1948 Glider (oz6380)

About this Plan

Glider. Free flight towline glider. Designed by Alan Barrister, published in January 1948 FM and simply called '1948 Glider'.

Quote: "SOARING is the most beautiful and awe-inspiring form of flight, to say nothing of its being the most efficient and graceful. Even where the mighty gas model is concerned, the real flight does not commence until after the engine has cut off.

Modelers have come to regard the soarer as a complex, high efficiency machine, but this soarer is the proof that grace and beauty may successfully be incorporated in a simplex form of construction. As you will notice from a glance at the plans, it is composed of a minimum number of parts, thus making it possible to build it in a few evenings. Coincidentally, this simplex construction is one of the strongest, rendering the model capable of withstanding almost any kind of abuse.

High efficiency is really the byword of this unique ship, for its high aspect ratio wing and low drag fuselage is a combination that is mighty hard to beat. No doubt your many hours of soaring pleasure will conclusively prove this point to you, for certainly my words alone could not approach a true justification of the ability of the ship.

As you may have noticed, the short tail moment or close-coupled force arrangement, enables the ship to maneuver in very tight circles without spinning. This helps make the soarer particularly susceptible to thermal flights. But we don't think you'd mind that one bit.

As we told you, the construction is extremely simple; now we'll show you just how simple.

The first step on the fuselage is to cut out all the formers from one-sixteenth sheet. Mark off the former positions on the sides and assemble by sandwiching the bulkheads in between the two sides in their indicated positions. The remaining two sides may then be covered with one-sixteenth sheet balsa and trimmed after the cement has hardened. And there you have the basic diamond structure. The wing mount may then be added. It is cut from one-eighth sheet and is supported mainly by a one-eighth sheet balsa incidence former. One-sixteenth sheet platform formers complete the bracing of the wing platform. The top rear of the fuselage is shaped with two stringers cut from one-sixteenth sheet and the rest of the shaping is done with four stringers cut from one-sixteenth by one-quarter strips. A soft balsa nose block finishes off the fuselage, and there you have it.

The rudder goes equally as fast. It is made by laying out the one-eighth by one-quarter leading and trailing edges and adding the tip which is cut from one-eighth sheet. Two ribs are cut from one-sixteenth by one-eighth strips and cemented in place. The part of the rudder that joins the fuselage is made from two one-eighth by one-quarter strips, with a section cut out to allow installation at the stabilizer. One-eighth sheet gussets are added to prevent warp. The fin is cut from one-eighth sheet and is sanded to a sharp trailing edge. The dorsal fin is then cut from one-eighth sheet and installed, as is the underslung section of the rudder. The stabilizer is made in the standard procedure..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article page, text and pics, thanks to RFJ.

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