Balsa Bug (oz6945)

 

Balsa Bug (oz6945) by John Valls 1993 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Balsa Bug. Simple radio control sport model.

Quote: "Need a break from that big project? Here's a simple, fast building .020 powered model that's just right for a relaxing weekend. The Balsa Bug, by John Valls.

There is a strange wonderful feeling I get whenever I receive a shipment of balsa wood. This was a humdinger of a shipment. My Christmas present from my wife, almost two hundred bucks worth! I picked it out, she paid for it. Immediately, I start thinking of an all balsa model. After running several ideas through my mind, I remembered the Cardinal rule, keep it simple.

The objectives in the Balsa Bug design were to build an all balsa model that was small, light, simple, pleasing to the eye, to be powered by a Cox .020 engine, and for 2 channel control. I wanted the wing to be cut from one sheet of balsa, a 1/16 x 6 in x 36 in would do. The fuselage should also be cut from one sheet of balsa, a 1/16 x 4 in x 48 in sheet would get both fuselage sides. The stab and rudder would be cut from one sheet of 1/8 x 4 x 36 in balsa. It should have a wing loading of less than 11 oz sq ft; hopefully, much less!

Out comes the drafting paper, triangles, scale, and hard pencils. After my workbench is cleared, it takes me a solid hour to draw the Balsa Bug.

Construction. The fuselage sides are cut from one piece of 1/16 x 4 in x 48 in medium hard balsa. Eveyone has their favourite way of tracing from a plan. I use a material called See Temp, which is a special soft mix of vinyl that's calendered on both sides..."

Hi Steve - Here is John Valls' Balsa Bug from RCM magazine issue 09-93.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

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Balsa Bug (oz6945) by John Valls 1993 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz6945)
    Balsa Bug
    by John Valls
    from RCMplans (ref:1152)
    September 1993 
    38in span
    IC R/C
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 05/08/2015
    Filesize: 313KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: theshadow
    Downloads: 2047

Balsa Bug (oz6945) by John Valls 1993 - pic 003.jpg
003.jpg

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Download File(s):
  • Balsa Bug (oz6945)
  • Plan File Filesize: 313KB Filename: Balsa_Bug-RCM-09-93_1152_oz6945.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 1097KB Filename: Balsa_Bug-RCM-09-93_1152_oz6945_article.pdf
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Notes

* Credit field

The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.

Scaling

This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.

 

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