Ole Tiger (oz6417)

About this Plan

Ole Tiger. RC scale model racer for K&B 45 power.

Quote: "A full scale 600 sq in class racer designed by Frank Johnson, ardent RC'er and Crew Chief for Bob Downey's Miller Special.

Littel Gem ("Ole Tiger") was originally built in 1948 by Jim Miller, then of Fort Wayne, Indiana. It raced in the 1948 races at Cleveland, but as with most new aircraft, it didn't do so well. Throughout the years Jim made several changes to the aircraft. He use three different wings at one time or the other. He also changed the tail section twice, and various changes were made to the fuselage and cowling. Finally, he came up with a real bomb.

Unfortunately some little airport manager from Warwick, New York managed to turn his aircraft into a potential bomb at the same time. In case you 's know who I'm talking about. The Red Baron, Grim Reaper or whatever name we can think, or dream up to call him. As most of you must have guessed by now Bill Falk and his famous 'Rivets'.

This guy and airplane has been Bon and my nemisis for the last four years. Now every racing season we look forward to each race, with only one thought in mind. BEAT FALK! Every time, we manage to squeeze another mile or two per hour out of Ole Tiger, Bill manages two or three miles per hour out of Rivets. But one of these days!

Well enough of this and on to the model. It was fairly easy for me to get accurate dimensions for this model, because I became the crew chief of the real Ole Tiger. If you can't find what you want, then go about it the hard way. It was necessary to go this route for according to Jim Miller, there wasn't any drawings made for this aircraft. Everything was drawn on the garage floor and literally built from the ground up. The wing airfoil is a composite of several drawn together on the floor and then selecting the one that looked the best. (Some way to build a winner).

Once again I was sidetracked, but I keep remembering these little things, and I thought you would be interested in them. Now, here we go again! My model was scaled 3 in to the foot. simply because it's easier to figure Quarter scale than it is to figure 2.6 in to the foot. I'm slightly lazy. And this puts you in the 600 sq in class.

For you guys that are too impatient to wait for the small vet.- sion, then you can scale these plans down tor up. depending if you spring for the full size plans or not). I don't know why you can't wait a little longer. I old, started the smaller version plans in 1965.

The fuselage can be built either with sheet sides or for you scale buffs (like me) then build with 1/4 in sq balsa for built up sides and fuselage. The only real hard part of the fuselage is the nose, from the front of the wing and 2B forward. This area really squeezes down, so be extremeley careful with this part. I planked the top of the fuselage from 4T to the nose with 1/8 x 1/2 strips, however the block method would be much easier and simpler. Each modeler has his own method no I'll not try to tell you how to build your version.

K & B's 45 with the extension shaft and a K & B radial mount will fit the firewall as it is shown on the plans. If you use any other engine or mount be sure to move the firewall to suit your particular needs. Some change of the firewall dimensions may have to lw made.

The top of the fuselage of the real aircraft has a metal wrap around the top of the bulkheads. This is the reason for the balsa block shown on the plans. Install a hard sheet of 1/4 in balsa at the front and rear of the wing cutout..."

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