Yellow Kid (oz2990)

About this Plan

The Yellow Kid. Radio control sport model for 25-.30 power. Span 44in, wing area 390. Bruce Knox, Oct 1981 MAN.

Quote: "From out of the thirties roars Yellow Kid - .30 cu in, that is! It's a nifty sport/pattern in a 1930 style. Yellow Kid, by Bruce Knox.

To my young eyes my father's fishing tackle box was a wondrous thing. It was quite large, made out of beautiful dark wood - probably walnut. I remember it had leather hinges. It had myriad trays and drawers which contained a lifetime accumulation of plugs and spoons and flies and the swivels, hooks and other hardware that go with the sport. I wish I had one like it today. It could contain all the hardware in Goldberg's and Du-Bro's catalogs combined, I'm sure.

One evening as I was building the plane that is the subject of this article, my mind wandered back to that old tackle box. As a boy I used to like to take out the plugs one by one and check them over. Of course a story came with each lure. One lesson I learned from this was that the shiny plugs were not always the best ones. The really good fish producers became ragged-looking things with toothmarks and chipped paint. Some plugs, my Dad said, were designed not for the fish, but for the fisherman.

That tackle box doesn't exist anymore, but a few plugs survive. I went over to my plastic tackle box, scrounged around the bottom and pulled out the 'Yellow Kid.' This used to be one of my favorites. It is yellow with brown polka dots. It has a swivel in the middle and a 'propeller' attached to the front half of the body that causes it to rotate as it is retrieved. It's a sunrise, still morning bass plug - a surface floater. A kid could keep his eye on it. Yes, it is still in good shape; not many toothmarks, to be sure. But it used to look so appealing in the tray. And it made a neat wake as it was drawn past the lily pads on those dewy mornings.

There is a parallel with that plug and this plane. It's not a trophy-getting pattern plane. But it looks so pretty on the flight line with its cowled Wankel engine. Rounded wing tips and tail feathers give it character in the air. It's not a beginner's airplane. It is a plane for the kid at heart. The combination of a clean light airframe and a quiet Wankel makes for an im-pressive mph per decibel factor. It's fast, yet quiet and smooth.

Yes, my friend, there is more to life than record largemouth bass or contest trophies. How about a sunny seventy-degree day with winds five to ten miles per hour and the grass cut short? Add a groovy-looking R/C airplane and a few friends to share the afternoon with. A perfect day, especially if no one else is on your frequency. But that would be asking too much! So much for reminiscence - back to building.

Construction. So what about building? I know you never read this part of the article, even if you build the airplane. Nobody does! Kit-builders read the instructions, but only after they've built the plane. Then the only reason they read the instructions is to find out what to do with the extra parts. Scratch-builders don't have this problem. Where was I? Oh yeah - building.

Best way is to make up your own kit. Build the wing first, then build the fuselage. Cover, install the engine and radio. Nothin' to it. I'm so sure nobody read this far that I'm inviting you all to dinner at my house this Sunday 4:00 pm.

I've still got two paragraphs to fill before the wrap-up. Carefully carve the singulator to shape as shown on the plans. The framistan should be let out just enough to clear the demodulator. If you haven't installed the can opener, do so at this time. To delay now would be criminal. The alamand left and right should both be cut from the same material so that they have the same modulus of elasticity. You can get it at any hardware store. Building this plane is so simple it would embarrass me to have to explain it..."

Update 20/07/2016: article pages, text & pics added, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text & pics.

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