Glory Bee (oz822)

About this Plan

Glory Bee. Old time gas free flight by Vernon Oldershaw from Air Trails. Has auto-retracting landing gear.

Note the Glory Bee also featured in 'Air Trails: Classic Flying Models, Fall 1979'.

Quote: "The Glory Bee was created by the author to combine in one model beauty as well as performance. To accomplish this, a general design of a good flying model was first sketched on paper. This gave the outline of the wing, its size and aspect ratio, as well as the size of the stabilizer, rudder and the length of the moment arm. The line of the thrust, the location of the CG and the center of lateral area, along with the location of the wings and their respective degrees of incidence were also included in the sketch.

The airfoil was derived from the Davis formula for fluid foils. Several different foils had been tested, including those which had appeared in Air Trails. For the most part, all were very stable and gave the models a high rate of climb under power, but were too fast in the glide for contest work. To decrease this speed, the air foil was made thicker. Though the model is still faster than most models, it has a very low sinking speed and will take off on anything that even smells like a thermal. This despite the fact that the model has a 14-ounce-to-the-square foot wing loading. Your model need not weigh that much because the author used very hard balsa with lots of cement and dope thrown in for good measure.

A model of simple construction was first built to test the design. The only change made was to increase the aspect ratio. This stopped the tendency of the model to drop off at the end of the motor run. Around this tested design the Glory-Bee was constructed. It is easy on the eye as well as being a good performer. The model has been contest-proved. At a recent Santa Barbara California meet, under ideal flying conditions, over a polo field where thermals were non-existent. It won over competition in all classes.

To build the Glory-Bee, the modeler should first make himself familiar with the plans. This is what every article that deals with model building will tell you. It is a very good idea and will save you a great deal of time and needless mistakes.

The fuselage is built by the crutch method, that is, by building each half separately, then joining them later. This method is changed slightly by building the bottom half on the drawing and then removing from the board and building the top right on to the bottom.

Cut out all the bulkheads and the cowling ring. The bulkheads are then cut in two just above the notch for the 1/8 square longeron. Now pin two 1/8 longerons in place on the top view of the drawing. Then place all the lower halves of the bulkheads in place, making sure that each one is vertical to the drawing. Cement them in place. Next cement the bottom longeron in place..."

Update 24/12/2017: Re-scaled this plan to correct fullsize, thanks to Nigel. Also added article page (incomplete), thanks to zl3vml.

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