Focke Wulf FW 190D9 (oz5011)

About this Plan

Focke Wulf FW 190D9. Control line stunt model. ST 46 engine shown. Uses a moulded balsa fuselage skin technique.

Quote: "This near-scale-stunt thing became a reality for me in 1970 when I was looking through some magazines and came across a great-looking near-scale P-51D Mustang (oz6372) designed by Al Rabe. About seven months later my P-51D was finished and flying. The sight and feel of that big graceful brute tugging on the end of the lines was enough to convince me that scale-like stunters could be designed, constructed and trimmed to fly in a very competitive manner. That Mustang, my first competition stunter, placed in many contests. As late as 1977 the same Mustang was brought out of retirement to win the Texas State Model Airplane Championships.

The success of the Mustang convinced me to stay with the near-scale type stunters. Next, I built a Mark Freeman Spitfire (oz4645) and modified it to accept a .60-size engine, and included some of Rabe's newer ideas. A great deal was learned from constructing and trimming the Spitfire. Unfortunately, before the Spitfire had seen any competition, a leadout broke and my dreams lay scattered on the asphalt.

I was in need of a new aircraft. Ideally, it should have the boldness of a Sea Fury with the quickness of a Stephens Akro and the flat turning appearance of a Gieseke Nobler. Also, it should be small enough to fly competitively on the ST 46. Finally, the design should have a fairly long tail moment for stability and appearance, and a nose long enough to balance the aircraft without the addition of trim weight.

After making a careful study of WW II designs and eliminating many aircraft for one reason or the other, my attention centered on the Focke-Wulf 190, the 'Butcher Bird from Bremen' as it was called by its creator, Kurt Tank. The early model 190s had fairly short noses, but the later D-9 model looked as if it just might work. The aerodynamic shape of the D-9 fuselage would be satisfactory for the ST 46 and the long moments looked great. The bold yet graceful beauty of the FW 190D-9 was irresistible - this was a plane that must be built and it had to be done right.

The wing and tail surfaces would obviously have to be oversized, but not so much that it would detract from realism. The 190's landing gear is so characteristic that it must remain long and scale-like, but that meant a shock gear would be mandatory to insure consistently smooth landings. The rudder hinge line is located well behind the elevator hinge line, which makes it easy to install a movable rudder, which is necessary on most near-scale stunters..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 14/08/2017: added article, thanks to Pit.

Supplementary file notes

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