Barracuda (oz9671)
About this Plan
Barracuda. Twin-hull flying boat model, for free flight or radio control.
Quote: "The Barracuda design was inspired in part by a flight of ancient Italian flying boats which visited the US in the early 1930s. While it only vaguely resembles the basic planform, it does add up to an interesting and off-beat model aircraft design, and quite practical for model flying. The twin hulls give excellent water stability at all times, plane well for take-offs, and are easy to build. The wing is of simple construction, as is the stab. Rudders are boom mounted, and the general aircraft is the minimum required for the tasks at hand.
The engine is mounted in a circular nacelle, well braced to the wing, and ample in size for the aircraft. Displacements of .29 through .45 are suitable but extreme. A .35 is a better choice for free-flight ROW, while .35 to .45 mills may be used for R/C work, de-pending on the weight of equipment carried. Try smaller engines first, shifting to increased displacement en-gines as the need arises. Even a .19 would keep the aircraft airborne by hand-launch, so all you might loose is a water take-off with an under-sized engine. Better that than being initially over-powered for testing.
The general planform is easy to build, light, strong and a good depend-able flier in the air. It can handle the power, and tends to trim out easily, free-flight or with radio. It is advisable to keep weight down as much as possible, for the smaller displacements. If more than single channel R/C is in-stalled, it will require more thrust to reach take-off speed as mentioned.
Construction: Start with the wing, laying out all panels over a plan. The working surface must be flat. and all wing edges, spar stock etc. should be true. Select good quality wood throughout, medium grade sheet for the ribs, and pre-coat all end grain for a good cement joint. This is important on seaplanes. Gusset all panels, and add sheeting as indicated. Trim and sand to the desired airfoil..."
Barracuda, Flying Models, August/September 1965.
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Supplementary file notes
Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
Corrections?
Did we get something wrong with these details about this plan (especially the datafile)?
That happens sometimes. You can help us fix it.
Add a correction
-
(oz9671)
Barracuda
by Don McGovern
from Flying Models
August 1965
72in span
IC F/F R/C Floatplane
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Submitted: 07/01/2018
Filesize: 621KB
Format: • PDFbitmap
Credit*: Circlip, RFJ
Downloads: 1118
Do you have a photo you'd like to submit for this page? Then email admin@outerzone.co.uk
User comments
I'm always curious with plans like this one that were published in a detailed article, but with no photo of a completed model - does that mean it was never actually built?SteveWMD - 13/01/2018
Steve, I see you've gotten right to the heart of the problem, it was never built. Don McGovern was one of the repeat offenders of this practice, but Walter Musciano was the all-time champ. He would draw a beautiful set of plans, mostly scale C/L models but neglected to build the plane. Pictures of the real airplane would accompany his article but no model pix were ever published. He could get away with this because a C/L line model would fly even when poorly built, maybe not all that well but it would get around the circle. I don't think the magazines stoop this low in today's market, but Hell, they're too busy pushing the cursed ARFs to go to much trouble. I miss RCM.
DougSmith - 14/01/2018
Hi Steve - a reaction to why no photos with the Barracuda. I would strongly suspect he did build it. Mostly in designing a model airplane the workflow is as follows: make a sketch of it, draw a simple plan to build from, build the model airplane and test it, make changes if needed, draw up a real plan for others incorporating final details. It does not explain why he has no photos. An editor publishing would surely like them for several obvious reasons. A designer doing the job with publication in mind will take photos; also this designer was prolific, it would not have taken long for him to build it. Many of his works are far more complex and perhaps even over-engineered for the builder that needs more time to do the job. I never met a designer of model airplanes that makes a full drawing first and then the model, but those may be there too. But also I have never seen a plan that was drawn up and has not been build and I have seen quite a few. An exercise in speculation on my part perhaps :)
Joost - 14/01/2018
Concerning Walter Musciano, a quick check of Outerzone files [articles] gives photo proof of at least four in flight (oz2544, oz1939, oz5591, and oz8184) and two on the flight line. In my model mags, there are many more in flight shots. It is interesting to see his balding over the years as by the late 1960s he had a toupe which got longer by the '80s. He was still left handed throughout.
EdShearer - 15/01/2018
It was inspired by the twin hull Savoia Marchetti S-55, in the 30's Italo Balbo (Chief Commander of Italian Air Force) with 14 of these planes made a trans-atlantic expediton that ended in USA with a great echo and acclaim similar to Apollo 11 astronauts return! S-55 plans are on OZ too.
Pit - 15/01/2018
Add a comment
- Barracuda (oz9671)
- Plan File Filesize: 621KB Filename: Barracuda_RC_oz9671.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 1831KB Filename: Barracuda_RC_oz9671_article.pdf
- help with downloads
Notes
* Credit field
The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.
Scaling
This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.
Terms of Use
© Outerzone, 2011-2024.
All content is free to download for personal use.
For non-personal use and/or publication: plans, photos, excerpts, links etc may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Outerzone with appropriate and specific direction to the original content i.e. a direct hyperlink back to the Outerzone source page.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site's owner is strictly prohibited. If we discover that content is being stolen, we will consider filing a formal DMCA notice.