So-Long (oz5358)

 

So-Long (oz5358) by Bill Englehardt 1941 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

So-Long. Free flight gas model. The Class B Open winner at the 1940 Nationals. Wingspan 50 in, wing area 360 sq in.

Original article and drawings from Air Trails, Jan 1941.

Quote: "THIS is the slick little job with which Bill Engelhardt won the Class B Open title at the 1940 Nationals, two days after one of his fellow club members took the Class C Open with the Buzzard Bombshell (oz5360). Both men are members of the Chicago Buzzards.

So-Long turned in three out-of-sight flights and brought hi dne the beautiful Gar kVood Trophy. There are many good fea-tures in this model. First of all, it is a cabin job and looks greatly like a real airplane, and, of co curse. there is no doubt ahout a Nationals winner flying as a contest model should.

It has a very neat appearance and is exceptionally strong, the fuselage being entirely planked, and diampnd shaped, except up in front. It has a fast climb and a graceful glide, and can be used in both A and B Classes. The switch-over from A to B is easily accomplished by changing from an Ohlsson 19 to a 23, if you use Ohisson motors which both fit the same motor mounts.

Construction: The fuselage is composed of 3/16 square balsa. Lay out a top and a side view of the iuselage on a large sheet of paper. The top view is really a cross section of the center portion of the fuselage. Figure 1. Cement Uprights 1, 2, 3 and 4 into place while longerons are still pinned down to the workbench. Curve the 1/16 plywood bottom piece (given full size on full-size page) to correspond with side view and cement on top of uprights, as in Figure 2. The bottom longeron extends from the slot in the plywood to the rear end of the fuselage. Spacers 5 to 9 are then installed, bending the bottom longeron to coincide with the curve in the fuselage side view.

When the cement is dry, detach from the table or workbench. Cut two wiing-mount platforms from 1/8 sheet and cement together so that both of them form an angle similar to the center dihedral angle. The wing-mount platform is mounted on Spacers 2, 3 and 4 - as was the plywood at the bottom of the fuselage. The top longeron is installed the same as the bottom was - see Figure 3. It is straight, however, in contrast to the bottom longeron. Compression members extend from the firewall to Spacer 4. These strengthen the fore part of the fuselage.

The landing gear is cemented in place with several coats of cement, possibly reinforced with a strip of silk over the wire. Plus another coat of cement. Cement the firewall and Former 1 into place. Motor mounts (1/4 x 3/8 x 8-1/2 in pine) are inserted through firewall and cemented securely in place. To provide a better anchorage for ce-ment, it is a good idea to scratch the rear portions of the motor mounts with very rough sandpaper or with a knife..."

Note this is not a full size plan, this is a scan of the original magazine pages as printed in 1941, so it includes layout drawings that will need to be scaled up along with some full-size template drawings [fixed now, see below].

Update 24/1/2025: Replaced this plan with a much clearer copy, thanks to TomRyan. Scanned from fullsize.

Note for previous scan version, see article file. All we had before was the article, which included the drawings as printed in the magazine pages.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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So-Long (oz5358) by Bill Englehardt 1941 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz5358)
    So-Long 
    by Bill Englehardt
    from Air Trails
    January 1941 
    50in span
    IC F/F Cabin
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 24/02/2014
    Filesize: 641KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: BillW, TomRyan
    Downloads: 2438

So-Long (oz5358) by Bill Englehardt 1941 - pic 003.jpg
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So-Long (oz5358) by Bill Englehardt 1941 - pic 004.jpg
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So-Long (oz5358) by Bill Englehardt 1941 - pic 005.jpg
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User comments

The 50 inch So-Long is, by far, the most common model of that name. However, there was a 54 inch version that was also flown in 1940. For years, it was assumed that it was either a scaled up 50 inch So-Long or a 50 inch So-Long with an extended wing. When the original was discovered, and plans were drawn up from the model, it was discovered that it was neither and it had some subtle differences from the 50" model in all aspects. The plan can be found here: https://plans.modelaircraft.org/product/b-c-so-long/
Tom - 20/10/2021
Seems the difference between 50" and 54" is an extra 2" rib space in each wing panel. I would think 54" would work better with a .29 whether Forster, O&R or Torpedo.
Douglas Babb - 26/12/2024
Mr. Babb: See the plan and article for the So Long 54 (oz15742). A four inch extension had long been presumed to be the only difference until the original SoLong 54 was found.
TomRyan - 08/02/2025
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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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