Liberty Bell (oz7175)

About this Plan

Liberty Bell. Unorthodox control line model, for .010 power.

Quote: "Some of my friends think I am cracked or a ding-a-ling - and I guess this proves it. If you have an .010 and a yen for pancakes you, too, can ring the bell. Uses 15- to 20-foot lines. Liberty Bell, by Charles Mackey.

Who should build a Liberty Bell? Nine out of ten members of the AMA, semi-scale fans, history students who want to improve their grades, boys, demonstrators, men who want to fly their Cox .010 tie clips, motor enthusiasts who want an excuse to buy a .010, and modelers who want high performance will be quick to dig this stunter. This should mean you!

The Liberty Bell wasn't inspired out of patriotism, although we are quite patriotic, but was inspired by the cute, but potent TD .010. I have always admired the little jewel, in the hobby shop, but never really became acquainted with it until I went to work for the LM Cox Manufacturing Co in Santa Ana, Calif. As an inspector, my job is to look for trouble but this task rarely turns up anything. It wasn't long before the little one had won my heart.

The design possibilities have scarcely been expounded upon and the sky is the only limit. However, we could not wait to get the little .010 in the air, so the design had to be quick. Recent experiments have shown again, as they did some 13 years ago, that a stunt ship can perform the AMA pattern well without the aid of airfoil or flaps. The earlier ex-periments many years ago were all with a Wasp .049. The latest experiments have employed engines as large as a .035. You may have seen the photo of the McCoy-powered Pancake design in print elsewhere.

The Liberty Bell is quick to build, easy to fly and a lot of fun. We took ours to the flying field and gave it a real work-out. The flyers lined up and took turns. We must have made 15 to 20 flights, consecutively. Most of the time the 'Bell' never hit the ground. It was caught in the air, refueled, repiloted and off again. Really nice for breaking ten-sion of the competition flying.

The first version had a wire skid. It also came out a little tail-heavy. The nose was lengthened and the skid re-moved because it served no practical purpose. The new Liberty Bell was given a semi-scale paint job for the magazine photos, but it is not necessary because two coats of clear dope will do the job.

Construction is easy, but warps, as always will cause trouble..."

Charles Mackey's Liberty Bell from American Modeler magazine issue 09-67.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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