Chickadee (oz8378)

About this Plan

Chickadee. Free flight gas model.

Quote: "A Simple Sturdy Gas Model of Streamline Design That Flies With Great Precision. The Chickadee, by Sidney Struhl.

THE Chickadee gas model was designed and, built mainly for the Precision and Limited Motor Run type contests. A ship to meet the requirements of the above types of contests would need to have the following specifications:

1. The ship must be super-stable to take care of a variation of powers and speeds.
2. To eliminate crack-ups. The ship must have very strong construction features to take the stress for high power and fast flying, consistency of flight and manhandling.
3. The ship must be small enough for easy transportation and yet large enough to insure a good flat glide.
4. The ship should be as light as possible, having a wing loading not more then the rules require.
5. The ship must be as streamlined as possible to reduce wind resistance to a minimum; thus increasing the speed and climb aiding the gliding angle.
6. The ship should have a paint job that is as smooth as glass to reduce skin friction and to pile up points in Beauty Contests.

As closely as possible the Chickadee was designed to meet the above specifications.

To get the ship to be stable, the Chickadee has its CG and CLA in its correct position. Combined with a high thrust line and a stabilizer of generous area, super-stability is thus insured. Any spinning tendencies are entirely eliminated by a rudder of only 7-1/2% of the total wing area. A slightly parasoled wing is used not only to help stability but also to aid the climb of the model.

To get the maximum degree of strength and yet keep the weight down to a minimum, mortocoone construction was used on the fuselage and sheet balsa covered leading edges and spars of generous size were used in the wing, stabilizer and rudder construction. You will note that the wheels on the landing gear are placed well forward to prevent broken props and nose-overs in landings.

You will discover after building the Chickadee that it has an amazing short take-off run, then starts to climb vertically in the fastest and tightest spiral it has ever been our good fortune to witness.

The story of this fast, tight spiral climb lies in the ship's design. The unusual climb and glide can be contributed to the Grant X-8 airfoil in the wing and a slightly modified M-6 airfoil used on the lifting stabilizer.

Now that we are through howling about the merits of the Chickadee bow about you getting down to business and building itl

Fuselage and Landing Gear: The first thing to do is to plot out the fuselage bulkheads B4 to B14. They are shown quarter actual size on Plate 3; therefore you must enlarge them four (4) times.

Bulkheads B1, B2 and B3 are shown half-size on Plate .3 so all you need do is trace them on the required size wood..."

Supplementary file notes

Article pages.

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