STOL Pigeon (oz6552)
About this Plan
STOL Pigeon. Radio control sport model.
Quote: "What's in a name, right? When I began this biplane it really wasn't meant to be capable of STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) manuevers. This aircraft had its humble beginnings as just another pleasant sport biplane with a few interesting additions. You see, I had this theory that placing flaps on the top wing and ailerons on the bottom wing of a biplane might be the answer to a very versatile sport plane.
I conferred with the local 'seat of the pants' aeronautical engineers and received two very different opinions. One school of thought was that the Pigeon would pitch down when the flaps were extended; this, of course, was followed by the theory that the Pigeon would pitch up with the flaps. I decided to build the plane at this point, just to see who was right.
The lines of the Pigeon follow the classic style of the early homebuilts with some old timer model looks thrown in. I have a soft spot in my heart for old airplanes and I wanted my biplane to represent that era of aviation.
The size of the Pigeon was determined by an OS .15 that I had in a drawer with no airplane attached to it. The engine runs so well that it just had to be put to use. The biplane is a bit large for this engine in most people's opinion, until they see it fly. The performance is anything but doggish. The light weight of this aircraft, combined with the fair amount of wing area and large surface throws allow very impressive acrobatic performance at an extremely slow and majestic airspeed.
The construction follows my favorite style, stick and gusset with sheet balsa in the load-bearing areas. This type of construction is unbelievably light. In fact, the empty weight of the Pigeon (less radio and engine) is a mere 29 ounces. This weight, combined with a 5 ounce engine and a 20 ounce radio add up to a 3 pound, 6 ounce aircraft.
These weights give me a wing loading of 13 oz/sq ft. This figure is approximate and it will of course vary with your radio size and building attitudes. I estimated and calculated to the heavy side so I would not be surprised if your Pigeon came out lighter. The lighter the better on this bird.
I used five channels in this airplane but that is not to say fewer could not be used. This biplane has been flown on three channels and it even does well on two channels. The reason for the five channels in my aircraft is that I tend to get frustrated with a slow aircraft if I can't do aerobatics and have lots of functions to play with. Besides, I had to prove who was right about the flaps.
Construction: The construction is very straightforward. I simplified the wings to give all of you scratch builders a well-deserved break. The ribs are spaced as far apart as I felt practical and the wings are absolutely identical in all respects. The rib spacing allows a mere 34 ribs to be used. That number is very close to most 2-meter gliders, but, remember, you get all the nostagia of two wings for the building time of one...
...the flaps are extremely effective ...take-off roll is reduced to 25 feet on grass and the landing on a calm evening is a very short 5 feet from touch down to roll out ...this model is so versatile that I have given up on most of my other planes..."
Scanning by Don at EAC, cleanup by theshadow.
Supplementary file notes
Article pages, text and pics, thanks to hlsat.
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(oz6552)
STOL Pigeon
by Mike Leasure
from RCMplans (ref:982)
December 1986
44in span
IC R/C Biplane
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Found online 13/04/2015 at:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=31152631...
Filesize: 1559KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: Balsaworkbench, theshadow
Downloads: 3470
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User comments
Attached are some pictures of my STOL Pigeon [more pics 006-008]. This is a great plane to build and fly. I modified the plans to use "bolt-on" wings, increased the rudder by 30%, extended both wings to 48" and removed the dihedral, and used an OS .35 2-cycle for power. Fun plane to fly and holds true to its name "STOL".Larry Nieman - 02/03/2020
Hi Outerzone, May I introduce you my “Stol Pigeon” :) [pics 009-012]
Motor EMAX GT2812/09
Lipo 3S 3300 mAh (perhaps too heavy !)
Weight 1580 grams.
First flight to come. Thanks a lot for all these many plans. Best regards from France,
Erick - 05/04/2021
A few more pics, showing the construction of the Stol Pigeon [013-015].
Erick - 02/10/2021
The Outerzone search engines use criteria such as name, designer, publisher, wingspan, year, etc. Would it be possible to add a Cuteness field? This STOL Pigeon would rank highly :-)
Miguel - 02/10/2021
I'm building a STOL Pigeon now. What kind of glue did you use to hold the plexiglass windscreen on?
Russ - 28/01/2022
When windows were made of pure celluloid balsa cement was perfect. Now that are made of plastic sheets 5 minutes bicomponent adhesive is the best choice.
pit - 29/01/2022
I've done a lot of these canopies and side windows. Don't even think about using CA, it WILL fog up the plastic. Guess how I know. I've used RC 56 for many years, but the name has recently been changed to FORMULA 560. It's the same stuff, no problem. Go a little light on the side windows, if you use too much, the glue tends to remain white underneath instead of drying clear. Never go for broke, make a test try first. Thinner plastic works better.
Doug Smith - 29/01/2022
Hi, did any of you have a hard time trying to wrap the plexiglass window around the fuselage? It says to use .05 thick plastic, but that seems a bit thick. Any suggestions?
Russ - 13/02/2022
Hi Russ. Yes, that seems rather thick, any transparent plastic sheet should do, in whatever thickness you like. The angles in this cockpit are quite sharp, if it were me I'd use a paper template to fold around and trim to fit until happy. Then you can cut your plastic sheet over the flat paper template and then accurately score the windshield side edges with a blade reverse edge so the plastic can follow a sharp fold. Be careful not to cut too deeply into the plastic. Happy landings!
Miguel - 13/02/2022
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- STOL Pigeon (oz6552)
- Plan File Filesize: 1559KB Filename: STOL_Pigeon-RCM-12-86_982_oz6552.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 1540KB Filename: STOL_Pigeon-RCM-12-86_982_oz6552_article.pdf
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Notes
* Credit field
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Scaling
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