V-Girl (oz396)

About this Plan

V-Girl. Free flight sport model. V-tailed free flight gas model, first published in Flying Models, March 1959. This plan was also printed in Flying Models Decade of Designs (1), published 1960.

Quote: "A brisk wind was blowing as we cranked up V-Girl for her first test flight. With the engine throttled back a little under top speed, we placed the ship on the runway, headed her into the wind, and let go. V-Girl moved forward a few feet and lifted, boring steadily into the wind, rocking in the gusty air. Doggedly the model climbed, inching forward. At 50 feet altitude the model reluctantly bore off in a left-hand turn, barreled 100 feet downwind and weathercocked back into the gale, as the engine cut.

The model held on steadily into the wind, drifting back toward the starting point, rocking and bucking in the turbulent air, but staying on course. The ship touched the ground 10 feet away, dropping almost vertically the last 10 feet. We grabbed it before it could blow away down the field, feeling completely satisfied that V-Girl was a success as a rugged, windy weather sport flyer.

Engineered for extra sturdiness, streamlined for wind penetration with short moment arms and high dihedral angles for fast stable recovery, V-Girl is not only a windy weather model, but an exceptionally stable, maneuverable and tough ship for all sport flying. Construction time for this box fuselage job is only about 12 hours for the average builder.

Fuselage: Start by cutting out all sheet balsa and plywood parts and bending the main and nose landing gears. Before laying out the fuselage sides on a wax paper covered plan, the landing gears should be attached to the plywood bulkheads as shown on the plan, and engine mounting nuts should be attached securely in place on the firewall. The firewall is added next and then the cabin roof assembly and posts.

Sides are now joined at the rear, and held with clothes pins until dry. Top and bottom spacers; tail skid, and remaining balsa parts, including rudder base, can now be added. 1A6- balsa covering for the fuselage top front should be cut to approximate shape using a paper pattern, soaked in water and held with rubber bands until dry. It can then be trimmed and cemented in place..."

Update 16/8/2023: Added alternate plan, thanks to theshadow. This is a good, clear later CAD redrawn version by Gene Rock, and may well be better to build on than the main plan file.

Supplementary file notes

Alternate plan.
Article, thanks to Newtmagick.

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