I thought I’d take a break from designing gliders and build a (powered) vintage classic along the lines of the Junior 60, something light and slow but 4-channel rather than 3.
I found a plan for the 4 channel Super 60 but it’s boxy fuselage shape and angular fin just didn’t ‘do it’ for me so I started wading through the Outerzone plans website. I found the 4 channel PD Parasol and got quite excited about it! But, although it’s tail shapes looked beautiful, its fuselage shape (convex top and bottom) was not my (pre-conceived) idea of a vintage classic. Then I found the lovely curvy fuselage outlines of the Deacon and the Viking and the lovely wing shapes of the Dot I, and Black Magic.
PD Parasol
The Deacon
There were quite a few 3 channel designs that I really liked the look of but my heart was set on having aileron control for some slow, low-energy, aerobatics with half-decent rolls. An aerobatic vintage design called the Over & Under caught my attention but I couldn’t see any way that its fully symmetrical section would give a low sink rate when compared to the flat bottomed Super 60 or the semi-symmetrical PD Parasol. I almost decided to just build a PD Parasol exactly as per plan but I definitely didn’t want a one-piece model and I couldn’t visualise an attractive and lightweight way of adapting the parasol and struts to a banded-on wing. I also want something slightly bigger than 60”.
So, I embarked on producing a new vintage-hybrid design along these lines:
Semi-symmetrical wing section of the PD Parasol with strip ailerons as per the Super 60.
Curvey fuselage of the Deacon/Cardinal but a little extra nose length and diagonal bracing.
Tail feathers copied directly from the PD Parasol which to me look perfect.
Wing shape similar to Black Magic.
Approx. 10” chord, 70” wingspan, 40” fuselage.
Electric power (I found the 4-max website. What a great resource!)
Out of respect for Roger Jones’s RCM&E Forum comment “designing your own ‘vintage’ model is a bit phoney”, I decided to call her the ‘Old Phoney’.
Buying the servos, there was a special offer on five. That got me thinking “what could I use the 5th servo for?” then the penny dropped – a tow release.
The plans are still being tweaked but here’s a recent version:
Inspired by Cliff Harvey’s videos on YouTube, I started by laminating the wing tips and tail:
Then found an old bit of 3mm ali for the u/c:
Hi David, well here we go again watching you design and build a world first! I do remember going to Toy Town, the model shop in Leamington Spar circa early 60s with my paper round wages and tips which was around 7 or 8 shillings unless I had saved a little more. The shelves were lined with just this sort of model pictured on a suitable background, I guessing an airfield or clouds. Keil Kraft and Mercury come to mind of course.
Your design cleverly uses the features that appeal and I particularly like the idea of a tow release. We are going to have to find a suitable glider candidate for that, but get it flying first. You and Cliff seem to knock out these projects for a passtime…..oh it is a passtime!
John H
Hi John,
Thanks for your interest. I must have been about eleven when I caught the aeromodelling bug which would have been 1969 so I was just a few years behind you. Like you, I saved up my paper round money for weeks. I’d catch a bus to St Marychurch where there used to be a great little model shop. Kits in big boxes were way out of my price range. Used to borrow plans and save a few more pennies by soldering up my own fuel tanks and mixing my own fuel. Used to crash c/l models for a pastime, or was it a passtime? Either way, time certainly has passed.
Very interesting David, that plan looks pretty thorough, I tend to do an outline and make mistakes as I build lol!
The laminations look the business, well done.
Lovely project though, 4-Max is good, that’s where I got my in-runner from for my nitro glider.
Hi Cliff,
Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t know you designed your own. How interesting! Can I see an example somewhere?