Wiz-rod 350 (oz8222)

About this Plan

Wiz-rod 350. Free flight power model.

Quote: "Wizrod 350 By Ron St Jean.

As its name implies, the Wizrod is a combination of the best of two other models designed by the author several years ago, the Wizard (oz7353) and the Ramrod (oz6344)Ramrod. Of the two models, the Ramrod was the easiest to trim out and the most forgiving when mistakes were made, although both were exceptionally easy to fly compared to other designs available. So in making the combination, we started with the Ramrod configuration as a basis.

The Wizard had such a long fuselage that it reminded one of a gangly teenage boy. Because of this long fuselage, the Wizards tended to flex when in flight, the tail sometimes appearing to wobble from side to side as the fuselage twisted. Actually, this characteristic did not harm the flight pattern, but probably did spook away a few potential Wizard builders. Another unwanted characteristic of the Wizard was its occasional tendency to tail slide. If you ever saw one come half way down from shutofftail first before completing the stall, you'd remember it. But don't let us sell the Wizard short. Its great contest potential is perhaps best attested to by Lee Polansky's phenomenal Class A Open record of 94:19! And this was done with the 1/2A version with an 051 engine, breaking his own previous Class A record of some 70 minutes set with the same model.

Despite the innumerable trophies that the Ramrod brought home for its owners over the years, it was not quite perfect either. The wing airfoil was not optimal, and every once in a while a Ramrod would zero out, normally coming straight in under power at a very high speed. It was finally discovered that this tendency to zero out was due to the wing's center of pressure being slightly behind the lateral twisting line of the wing. Thus, under conditions of high loading, a twist in the wing was introduced which was similar to adding negative incidence. Needless to say, if any Ramrod, and especially a hot one, were tail heavy and thus short on incidence to begin with, it would be dangerous to fly, as just a little negative wing twisting could spell disaster.

This phenomenon of wing twisting was best demonstrated on a Ramrod 600 several years ago. We had been flying this particular 600, which was rather heavy, with a 29 engine for some time, with no complaints. Just for fun one day, we substituted a hopped-up 35 for the soso 29. The first flight, with the 35 running at a fast fourcycle, was quite normal with an average noseupunderpower tendency..."

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