Avro Spider (oz5903)

About this Plan

Avro Spider. Peanut scale model, for rubber or CO2 power.

Quote: "Professor Peanut comes through again, this time with a delight from the 1919 issue of Jane's All the World's Aircraft. It's CO2-powered, and a snap to build.

The three-view for this interesting World War I biplane was published in the 1919 issue of Jane's All the World's Aircraft. Several features make it somewhat different from most of the other biplanes of the period. It has a large low aspect ratio top wing and a small high aspect ratio lower wing. As a consequence, the insignia carried on the wings is carried on the top and bottom of the top wing. It also has no interplane wire bracing because it uses a Warren truss 'V' strut arrangement between the wings. Finally, the top wing was set very close to the top of the fuselage so that the pilot's eyes were in line with the wing, theoretically giving the pilot a better field of view than the more conventional biplanes.

Of course, the pilot's head is no longer protected in the case of a noseover on landing, and the wing's aerodynamic efficiency was somewhat decreased by the hole in the center of the top wing. Still, it makes into an interesting Peanut Scale of a little modeled WWI airplane.

Love these new copy machines, they'll take a three-and-a-halt-inch span three-view and blow it up to thirteen-inch Peanut size. That's what was done here, which accounts for the roughness on some of the outlines. But it gives a true enlargement which was then cut apart and rearranged into a more normal Peanut format and the model structure drawn in place. Note that the horizontal tail size has been increased. It looks awfully small on the three-view.

The basic model structure is very conventional, so it will not be allowed to take up much space in this article. The model was designed to be built as either rubber or CO2-powered and the removable CO2 powerplant installation will be covered as well as an innovative way of decorating and covering the model. Finally, the wing assembly was done a little differently than usual, and that will also be discussed in detail.

All the main structure is balsa and, except for the fuselage box itself, can be built directly over the plans. The lower wing plan is shown dotted, under the top wing, so to speak. Its leading and trailing edges are continuous right across the fuselage. That is, the whole lower wing is a single unit. The top wing, tail surfaces, and fuselage sides are totally conventional.

Once you have all the parts made, sanded smooth, and ready for covering, assemble the uncovered model.

The model in the photographs is covered with pre-decorated condenser paper and has not been doped at all.

Staedtler Lumocolor 357 permanent felt pens were used to decorate the condenser paper. Permanent pens are used so that the condenser paper can be water shrunk after the model is covered without the color smearing. Condenser paper is totally airtight and does not need dope for sealing. As a result, the felt pen ink does not run along the fibers as it will with regular tissue.

Tape a piece of condenser paper down over the wing plan and using a circle guide draw in the roundels using a red pen for the center and a blue one for the outer ring. Then use a brown pen to color the entire rest of the top wing covering leaving a one-sixteenth wide blank outline around the outside of the blue. Make sure the brown is smoothly done as possible and extends at least a quarter inch beyond the outline of the wing. Now using the decorated paper locate it very carefully over the top wing structure and glue it in place using thinned out white glue.

Now, carefully cut the top wing loose from the assembled skeleton. The strut system, being a nice set of triangular trusses, will remain in place on the lower wing. Decorate a piece of condenser paper to cover the bottom of the top wing. It has roundels but is not colored brown. Cover the bottom of the top wing, and, when the glue is dry, watershrink the top wing. When shrunk, dry cement the wing back in place on the struts. Now remove the bottom wing from the struts and remove the fuselage from the top wing. The struts which have been cemented to the top wing should remain nicely in place..."

Supplementary file notes

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