Simple Citabria (oz7278)
About this Plan
Simple Citabria. Radio control sport model. For .049 to .10 power. Uses the Ace mini foam wing.
Quote: "Minimum construction and maximum performance are the keys to this little schoolyard flier. Simple Citabria, by Fred Reese.
The Simple Citabria is designed to be of the easiest possible construction that will produce an attractive, high performance, schoolyard flier. Basic construction can easily be completed in an evening using just five sheets of 3/32 x 3 x 36 in balsa and some scraps of 3/32 plywood. The wing is the popular, constant chord Ace Mini foam wing of 35 in span.
Models of the Citabria have been flown with a Cox .049 Black Widow, Cox TD .049 and a Cox TD .09 and all gave good performance but I prefer the TD engines. The Simple Citabria is quite fast and very acrobatic. It is not a beginner's airplane, but rather a quick building, inexpensive, high performance fun flier.
The Simple Citabria has plenty of dihedral and a large rudder for good roll response. Ailerons are not needed. The Simple Citabria will even fly inverted. The model will ROG easily from a smooth surface with a little push to get it tracking, but I usually just hand launch it. The fuselage could be made a little wider to accommodate three servos to add throttle for an Enya .09 or O.S. .10. These engines, although more powerful, fly the Citabria slower than a TD .049. I have used .09 and .10 engines on Ace winged models for many years with very pleasant performance.
The Simple Citabria only weighs about eighteen ounces ready to fly, so a slightly heavier engine and an extra servo does not hinder performance. In fact, I used to fly an Enya .09 powered four channel Mooney with the Ace tapered wing that weighed 32 ounces!
Construction. Cut out and use the fuselage side template to make two fuselage sides. Glue on the vertical grain balsa doublers over the shaded areas leaving slots for the firewall A and bulkhead B. Drill the two 5/32 holes in the firewall for the fuel lines and drill four 1/8 in holes for the 2-56 engine mount blind nuts. Glue the blind nuts into the firewall and then glue the firewall and balsa bulkhead B to one of the fuselage sides. Glue on the other fuselage side and add the plywood bottom piece..."
Hi Mary/Steve - Here is Fred Reese's Simple Citabria from RCM magazine issue 11-84.
Direct submission to Outerzone.
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Article pages, text and pics.
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(oz7278)
Simple Citabria
by Fred Reese
from RCMplans (ref:926)
November 1984
35in span
IC R/C Cabin
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Submitted: 07/12/2015
Filesize: 582KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: theshadow
Downloads: 4027
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User comments
Added 3 nice shots of the finished model, thanks to SteveS [more pics 004-006].Mary - 12/07/2019
I have about 50 flights. It's amazing how well such a 'simple' plane flies. It keeps up with .40 size sport planes. Big giant loops, barrel rolls, tracks like on rails. Glides fast but very predictable and easy to hand launch and land. Extremely rugged too! All on a TD .051, 5x3 Prop with a 1 oz tank good for 5 minutes of pure joy. Rudder and elevator, build light, micro radio gear really makes these old designs come to life.
Steven Swinamer - 19/07/2019
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- Simple Citabria (oz7278)
- Plan File Filesize: 582KB Filename: Simple_Citabria-RCM-11-84_926_oz7278.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 1257KB Filename: Simple_Citabria-RCM-11-84_926_oz7278_article.pdf
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Notes
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