Mustang (oz6726)

About this Plan

Mustang. Mustang FIA. Radio control semi-scale FAI pylon racer model.

Quote: "FIA Mustang, by Tony Dowdeswell.

Why the Mustang? This model started, from the very beginning, as a publishing venture soon after the FAI pylon racing formula was adopted on a 'provisional' basis at the end of 1969. Personally, I prefer my racers to look like racing aircraft. I think it is a great pity that FAI rules have not adopted a positive 'scale' appearance requirement, but that should not prevent us from getting the scale appearance into our FAI racers at no cost in performance.

In looking for a subject as a racing model for FAI racing, the P-51 Mustang is the obvious choice - take a look at any of Reid Kinert's Racing Planes Annuals and you'll see what I mean. In fact there are, and have been, more Mustangs used in full size air racing than any other single type of aircraft, so it's a natural candidate.

There are so many glamorous colour schemes to choose from. My own four prototypes have used the highly colourful schemes of the late Ed Weiner's Bardahl Miss and Chuck Hall's Miss RJ. Others that come immediately to mind are Howard Keefe's Miss America and Clay Lacy's passionate purple No. 64 (complete with Snoopy emblem).

If you care to go back a bit in racing history and fancy the P-51B (also shown on the plans here), there's a chance to model Paul Mantz's famous red and white No. 46 thrice Bendix Trophy winner, or even Bill Odum's superb, though ill-fated, No. 7 Beguine. Then, if you object to the excess fuselage depth caused by the underwing air scoop, the '51 will accomodate you, sir - Anson Johnson's all-yellow No. 45 had the scoop removed and the intake relocat-ed to the wing leading edges where the gun bays had been.

The choice is almost endless, and it was with this sort of thought in mind
that my first Mustang FAI was drawn up and took shape early in 1970, racing for the first time at the National Championships in May that year. The model proved quite fast, but the pilot, unfortunately, was not and we made it no further than the semi-finals.

Prototype No. 1 ended in spectacular fashion at the Cotswold pylon race meeting in August 1970 in a magnificently over-cooked attempt to recircle the No. 1 pylon in the first lap of the final. It was a basket case par excellance, but the radio continued to work!

Prototype No. 2 Mustang FAI was in the shape of Miss RJ and was first raced at the beginning of 1971, getting into the final of the first race meeting of the season despite a very new engine and a near 5-1/2 lb weight less fuel.

Prototype No. 3 represents the model drawn here. It is basically the same design as Numbers 1 and 2 but the outline has been improved to make it look a lot more like a Mustang. Here, of course, is one of the problems of the game - making 700 square inches of wing and tailplane plus 7 x 3-1/2 inches minimum depth and wide fuselage take the appearance from which the FAI model specification is far removed. It took a great deal of bending and stretching of the lines and curves of the full-size, but finally I think it is as near to Dutch Kindleburger's original shape as it is ever going to get - and I think it looks good.

Prototype No.3 was the model I raced at the Nationals this year and did quite well until the semi-finals when I over-cooked the engine on the start line and, the retracting undercarriage which had operated faultlessly throughout the heats, failed to retract fully. Subsequently the model has done well. It has also shown itself to be quite fast. The retracting undercarriage has proved quite reliable and it certainly makes the Mustang look right in the air. So much for the fact that I'm now a confirmed retract addict!

Mustang FAI is a dolly of an aeroplane (airplane to you American blokes) to fly and race. It has no vicious characteristics at all, it grooves beautifully straight down the pylon course, and turns on a sixpence, thanks, of course, to the light wing loading characteristic of all FAI racers.

Takeoffs and landings with this machine are also a pleasure, due to the relatively wide wheel spread and, while other racers are screwing left and right when the starter's flag drops, a little right rudder will hold Mustang FAI straight as a poker as it pulls away low for the scatter pylon!"

Update 13/10/2016: article pages, text & pics added, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text & pics.

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