Specter (oz7947)

About this Plan

Specter. Control line combat model. For Super Tigre .35 power.

Quote: "A durable fast-building combateer that uses a ny-lon tube for its wing spar. It's a contest winner. Specter, by Dan Hay.

IN the spring of 1966, I grew tired of building combat models, just to have them wrecked at the weekend contests. I am sure that many of you combat flyers have had the same feeling, as you looked at a pile of wrecked models and thought of the time and money you put into them. I wanted to find a model that could be built fast and cheaply, yet still be rugged enough to withstand the rigors of combat and be a winner. The Specter is the result of this search.

The first thing you will notice is the absence of ribs in the wing. In their place, I have used a nylon tube which doubles as a device to keep an airfoil in the wing and a pen-bladder tank compartment. (These nylon tubes can be purchased at almost any sports shop or department store where golf clubs are sold.) The tube wouldn't break and since there are not many ribs in the wing, there 'would be fewer parts to repair in the event of a crash.

The flyers in our combat team use pen bladders. It seemed to be an ideal way to cut down construction time because we would no longer have to build a special tank compartment. All we have to do is make sure the tube is sealed off at both of the tip ribs and cut holes for the pen bladder and drain.

The Specter may look weak and flimsy. Actually, the opposite is true. If good, hard balsa is used for the trailing edge, you can build this model without warps. There is less chance of breaking in a collision or wreck, since the wing will twist when it hits something. The same collision with an ordinary model may result in a total wreck, since the wing is ridged and will break rather than twist. This should be quite a relief.

Strength was proved at the Nats, when three models were dived straight into the ground with the only damage being a broken stabilizer. Since then, improvements have been made on the tail section and the new model has been piled in at over 100 mph with no damage. The Specter has been entered in two contests: the Michigan State Contest and the Nats. In the Michigan Contest, it was first out of 37 contestants; at the Nats, it came out fourth.

I do not use wing tip weight or engine offset; but it will still fly well on any side of the circle in the wind. However, you may want a little engine offset when you run into a stiff breeze on contest day, to be on the safe side. The perform-ance of the Specter has been excellent. It is stable enough so that it can be flown by the feel on the lines; but it still has the turning ability to kill your opponent when he gets into your sight.

The plane has been streamlined as much as possible, so your speed will be determined by your choice of engine and prop. I had best results using a Super Tigre .35 BB and a 9 x 7 Rev-up prop, using of course, the pen-bladder fuel system. Also, I use a special 'ram tube' venturi. It has the same inside dimension as the regular Super Tigre pressure venturi, but it is 7/8 in longer..."

Attached is Dan Hay's Specter from American Aircraft Modeler magazine issue 03-68. Regards,

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

Corrections?

Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)? That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction