Pfiff (oz9014)

About this Plan

Pfiff (Pfiff the Magic Bipe). Radio control sport biplane model.

Quote: "In August of 1963, my family and I saw our first air show in Stormville, New York. There, before our eyes, we thrilled to Stearman's modified Great Lakes's Trainers and Rod Jocylen's little stunt biplane performing sensational stunts and maneuvers over a dirt strip airfield. I had been toying with the idea of building a winged 'hot rod.' like all the other 'Big Daddys,' down at the local flying strip, but, man was my mind ever changed. Now nothing but a 'Bipe' would do!

Previously, I had built a popular 1/2 A Bipe. This little jewel was a lot of fun. but did not perform too well in windy weather (5-10 mph) Perhaps I expected too much.

With enthusiasm and determination the plans for my dream were begun. This model would be stable in windy or gusty weather. She would respond to rudder going down wind, either dead stick or low motor, she would groove in a turn without dropping her nose, be rugged enough to survive rough landings, including the three point kind (two wing tips and a rudder), she would have eye appeal and would not stall suddenly in gusts. Last but not least, she would be simple enough to build and fly so that the average Joe could achieve maximum relaxation and enjoyment from her.

Keeping in mind the goals that I had set, I started in October of 1963 with pencil, slide rule, paper and a large pile of erasers. You see, I had never designed a model airplane before, nor was I trained in mechanical drawing. I did not finish the plans until late in January of 1964. Construction began in February and the first flight was the ninth or tenth of October. One year from conception to completion.

Its maiden flight was 'right off the board' and it required only one trim change to achieve acceptable flight., Later, a friend built one using these plans except foi: a total weight of four pounds and a Torpedo 19. It flies just as well as mine. Still another is current-ly being built for R.E.M. proportional with no major changes other than motor size.

Pfiff is 32 inches long, has a top span of 44 inches, bottom span of 39 inches, and equals chords of 7% inches. It is equipped with a Torpedo 15 with homemade throttle, nieads, F 6t M superhet, dual Varicomps and a modified OS motor control escapement for three speeds. It would be excellent for the new trio of Royal servos or six, channel. The front half of the fuselage is fibre-glassed. The original colors are white and red. The weight is 3-1/2 pounds, with a wing area of 596.5 square inches. The wing loading is approximately 13 ounces per square foot, unless my math is incorrect. Now, if "Pfiff" appeals to you as it does to some of my flying bud-dies, let's get started.

If you are a beginner in RC and have not graduated from the Mambo (oz4073), Esquire (oz384), or Live Wire Trainer (oz5554) type models, this is not yet the plane for you. With short coupled tails biplanes are more sensitive than the trainer type..."

Update 01/08/2017: Added PDFvector plan tracing, thanks to hogal.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to hlsat, JHatton.
PDFvector plan tracing.

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