Mono-Bi (oz9120)

About this Plan

Mono-Bi. Radio control sport biplane/monoplane. For Enya .60 power.

Quote: "By far, the costliest portion of a radio controlled model aircraft is the electronics and electro-mechanical equipment involved. Seldom is equipment used for more than one model simultaneously. If a modeler wishes to fly more than one aircraft, he is faced with the problem of transferring equipment from one plane to another or purchasing a whole new system.

In an attempt to offer the sport flyer more versatility at nominal cost, the Mono-Bi was conceived. As the name implies, the Mono-Bi is a convertible monoplane-biplane. Designed around the popular .60 engine, the monoplane is of rather conventional design in the 700 square inch class. Using the same engine, fuselage, and tail assembly, the biplane is in the 1000 square inch class.

Conversion is accomplished by changing wings and attached landing gears. Aileron servos could be changed with each conversion, but in the interest of convenience, the prototype will probably have a separate servo for each configuration.

Other design objectives include:

1. Design an aircraft capable of chang-ing configuration that will produce decidedly different flight characteris-tics and appearance.
2. Additional guidance (radio-servo) equipment necessary to accomplish conversion will be limited to one ad-ditional servo.
3. Conversion from one type to the oth-er should require no more than 30 minutes in the field.
4. The aircraft in both forms should be clean and pleasing to the eye. Evi-dence of compromise due to conver-sion should be minimal in both ap-pearance and flight characteristics.
5. In both forms, the aircraft should per-form well as a sport type aircraft.
6. Construction should follow conven-tional trends in order to appeal to the average multi-flyer. It should not be unduly complicated.
7. Versatility in appearance, construction methods, and configuration should he available without major re-design in order to satisfy the desires of a large number of modelers.

Technical Description. The Mono-Bi is a convertible monoplane-biplane designed to convert from one configuration to the other in the field with a minimum of effort. While the design offers many construction variables, the prototype was constructed using the more complicated choice in each case. The build-er felt this was necessary in order to prove the design under the most adverse condi-tions. This resulted in a rather heavy monoplane, although performance is not hindered to an excessive degree by the ad-ditional weight. A simpler airplane could be built by sacrificing some appearance or versatility.

The biplane is moderately slow in flight. It feels light but has no tendency to float. It has a very gentle straight ahead stall. It cruises at about half throttle. It is very maneuverable though somewhat slow in response. Inverted flight and outside loops are particularly easy.

The monoplane is an average performer for its size and type. Despite its heavy wing loading, it is not particularly fast. It is very responsive and quick. Roll rate is average with links in outer holes. Stalls are very gentle. Landings are easy. The ship flies well in any configuration. It could well be considered an advanced trainer or intermediate type aircraft..."

Supplementary file notes

Article thanks to hlsat, JHaton.

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