Lil Champ (oz8618)

About this Plan

Lil Champ. Radio control sport model. A scaled down version of the deBolt Champ.

Quote: "Little but potent is the best way to describe this single channel baby brother of deBolt's famous Champ.

R/C EDITOR'S NOTE: Maybe it was the catchy picture of Bob's 11-year-old daughter holding the Lil' Champ more than the airplane itself that attracted us, but no matter what the background, this little job is as cute as a bug's ear. The original Champion (oz10698) kit as put out by Harold deBolt (Gosh, how many, many years ago was that?) could very well be called the backbone of the R/C hobby. Even today, it still outsells many more recently introduced kits in the same category.

With the emphasis so heavily concentrated on sleek multi R/C designs, it is difficult to pull a young budding model builder and potential R/Cer into the hobby with the type of ship he should cut his teeth on. Perhaps the ease of construction and scale-like appearance, the inexpensive material requirements, and the simple radio equipment employed in the Lil' Champ will be the proper bait. We hope so.

When my young son wanted a free flight gassie to fly at our R/C sessions, I decided to scale Hank deBolt's Champion (oz10698) to approximately 36 inch and to let him potter about with it. However, before the drawing was complete, the job had been modified for R/C - I'm not a keen starter for chasing any more! To preserve the semi-scale appearance of the plane, a proper cowl and as many features of the big plane as possible were embodied in the design. I fly mainly for fun and like my ships to look and fly like the real thing. This plane has been so much admired by so many people that this aim seems to have been achieved.

The Lil Champ has proved to be more fun than any other I've ever built. It has amply rewarded me for the comparatively little time invested in building it. It is extremely stable, and has been flown extensively by young David, who is now 14. I have flown it from a variety of small fields. On one occasion I gave demonstration flights for the model group of David's junior school on their football field, complete with goal posts. I must say that I heaved a sigh of relief after each landing - doing circuits around school buildings and over streets filled with peak-hour traffic is a bit wearing! Demonstration flights at Agricultural shows have probably been the most scary - I had to fly out of a small arena surrounded by stands, and return to a minute area created by moving a couple of the 'jumps.' This certainly sharpens your judgement, once the motor stops you are committed to landing - somewhere!

Although the little plane was not designed to win contests it has actually done so. It won our first club R/C contest, which was a handicap effort to combine all classes. Its ability to fly a smooth pattern and to achieve spot landings did the trick. This simple little job has shown many modellers that you don't have to have ten-channel gear to have fun. Flight after flight can be, made with a minimum of fuss and equipment.

Lil' Champ is easy to build and is adequately powered by the very popular Cox Babe Bee. The roomy little fuselage provides ample space for any type of single channel radio. Various receivers have been used: OS SA relay, Controlaire 4, and now currently the Controlaire 5 Relayless. The OS K11 Compound escapement (obtainable from World Engines) has proved very reliable and is eminently suitable for 1/2A R/C jobs. There is, however, enough space for a larger escapement or servo.

With the control movement shown, the plane is easy to fly, but perfectly responsive. It can handle a fair amount of wind, but is obviously not a proposition for really windy days. The low wing-loading gives it a beautiful floating glide. It should be a natural for a first venture into rudder-only proportional.

Construction is quite conventional. The fuselage sides are cut out and the doublers (1/8 at nose, 1/32 vertical grain between F3 and F4, and rear 1/32 with grain vertical) are added. The 1/8 x 3/8 cabin reinforcement..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 26/6/2022: Replaced this plan with a clearer scan, thanks to JJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
Previous scan version.

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