Belaire Mk2 (oz6421)
About this Plan
Belaire II. RC pattern plane.
Quote: "Eric Bell, a member of South Africa's international team in 1971, presents his Belaire, four-time winner of the Rohodesian National Championships and second place winner in the 1974 R/C Modeler Design Contest. This internationally renowned design is one of the finest competition aircraft in the world today.
The Belaire is a contest proven aerobatic design, which has won the Rhodesian National Championships 4 years running. It has been flown by both expert and novice, and is extremely docile on low speed handling characteristics. The new FAI aerobatic pattern is no problem, as it completes all maneuvers with ease.
The Belaire originated when I was selected to represent South Africa in the World Championships in Doylestown in 1971, which I unfortunately could not attend due to visa difficulties. Since the original model was designed, various design changes have taken place, and I feel that the Belaire can now compete with any of the top pattern aeroplanes available. Although we only fly the FAI schedule in Rhodesia, I am sure it would perform the AMA schedule without any difficulty.
The Belaire can be built with fixed landing gear and performance is satisfactory, however, acrobatic ability is certainly held back with the fixed undercarriage. My experience with retractable landing gears have shown that the rolling maneuvers are very accurate about the logitudinal axis - fewer pilot corrections are required, therefore the model is easier to fly, and is also easier to fly in strong wind conditions. The reduction of landing gear drag is very noticeable under these conditions.
The model stall turns extremely well, and performs the slow roll, and 4 point roll with ease. Entry and exit to the spin are good, with no tendency to overspin. 3 fast rolls are extremely axial, and the looping maneuvers can be executed with no tendency to drift off the intended flight path.
The Belaire has been kitted in Rhodesia, utilizing a fibreglass fuselage, and foam wings, and has proved very popular with pattern fliers in this country. Should anybody decide to build a Belaire, I would be very interested if you would drop me a line to Eric Bell, P.O. Box 2555, Salisbury, Rhodesia, as I would like to hear the views of other modelers on what I feel is one of the top competitive designs of today.
Construction. Fuselage: Start construction of the fuselage by cutting out both balsa 1/8 fuselage sides, and splicing accordingly to obtain the correct length. Cut out the ply doubler from 1/32 ply, and balsa doubler from 3/32 sheet. Glue together, and pin down allowing adequate time to dry. Next, cut out the main bulkhead from 1/4 in ply, and recess for fitting the maple engine bearers..."
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- Belaire Mk2 (oz6421)
- Plan File Filesize: 741KB Filename: Belaire_oz6421.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 3192KB Filename: Belaire_oz6421_article.pdf
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Notes
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Scaling
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