Hiperbipe (oz8615)

About this Plan

Hiperbipe. Sport scale model for .40 power.

Quote: "Looking for a super simple R/C biplane? This clean machine is Stand-Off Scale and flies on a .40 engine. Hiperbipe, by Stan Hines.

It is just possible that one of the best home-built light biplanes at the 1973 Oshkosh EAA Fly-In last year was the 'Hiperbipe.' It is the product of Sorrell Aviation of Tenino, Washington, which owned and operated by Hobie Sorrell and his sons. Mark, John, and Tim. Their main business is the repair and rebuilding of aircraft for their customers. However, like so many of us in the modeling business, after we have built and rebuilt someone else's design long enough we begin, after awhile, to feel that we could design a better one ourselves. The Hiperbipe was not their first attempt, however, it certainly is a very unusual looking aircraft - which is what attracted my attention, almost as much as the article by Budd Davisson in the December, 1973 issue of Air Progress describing its flying characteristics.

Its unusual appearance comes from the use of an airfoil shaped fuselage. This is not exactly a new idea since it was first investigated by Mr Bernulli back in the 1920's. The basic idea is to make the fuselage do double duty; to carry the passengers, and to provide lift,

Ever since reading of the design advantages of negative stagger which claims to give better biplane wing efficiency, I have wanted to build such a craft. I guess I was ready to bite when I saw the article on the Hiperbipe, and particularly when a three-view plan was included. The thing that really hooked me was their philosophy (which parallels my own in modeling), that each design must investigate a theory and it has to prove a point.

With the aid of a calculator and a met-ric rule, plans were enlarged to approximately 2 inches to the foot. I believe that I have reproduced this plane quite faithfully, although there may be minor details omitted such as wires, but I don't think they are important for a Sport-Scale plane. Only two intentional changes were made in dimensions which were partially for .scale appearance and partially for flight characteristics. The first was an increase of 1/2 in from 6-1/2 (scale) to 7-inches in the chord of both wings. The second was a narrowing of the fuselage by 1/2 in from 7 to 6-1/2. The profile is as nearly scale as possible (a modified NACA 22022 airfoil). The other concessions to modeling were to make the wings removable for access to the interior, an engine access panel, a larger cooling air passage, and installation of ailerons on the lower wing only.

Construction: Since the thing that scares most modelers from building a biplane is the wings, let's start there. A look at the plans will show you that the wing structures are symmetrical airfoils and of a quite typical built-up construction. Rib spacing is even with the exception of the double ribs at the interplane strut and at the center-section. The ribs are cut from 1/16 hard balsa sheet notched for the 3/16 square upper and lower main spars..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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