Fox (oz7859)

About this Plan

Fox. Radio control sport model.

Quote: "The Fox is a fast acrobatic sport plane designed for .20-.34 size 2-stroke engines. Construction is conventional, the basic building materials are balsa, plywood, and spruce. The 51 in wingspan double tapered low wing model has a 405 sq in wing area, and employs an NACA-0012 symmetrical airfoil section set at 0° incidence. Dihedral is 60, that is 30 per wing panel. Dry weight is 45 to 48 ounces, and the wing loading is a moderate 17 ounce/square foot.

This model requires a three channel control for throttle, ailerons, and elevator. The battery pack, receiver, and servos are standard, no dual rate, mixing or exponential control is needed. To build this model from scratch takes 40 to 50 hours of construction time. Top speed is 100 mph with a 10% nitro fuel.

Every airplane design is a compromise, and this one is no exception. The basic principle of physics tells us that drag is a square function of velocity, this simply means that every time speed is doubled the drag is squared. For this reason the landing gear was replaced with a simple skid arrangement. To further reduce drag and weight, rudder control was omitted. The fuselage cross section is just large enough to enclose the standard radio gear.

The usual chocolate bar wing planform was slightly stretched and tapered and all this definitely makes a difference in the model's speed and maneuverability. Further advantages are reduced drag, reduced weight, reduced building time, runway independence that eliminates cross wind disasters, no jumping act during landing, no busted landing gear, and fuel savings.

Construction. A careful balsa selection for this project is not needed. A medium or medium-hard balsa will do. Make sure all parts fit well and the glue joints are good. I use Elmer's Carpenters wood glue for general assembly and slow setting epoxy for high stress areas. I feel that a step-by-step construction sequence is not needed since this design is elementary. For those modelers flying from a paved runway, this model can be built with optional landing gear as shown on the plan..."

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