Nipper (oz4252)

About this Plan

VH.147 Nipper. Simple beginner's towline glider model, with profile fuselage.

Quote: "THIS MUST BE the writer's tenth design of a model which might help the beginner on the way to become familiar with towline glider technique. Some have been a bit too funciionel and lacked eye-appeal, while others proved somewhat too complicated. The model shown here was built some years ago as another atemp to produce a small flying object which had to be very simple, cheap in materials and still look reasonably attractive. As to the latter it is up to the reader to pronounce a verdict, but the designer can frankly say that after all that time the model still pleases him.

Since the design was intended for use in restricted spaces it is no Thermal-Catcher, although one can never know what surprises Mother Nature may have in stock and the builder should put his name, address, etcon his model, a habit to be followed with any model he may fly in future.

There are many kits in the shops containing pre-fabricated parts which just 'click' together, needing just a little trimming and glue. That may be very nice, but hardly teaches the builder the basics of the work. Building a model from scratch also creates that sense of achievement and real ownership which no money can buy. If the reader has decided to take it the 'hard way', let us inspect the plan and sketches more closely.

A General View. It will be seen that the 'Nipper' has what is called a 'profile' type fuselage, that is it is flat and possesses no formers or bulkheads. This greatly simplifies the construct ion without detracting much of appearance. The fuselage consists of a 'pod' which even shows the cockpit in which a pilot might be seated, provided he were sufficiently starved to be able to squeeze into it.

Since a normal wing obstinately refuses to be stable by itself, we must ensure stability by placing a horizontal tailplane behind the wing. That distance may vary considerably, as can be seen in pictures of models in this journal. The job of the tailplane is to exert a 'moment', which is roughly the product of the air forces on the tail and the distance from the wing - but we need not go into details here. It is enough if one realises that a tailplane placed a great distance behind the wing can be made much smaller than one close to the wing. In our Case that distance is not great, so the area of the tail is a generous proportion of that of the wing..."

Supplementary file notes

Planfile includes article.

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