Pelican (oz5670)

About this Plan

Pelican. Radio control sport trainer. 50in span, 395 sq in area, for .10 power and 3 channels. Model # pl-855. Designed by Charlie Parker, featured in RCM 1-82. This design was later kitted by Parker Planes [see more pics 003 for ad].

Quote: "An FM Product Review By Joel Rindler. Parker R/C Planes Pelican. Ease of assembly and unique design combine in a different kind of R/C sportster. For 09s and 10s.

Have you ever read one of those 'weekend wonder' product reviews that start out something like this: "I needed a plane for Sunday's pattern meet and I didn't get to open the kit box until Friday night. Well, thanks to my wife who kept my coffee cup full I managed to take second place with my new Conception. If only 1 had time for a true flight. I'm sure I would have garnered first. place.''

I always wanted to be able to say something like that, but no matter how easy a kit may be I just don't build fast. I'm prolific enough with one or more projects always in the works, but my pace tends to be slow. The subject of this kit review, the Parker RC Planes Pelican, is probably the closest I'll ever get to the 'weekend wonder' status, taking just two weeks of spare time to get from kit, to finished product.

I was quite pleased with what I found when I opened the Pelican kit box. The quality of wood was superb throughout as was the machine cutting. There was no need to touch up any of the ribs with sandpaper. The fuselage sides were identical in all respects and therefore flexed equally, which made it easy to build the fuselage straight. The wing tips were light weight and easy to carve, while the balsa bulkheads and empenage were medium hard.

With a few exceptions (as noted below) the parts fit, to each other and to the plans were excellent and cyanoacrylate was used almost exclusively for gluing. There is a complete hardware package, and the canopy supplied is of a particularly heavy gauge material. It you haven't figured it out yet, I really liked this kit, but for the sake of balance (nothing is perfect you know) I should point out the very few defects in the kit that I received.

First, the center section leading edge was warped and had to be re- placed. The spar notches of the 3/16 and 3/32 ribs didn't match exactly and required some minor trimming. The rear fuselage former was about 1/16 in too short and a two inch piece of triangular stock was missing. But that was it. You really get great quality at a very reasonable price ($36.95 effective 8/1/82). Since everything else about the kit was just fine, let me get, right to the building phase.

Fuselage. The instructions are very clear and are printed right on the plans along with a series of construction photos. They suggest that you start with the fuselage, and since the plane builds so easily, I'll skip the step-by-step stuff and just hit a few high points.

First, you must mark the locations of the formers and vertical braces on the fuselage sides. An easy way to do this is to extend the outlines of the formers and braces on the plans before getting started. This saves a lot of peeking under the fuselage side. When you put the longerons, fuselage doublers and vertical braces in place you should also add the triangular gussets behind the rear former lo cation to provide extra support for the rear wing hold down dowel. These gussets show quite clearly on the plans but are not mentioned in the written instructions..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 27/11/2017: added 'Product Review' article (Flying Models December 1982), thanks to FabioGil.

Supplementary file notes

Flying Models review article.

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