Musketeer (oz8057)

About this Plan

Musketeer. Profile model. Fro the 'For the Tenderfoot' series.

Quote: "Beechcraft's biz-and-sport plane makes good control-liner trainer for .049 engine. Musketeer, by Jim Davis.

THE Musketeer, a common sight at local airports, is a popular craft for business or sport flying and flight training. In a model, a good trainer usually must depart from scale because of the necessary change in nose and tail lengths, and the proper location of the CG (center of grav-ity). In this case, the Musketeer fuselage is a near-perfect scale profile. Only the wing and stabilizer area had to be changed to obtain gentle flying characteristics.

The Musketeer model construction was made as simple as possible to keep begin-ners' problems to a minimum. The secret of a good flying model is proper alignment; in this case, most of the construction is done on a flat board.

Every beginner has trouble installing ele-vator hinges properly, yet this is one of the most important phases of the construction. They must move freely in order to have good control of the model. The elevator hinge problem was solved by installing rubber bands in a figure-eight fashion. The method is simple and it is less likely that hinges will break in a crack-up than if cloth is used. This hinge method was used for years by the author for emergency re-pairs when flying in combat competition.

CONSTRUCTION: The plans are full-size. Instead of cutting up your magazine, take a sheet of tracing paper and tape it to the magazine page with masking tape, then carefully trace the parts. The tracings can be cemented to the wood with rubber cement, then cut out. If you have access to a jig saw or band saw, it will be easier to cut out the 1/4 in fuselage side. Make sure all the parts are cut ac-curately since they key together and align themselves. The tracing paper can then be peeled off and the remaining cement rubbed off with your finger.

The wing is made of 1/8 x 3 x 24 balsa. Mark the center of the piece (12 in) and place the center portion of your tracing there. The tracings for the wing tips are then placed at the ends of the balsa piece. If you think the wing has an odd shape, take a look at a real Musketeer. It has the same shape.

Pin the wing down to a flat board, then apply cement liberally to the center of the wing and set the fuselage in place. Add the 1/4 x 1/4 x 3 fillets to each side and hold in place with pins. Use a small triangle to be sure the fuselage is exactly vertical. Apply cement to the center of the stabilizer and slide into position in the fuselage slot. Use your triangle again to be sure the trailing edge of the stabilizer is at right angle to the fuselage. Measure the distance of each tip down to the board to be sure they are the same. This is to be sure the stabilizer is parallel to the wing..."

Hi Mary/Steve - Here is Jim Davis' Musketeer from American Aircraft Modeler magazine issue 03-69.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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