Miss Norway MkII (oz7131)

About this Plan

Miss Norway MkII. RC pattern plane. Foam core wings, 57in span, area 610 sq in, weight 7-1/4lb. For .60 - .61 engine and full house radio.

Later kitted by GMC(?)

Quote: "The selection of a single pattern aircraft for inclusion with R/C Modeler Magazine's Flight Training Course Volume II presented quite a problem. There are literally hundreds of pattern aircraft designs available and each is designed to do virtually the same Job to the indiuidual satisfaction of its designer. The current American pattern ship flies much faster than the FAI designs used by other countries as evidenced in the recent World Championships. Due to this difference, which ultimately resulted in a lower score for the American team, we are presenting an aircraft that performs precision maneuvers at a slightly lower speed range than the hundred mile an hoar plus 'bullets' currently used in the AMA Pattern.

Miss Norway, designed by Ernst Totland, is just such an aircraft - it will do the AMA Pattern and the FAI Pattern with precision, grace, and with a wide speed envelope. You will find that Miss Norway is as close to the ideal as you can obtain in a pattern ship, whether it be for the AMA or the FAI Pattern competition.

The purpose of presenting this chapter is to start you in the direction of competition pattern flying and hope that your own personal development in this area will eventually lead to your contribution to the state of the art of pattern flying. Study the preceeding chapters well, build Miss Norway carefully, and then practice, practice, practice. And, when you think you can't practice any longer, start all over again and keep of practicing the maneuvers until you have them letter perfect by sheer reflex. Develop your presentation as well as your maneuvers and then set your sights toward the local, regional, national, and even the World championships. It can be done.

Often, certain models are referred to as winners. As an example - the model that won the World Championships, the Nationals, or the Winter Nationals. I personally feel that this is the wrong approach to any aircraft. It is not the model that wins but rather, the essential ingredient is a combination of the pilot and his aircraft. The problem is to find the model that suits the pilot's personal flying style. Winners have succeeded accomplishing just that. Of courser it also takes hard work and many, many hours of practice.

Having tried many American and European designs and not finding one that suited my own style of flying, I decided to design one myself. Miss Norway Mk I was not particularly successful primarily due to an adversely low wing loading, The Mark II, as presented here, however, is just what was searching for and l have now completed two successful seasons with it.

The design incorporates a few departures from past and current competition design trends. First of all, it is intended for relatively slow flying and constant speed through all the maneuvers. I, personally, feel that this gives the impression of gracefulness. I don't mean to say that it is slow - in fact, it is about the fastest ship in our club, but l wanted it to perform well at below the average speed as well as at full throttle. Many models today simply will not do that since a multitude of errors can be covered up by excessive speed.

The thin airfoils used today make the models resemble a bomb which certainly is a handicap in international competition. They also make the landing approach a difficult maneuver as it takes time to bleed off excess speed. Therefore, decided on a fairly thick airfoil - 17% at the root and 18% at the tip. A low aspect ratio wing was chosen because this wing tends to develop more drag relative to its lift than a high aspect ratio wing at low speed. A little extra drag in the landing sequence will certainly not detract from its performance. I also feel that a short wing makes a model less sensitive to wind gusts in the roll mode.

The thick wing produces substantial drag and makes a powerful engine absolutely necessary in order to perform large maneuvers. The OS .60 is satisfactory on straight fuel when fitted with a flow-through muffler or the standard OS muffler can be used with the outlet hole enlarged to at least 11 millimetres. However, the extra power of the Webra Blackhead would be a better choice.

Here on the West Coast of Norway we usually have windy and gusty weather. Smooth performance under these conditions is hard to achieve with most models used today. One solution is to construct large airplanes, but such a model needs speed because of the weight needed to keep the wing loading at a reasonable Level. As I wanted a fairly slow flying aircraft, I had to make it in the medium weight class to be able to use the thick airfoil. A wing loading of 80 g/dm2 (grams/square decimetres) had proved to be great for our gusty conditions. The result is the 'small' wing shown on the plans. A large fuselage was chosen for greater visibility and the long tail moment makes the elevator response smoother in the pitch mode. The huge side area makes some fantastic four point and slow rolls possible.

Another departure from the usual pattern design is the low position of the horizontal stabilizer. The main reason for this was to make the stab detachable and this was the easiest way out. One side advantage l had not counted on was the smooth take-off. The low stab seems to produce a ground effect when sufficient speed is gained..."

Update 30/09/2018: Added article (from RCM Flight Training Course, Volume II), thanks to davidterrell80.

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