Spectre (oz8650)

About this Plan

Spectre. Control line stunt model.

Quote: "What makes this CL Stunter for a .40 engine especially appealing is its full-scale like sports plane appearance. Yet it has all the good things for operating in Precision Aerobatics to the pilot's full ability. It's by a noted French designer who competes and wins regularly in the European contest circuit. Spectre, by Yves Fernandez.

AFTER BUILDING several Precision Aerobatic planes that were styled much like jet fighters, I decided that my next project would be to build a plane that had a different appearance. I wanted to retain most of the good flying qualities of some of my earlier efforts, and I also wanted to have a model which had more of a sports plane look. Several planes provided the inspiration for this new model. The wing, tail surfaces. and moment arms were inspired by Les MacDonald's Stiletto (oz6665) as was my Stilomag which appeared in the April 1981 MA, while the fuselage outline was inspired by the little Spectre (oz1327) kit put out by the British Keil Kraft firm. The resulting model is the one presented here.

If you should compare the plans for the Spectre and the Stilomag, you will see that there is a great deal of similarity in the plan form of the two planes. The open cockpit and the more squared-off rudder outline contribute to the sport model appearance of the Spectre.

In most ways, the construction of the Spectre is straightforward. but I have done several things which are out of the ordinary. Perhaps a few comments about the construction techniques and the finish will be helpful.

Special muffler: In order to have a clean outline in keeping with the sport model appearance that was desired, I decided to fully enclose the muffler in the fuselage. This required designing and building a special exhaust and muffler system. The exit for the muffler is just in front of the leading edge of the wing, and this tends to keep oil spray out of the open cockpit.

I built the muffler with fishing rod bushings, which should be available in any sporting goods shop. These bushings are light and quite strong. being .016 in. thick. Silver solder is used for all joints. The collector is also made with these, bushings, but heating is required for bending. The collector and muffler can be connected by a length of synthetic rubber or silicone tubing (1/2 in ID and 1/16 in wall thickness) as shown in one of the pictures or by a length of aluminum tubing with each end connected with a short length of silicone tubing.

The entire weight of the muffler is 2-1/4 oz. To install it, I had to widen the fuselage - which also improves the plane's semi-scale appearance. In spite of its Chubby-Checkered underside, the ovoid (egg-shaped) form of the cross section gives the model an overall graceful appearance.

Wing and tail surfaces: The tail surfaces must be made light. Nose weight to balance a heavy tail section is just extra weight and detracts from performance. The fixed part of the stabilizer is cut from a 1/2 x 4 x 36 inch balsa sheet that does not weigh over 5 oz. If at all possible, the movable part of the tail feathers (the elevator) should be cut from..."

Spectre from Model Aviation, November 1982.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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