Travel Air 2000 (oz4776)

About this Plan

Travel Air 2000. Free flight peanut rubber scale model.

Note this plan appeared twice in Model Builder: first in Feb/March 1973, then again in April 1987.

Quote: "Travel Air 2000, by Don Butman. The return of a popular classic from the March, 1973 issue of Model Builder. A good project for the junior builder, this neat Travelair biplane is at home flying from a schoolyard field.

Bi-plane: An airplane with two main supporting surfaces placed one above the other. So says Merriam Webster's Pocket Dictionary. This definition is true for the Travelair 2000, but it lacks in expressing the appeal that this airplane has for certain two-winger buffs! This is the 4th Travelair 2000 that I have built from Bill Northrop plans, though it's the smallest of the lot.

The May 1969 edition of Sport Flying magazine featured Travelairs. This included a story by Max Walton of Wichita, who restored a Travelair 2000 because he needed a test stand for an OX-5 engine! The result was a beeyoutiful blue and silver Travelair 2000 that became a flying test stand. An interesting caption under one of the flying pictures states: '...high (800 ft) over the Wichita countryside at full throttle, 72 mph!' This magazine article, plus the re-issuance of Bill's plans in the Model Builder, pushed me into peanut scaling the Travel Air.

The model is built in the usual fashion, 1/16 sq sides, formers, 1/32 x 1/16 stringers, 1/32 sheet around the nose and cockpits, and a bunch of 1/32 sheet wing ribs. The engine cowling protrusions are shaped blocks and the front and 'spinner' are the one piece with the prop 'way out in front. Sticklers for fidelity may prefer to move the prop back a 1/4-inch or so and build a spinner around it. Five-minute epoxy works very nicely for securing the landing gear wires and attaching the fairings. Also, a light coat of epoxy on the nose plug and mating opening in the fuselage will provide tight and durable wearing surfaces to keep the nose plug from falling out after the motor unwinds.

Colored Japanese tissue, plus a few thinned coats of clear dope are used for covering the model. A small amount of nose weight was required for a flat glide. So far, the flights have been relatively short, but it certainly looks good up there in the sky, complete with 'Les Pitotes,' of course! Oh yes, le pilote in the front cockpit sits very low, because he is really a passenger; the real Travel Air had controls only in the rear cockpit."

Supplementary file notes

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