Army BC-1 (oz543)

About this Plan

Army BC-1. Rubber scale model. Advanced US military trainer first built in 1935.

Quote: "Army BC-1, by Milton Kahn. Follow these plans and instructions for building one of the most realistic scale models ever designed to fly.

Devotees of flying scale jobs haven't a very wide selection these days since most of our planes are either mid-wingers or low- wingers. On top of that, the majority are military types.

Some sort of a bugaboo still exists, however, that low-wing flying scales are not so hot, and as a result are more or less treated like a stepchild. Nonsense! That's all this author has been building and flying for the last three years, and he can report nothing but excellent flights with swell flying characteristics to boot-including this month's job.

The North American trainer in Air Corps circles is known as the BC-1 basic combat. The manufacturer's designation is NA-16-3. This twoplace ship is widely used in preparing Flying Cadets to eventually handle swift, single-seat fighters. This 'prep school' ship is a tricky job, and has to be flown every minute. The BC-1 is powered with a 550-hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine and cruises at 195 mph. It has a maximum speed of 210 and a rate of climb of 1500 feet per minute. Landing speed with flaps is 67 mph and cruising range is 900 miles. Structure is all-metal throughout and tail surfaces are stressed-skin covered while moving parts are fabric faced.

Fuselage Construction: Easiest way to start things right is to remove Plates 1 and 2 from the magazine and pin down to a flat surface. Over these pages, spread a convenient sized sheet of wax paper. The necessity of this will be obvious. Your first step is to cut to correct size the four longerons and pin them into position on the side view. The longerons are identified by the dotted longitudinal lines.

Cement the uprights (also called compression members) in position. After one frame is completed, lay down the second side and in due time remove so that both sides can be attached by cross braces. The cross members are cemented at right angles to each upright. An illustration is best given on Plate 1 showing a front view of the frame with formers around it.

Crack the frame slightly at the point where former F-3 is to be mounted. Taper the nose so that F-1 can be cemented as shown in the top view. The remaining three formers (also parts of F-1) required to round off the nose is shown in full size front view on Plate 1. The side formers are notched for a single side stringer, top and bottom formers, for three stringers..."

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