Sparrow (oz9442)

About this Plan

Sparrow. Free flight duration model for CO2 power, designed by Ian Dowsett. All-sheet construction for quick and easy assembly.

Quote: "WHEN ASKED to design a model for one of the new breed of CO2 motors, I immediately thought of a F/F duration model. This type of model, with this type of propulsion unit, is really exciting as it is quite easy to build and also in these days of rising costs is cheap to make and fly. Being naturally of light construction they tend to 'bounce' rather than break, and are easy to trim. I really hope we can soon have some compe-titions for them. PLEASE do not forget the D/T - I did, and lost the first Sparrow out of sight after a seven minute flight! That followed just 20-30 seconds of motor run!

There seem to be two schools of thought concerning the mounting of the tanks on CO2 models, some say keep the tank insulated while others say let the airflow pass round the tank. I have chosen to mount the tank in a polystyrene foam block in the pylon, the polystyrene insulates the tank and also I prefer to have a nice clean looking model with minimum drag. Which of the two ways of mounting the tank is best I do not know, but have had no troubles with mine, and I have no complaint with Sparrow's performance.

Construction: For best performance, do try to select light wood for this model, its performance relies on a low all-up weight and as I have already said they bounce rather than break so you can afford to select the lighter wood from your balsa stocks. Start with the wing by building the four separate panels pinning down the rear 1/32in sheet and gluing the ribs in place..."

Scan from DBHL, cleanup by theshadow.

ref DBHL-7127.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 15/11/2017: added article, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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