Rumplestadt C Type (oz7256)

About this Plan

Rumplestadt C Type. Radio control sport model. This is a 'fantasy scale' model, in the sense that it is not in any way a scale model. 42in wingspan, 480 sq in area, for .10 to .15 engines.

Quote: "Rumplestadt C Type. By Bob Lovejoy

This is a true-to-scale model of a plane built by the Rumplestadt factory in 1917. It was built to fulfill military requirements for a two place 'C' type airplane of outstanding performance. It was to be faster than a Spad, more maneuverable than a Camel, have a better rate of climb than a Nieuport, have better dive performance than an SE5A, be more stable than an Avro trainer, and have a stalling speed of less than twenty kilometers per hour. It was also requested that the plane be built in fewer man hours than any other plane in the world. Although these requirements seemed a little idealistic, this little heard of company somehow managed to build what was undoubtedly the best airplane of World War I.

The Rumplestadt C Type exceeded every requirement with flying colors and yet it was not accepted by military officials! There were two major reasons for the plane being rejected: One being the lack of interplane struts and the other being the molded styrene foam wings. Although these innovations were sheer brainstorms, designer Reinhold Sturmkof could not convince anyone of his airplane's structural integrity. Another area of skepticism was the single cylinder air-cooled engine that did not spin with the propeller but remained attached to the fuselage. The two prototypes were then destroyed in a fit of frustrated passion and all but one set of blue-prints were torched. Now the only existing source of plans for this out-standing airplane is a magazine titled R/C Modeler.

The model is not a put on. It flies great and can be built in a few hours. The fuselage construction is very simple and straightforward while the foam wings are from Goldberg's Ranger 42. These can be purchased separately at most major hobby shops. They eliminate one drawback of a model biplane - building two wings!

The Rumplestadt was designed with short field performance in mind, figuring a well muffled fifteen could be flown from a school yard without offending anyone. I have found this to be true. Anyway, I kept a few things in mind as I layed out the Rump: substantial nose moment for balance, good tail moment and vertical area for stability, high thrust to minimize zoom, plenty of distance between the wings to increase efficiency and dif-ferential wing incidence to minimize sensitivity to small elevator deflect-ions, common in flat bottom wings... "

Hi Mary/Steve - Here is Bob Lovejoy's Rumplestadt C Type from RCM magazine issue 07-71.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

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