying, and despite the short tail moment, and rearward CG location (22 percent chord) the model is completely stable and can be flown with precision.

The construction is quite straight-forward, but the following assembly sequence should be of assistance.

1. Put six coats of balsa cement on wing blank root for strength.
2. Add shaped bearers, landing gear and hold-together bolts.
3. Instal (tape-protected) motor. (No offset is used.)
4 Add fuselage layers sawn out for motor and cooling air. Note that air is led around cylinder.
5. Shape fuselage and wing. Cement and silk t oz. of lead into cutout in outer wingtip.
6. Add tailplane, fin-stab. fairing and cowl. Hold in place with pins as well as cement.
7. Sandpaper all over.
8. Silk cover lower fuselage hall, and tissue-cover rest.
9. Apply filler, allow to dry, sand, clear dope, sand lightly and colour dope.
10. Cement canopy in place, and fuel-proof plane inside and out. 11. Instal tank and controls. Lead-out-guide should be placed exactly in line with centre of gravity.

Flying is simple as Spectre is completely stable, just use full up elevator until the model is airborne, then level off. However, if you want to win contests then the following points should help. Use the best possible motor; at the moment for Class A racing the Oliver Tiger III is unsurpassed. Run it in properly until it is completely free, as any friction causes overheating and loss of power..."

Update 07/12/2015: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy (patterned background removed) thanks to TonyP.

Supplementary file notes

Article.
Previous scan version.

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