Piper PA-25 Pawnee (oz3934)

About this Plan

Piper PA-25 Pawnee. Scale rubber model. All-sheet rubber powered scale model of the crop duster, by Walt Mooney.

Update 14/4/2024: Added article, thanks to theshadow.

Quote: "Piper's crop dusting Pawnee is an ideal subject for indoor/outdoor free flight scale. All-balsa, lightweight construction makes it a simple project, able to fly with the best. Piper PA-25 Pawnee, by Walt Mooney.

Although Piper Aircraft Corporation had been building the Supercub for several years and it had been used as a crop duster in several variations, their PA 25 Pawnee is the first production airplane designed primarily for the agricultural role. This low winged aircraft was designed with the crop dusting pilot's requirements in mind, and from the number that have been sold it is obvious that the designers succeeded in getting what was needed. The shape of the wing tips and the tail surfaces make it obviously a Piper product, but the low wing is a big change from the old cubs.

Our model is a simple all-sheet balsa version of the Pawnee. Except for the fact that it has single surface wings, the dihedral has been increased slightly and the horizontal tail has been increased in area, the model is a faithful reproduction. None of these changes makes a significant effect on the overall appearance of the model, which is easily recognized as Piper's contribution to agricultural flying.

A new idea, which worked out very well on the model, was the use of a red felt pen to apply the color trim and registration numbers. Thin strips of masking tape were used to simulate the canopy framing and this also seems to work well.

Construction of the model is quite simple and a good job should be possible with even a fairly new beginner to the model game provided he uses a little care. All the cut out pieces can be made from a single thickness of balsa (1/32) provided the builder is willing to laminate two layers for the formers. The carved pieces should be made from block balsa. Even these can be laminated but the number of layers makes this effort tedious. The model uses a cut-down commercial propeller and commercially available wheels. The canopy can be built up from several pieces of flat plastic sheet or pulled on a vacu-form over a carved balsa form if a vacu-form is available.

The wing and tail surfaces are made of sheet balsa using the plans as a pattern. Sand the edges smooth and round them off. At this point, using a black ball point pen or India ink, draw on the surface outlines. Cut the wing ribs and cement them in place as shown on the plans, noting that the root ribs are slanted so that when the wings are assembled to the fuselage they will have the proper dihedral angle.

Cut the two sides for the fuselage from 1/32 sheet, locate and drill the motor peg hole. Cut the doubler plates and make a peg hole in them and cement them in place on each side of the fuselage noting that they must go inside the finished fuselage. Cut the formers A, B, C, and D..."

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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