Gary 1 (oz8978)

About this Plan

Gary 1. Radio control powered glider model.

Quote: "GARY I was a Christmas present for my boy. It was designed with four things in mind. First of all, I was almost broke (aren't we all at Christmas time?) and my boy wanted an R/C airplane he could fly without having to worry about extensive repairs in case of pilot error. It had to control well (hence, the short tail moment and rugged fuselage). It had to be cheap (under $2.00 for the airplane, a little scrounging may turn up second hand single channel tone receiver and an escapement for about $15.00). It had to fly with an engine or without an engine, in case he got tired of flipping props or couldn't afford to buy an engine and fuel. So, keeping all these things in mind, GARY I began to take shape.

An old .049 engine was placed on a removable mount, on top of the wing over the CG, so that with the engine and mount removed, the plane could be flown as a towline or slope soaring glider. With the engine and mount rubber banded on, the plane gets upstairs in a hurry. For gentle flying an .049 is a little too much power, and I recommend an .020 instead.

In line with keeping the cost and building time down, an old free flight wing was repaired and used. The wing was an A-1 Nordic glider wing donated by David Frerk, an avid free flight man who generously gives me his obsolete airplanes in return for some equally obsolete money. However, most of the time he conveniently forgets about collecting the money. So fellas, here is a chance to patch up those old free flight wings and put them to good use. If you don't have a free flight wing, find a friend who has. There are a lot of them around. Free flight guys aren't half bad at all, you know.

As for the fuselage, pylon and tail, they were very carefully and scientifically designed. Well, almost. I sketched the fuselage side and tail freehand on a 3/32 x 3 inch sheet of balsa with a ballpoint pen and then cut them out with an X-acto knife. The side was then placed over another piece of balsa and the second side cut out by tracing around the first side with the knife. The pylon was sketched out on a 1/8 in scrap of 5-ply plywood. Incidentally, you'll save your plans if you trace the parts onto some tracing vellum and then tack the vellum to the balsa. Cut through the vellum and balsa together. You'll get a more accurate part that way and don't forget to use a steel straight edge when cutting on a straight line.

The entire fuselage and tail were built in one evening. Plenty of room is available, enough for even the superhet single channel systems. The construction is so simple, I don't think it is necessary to go into details. I believe the plans are self explanatory. The top curve of the fuselage may be modified to accept the airfoil of any Nordic A-1 wing (or wing of similar area) you may want to use. For those of you without any A-1 wings in your stable, the plan for a flat bottom wing of the same area is illustrated.

The engine pylon is held on with rubber bands, hence the rails along the side of the pylon mount to keep the bands from slipping off. Notice the mounting of the tow hook on the bottom of the airplane; this may be moved forward or aft to provide the best towing point. The position that is shown on the plans provided the best towing point on the original airplane..."

Supplementary file notes

Article, thanks to JHatton.

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