Spiggen (oz9213)

About this Plan

Spiggen. Radio control pusher sport model, styled after the Saab-37 Viggen. For Merco .61 power.

Quote - "I FELT very honored when Don Dewey phoned me in Sweden and asked if RiC Modeler could publish the 'Spiggen', and I'm very grateful that he, in this way, made it possible for me to contribute a design which I hope others will find interesting.

The model is perhaps, best suited for those who like to have something to play with between their contest models. The intention has not been to make a creation on one or another direction, but just to build an airplane. It is designed for sport and show flying, but has also shown attributes which indicate that it can en en be used for competition with only minor modifications. This doesn't mean that you have to be an expert to be able to handle it, but it calls for some experience. Not in flying, perhaps, but you do have to make a landing, and in that moment you nust be bright and clear about what measures to take. One should at least know something about how the ailerons work. Thus, when one aileron is down its panel goes up and vice versa. Except for the elevator, however (as we have all learned at one time or another!) When it is down, the whole thing will go down!

Otherwise this model is calmer, smoother and more stable to fly than an ordinary multi. The speed, however, is slightly higher. But with the flaps, at the forward wing, trimmed full down, and with compensated down elevator, it could be flown even at extremely slow speed.

Since my first R/C model I have been contemplating over the possibility of building something with the engine in the tail, just to get rid of the propeller stream and the fuel and oil over the entire model. Not to mention all the wiping off it causes. In the course of years I have made a lot of experiments with small planes in balsa or cardboard. The new creation was on the whole quite clear to me, when I saw a picture of what our new jet-fighter SAAB-37 Viggen was going to look like. Then it was decided.

The design I had up till then was more like your XB-70 (but smaller) but, being a patriot, the choice was not hard. I only had to move the front wing back and give it delta-form, break the leading edge of the main wing and modify the fuselage, similar to the shape of Viggen. Then the smaller scale model experiments started all over again. That was last winter. We had more snow than usual been in Sweden at that time, but thanks to the snow I could make several more tests with each model than expected. The models were almost indestructible with that soft, white mattress on the ground. But, gosh, what a flopping and what searching for that small strip that indicated the place where the model had gone down.

At the end of April the new plane was ready. And then, as a contrast to the winter, followed one of the warmest summers we can remember, and the productivity went to zero. But, to be honest, just the appearance of this new plane scared me a little. I wasn't used to it yet, and a strong suspicion started growing - could it fly at all? The radio outfit had previously been installed in another plane, which I was to compete with during the summer. Anyhow, when the last competition for the year ended the outfit from the old plane was moved over to the new one.

At last, the day had come when there was no excuse and not one thing left to test. She had to be taken up. And it is those feelings prior to this moment that you, unfortunately, never can experi-ence, at least not with this design. IT FLIES!

The engine I use is a Merco .61, with a reversed crankshaft. It may not be necessary in the USA, but here in Sweden, you can't find any 9 in pusher props in wood or 3-blade nylon. Alternately, I had to change the rotation of the crankshaft..."

See JeffBean's excellent RCGroups build thread at https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2301435-Leif-Thelin-s-Spiggen-a-vintage-pusher-prop-jet for more details on this design, lots of nice old pics, and some video.

Added PDF vector plan, thanks to JeffBean.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to hlsat, JHatton.
PDFvector plan, electric powered variant.

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