Nimbus (oz4700)

 

Nimbus (oz4700) by PE Norman 1948 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Nimbus. Towline glider. 8 foot high performance sailplane.

Quote: "In designing this model I was concerned not only with its performance, but also with a mind to beauty and grace of line, and most people who have seen the model in flight agree that the appearance of the model, with its cream fuselage and cream edge wings and tail, has achieved this object. Its construction is fairly straightforward, its total length when packed is 4 feet, and total weight 2lb and it should make an attractive model for those enthusiasts who require a reliable stable model, capable of consistent flights.

The Fuselage: Commence by cutting out former A in 1/16 plywood. Add two strips of 1/16 plywood on each side at the bottom, trim and glue. The towing hook may now be cut in the three jointed pieces.

Cut a length of 16 gauge steel wire anti glue and sew, with strong thread, in the position shown in the sketch (this forms the means for attaching the mainplanes and must be a really strong and rigid fixing).

Next take two blocks of light balsa 12 x 4-1/2 x 1-1/2 in and glue them lightly on each side of former A (see sketch). Now shape them with a sharp knife and varying grades of sandpaper, until they form a smooth streamlined shape, the end section of which is the section No.1.

Carefully prise them off the plywood former and carve away a portion of the inside up to the inside shape of the former. (Do not be too concerned with getting them very light. I left mine nearly half an inch thick.)

Now re-glue them firmly onto the plywood former A and allow to dry thoroughly. Next cut two strips of medium balsa, 1/8 x 1/2 in and bind and glue them to the projecting lugs of Former A (I use strip gummed paper for binding and it is immensely strong).

Cut out formers No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 from 1/8 sheet balsa, place in position and glue, Cut out stern post from 1/16 hard sheet balsa, and glue in position. Check up for alignment and allow to set.

Now with a sharp knife, cut a slit in the top longeron just behind Former No.5. Cut a strip of hard 1/16 x 3/4 in balsa and force through this slot, allow to set. Next cut a length of cane or bamboo..."

Quote: "Steve. I don't know if you can make anything of this Nimbus plan. I had it scanned, but due to the size of the scanner, it had to be done as two sheets with an overlap."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to BrianCox.

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Nimbus (oz4700) by PE Norman 1948 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz4700)
    Nimbus
    by PE Norman
    from Aeromodeller
    November 1948 
    96in span
    Glider F/F
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 04/08/2013
    Filesize: 723KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: MikeAdams
    Downloads: 2750

Nimbus (oz4700) by PE Norman 1948 - pic 003.jpg
003.jpg

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User comments

Have spent maybe 8 hours on cleaning this plan up, now. It's a little hard to read the original lines because the owner used a thick pencil to mark and trace over it, obscuring some detail on the wing ribs, etc. Recommend great caution if using this plan to actually build a model.
SteveWMD - 04/08/2013
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Notes

* Credit field

The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.

Scaling

This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.

 

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