Yardstick (oz6822)

About this Plan

Yardstick. Radio control sport model.

Quote: "Check out this 9 ft span model you can build for $50, less engine and radio. A .40 to .61 engine will put it in the air.

Have you wanted to build a 'biggy' but have been turned off by excessive kit prices of $80 to $150, knowing you still had to buy the covering, wheels, landing gear and motor mounts.

Here is a 9 foot span model you can build for $50 complete (not including motor and radio). The trick is making your own kit, stack cut the ribs, splice spars, build up the leading and trailing edge, fabricate the fuselage formers and substitute other material for balsa.

Use free yardsticks for the entire fuselage, wing spars and odds and ends. Use the plain, unvarnished kind; the printing is okay. Yardsticks can be obtained at hardware stores, paint stores, fabric houses, dress shops and sewing centers, Get your wife, girlfriend, mother, etc., to help. You will need approximately 20 yardsticks. Use scrap pieces for gussets, etc. Yardsticks are excellent wood to work with, easy to cut, saw, and sand. They are not prone to splitting, cracking, or breaking.

Use standard building practices throughout, keeping the weight down. Do not add to the plans, the plane is plenty strong enough as drawn, I cannot emphasize the weight factor too much, Use white glue throughout except the high stress areas where the newer 5-minute epoxies are used.

Construction. General construction notes are as follows:

Fuselage: Lay out and glue two sides as shown. Add splice plates, making sure you have a left and a right hand side. Make formers F3 through F5. Construct the fuselage upside down using a straightedge and a right triangle to assure alignment. Double glue the motor area including the firewall and gussets. Install the plywood floor and the landing gear mount. Drill for the blind nuts for mounting the landing gear; drill and tap 1/4-20 two places for the functional struts. Glue in the plywood plate for the tail skid; drill for the wire skid; glue in the balsa plate top rear as a platform stabilizer.

The formers from F5 back are not shown on the drawing. They are installed after the rear tail post is pulled together and glued. The height and the width of these farmers is undetermined. Using a long flat sanding block, sand the entire fuselage to remove burrs, ridges and glue overspill. Do not attempt to remove the printing from the yardsticks.

Wing: Make a cardboard pattern of the wing rib W-1 without the spar skits. Trace around the pattern with a Erie point ballpoint pen on 1/8 x 3 x 36 in balsa sheets (you get five ribs per sheet). Cut out the ribs, stack them together and pin and sand to finished shape. Cut the spar slots (four hacksaw blades taped together make the correct width cut). Splice the spars using epoxy glue. Lay on the full size plan. Using white glue and pins, add the ribs..."

Supplementary file notes

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