Floats are glued to the wing inverted and flat upon the work bench. Make sure that the servo’s extension wires (above left) are pulled into the servo’s location
rudder all the way to the rudder servo enclo- sure. Pull the extension wires through the holes in the bulkheads all the way into the rudder servo enclosure. Seal the inside of this enclosure with epoxy or some sealer. Behind the float step, glue on the bottom sheeting. Glue the booms to the float. Glue the ply- wood plate 13 to the back of the floats. Sand the floats. On the top of the floats, as shown on the drawing, build the symmetrical float mounting pylons. Pin the bottom rib to the top sheeting of the floats. To the rib, glue two guides. Glue the top rib to the guides. Glue the balsa sides to the ribs. Pull all the wires through the holes in the ribs. Next step is to glue the floats to the wing.
Take the wing and flip it upside down. Se- cure the wing to the building board. Mark the location of the float mounting pylons onto the wing sheeting. Temporarily pin the float mounts to the wing and check that the
within the floats. The completed model (above right) has been sanded and is now ready to be painted and finished.
floats are perpendicular to each other and at same angle. Insert the stabilizer into slots in the fins as well. If satisfied, glue the floats to the wing and the stabilizer to the fins. Glue on the top balsa sheeting over the
center section of the wing. Pull out the ex- tension wires for the servos and solder on the receiver plugs to them.
Glue the cabin to the wing. Make sure that the former F3 is at 90 degrees to the bottom of the wing.
Finishing and flying
Use your favorite material to apply a finish. Once the finish is applied, install the control surfaces and connect to the servos. Connect the servos to the receiver. The receiver can be sitting on the top sheeting of the wing behind the former F3 or on the side wall “C” of the mo- tor box inside the cowl. The speed controller can be mounted on the other side of this box.
Install the motor. The motor battery should be installed to the bottom “D” of the box inside the cowl. Check the c.g. The c.g. location shown on the drawing is the opti- mum location to have a good, and not too sensitive pitch control. When there is a cross wind, the water rudder is needed. Otherwise the air rudder does the job nicely. I would suggest doing the test flight when there is no wind or just a light breeze. Taxi out and apply full power. Let the model pick up a lot of speed. More likely the model will lift off on its own. Gain a decent altitude be- fore you explore the flight characteristics. Up high, slow the model until it stalls. Most of the time the model just mushes and drops the nose. Sometime it does half a spin before it is under control. The model will loop and roll, but it is much more fun just to admire the silhouette of this grotesque looking plane.
Laddie is about ready for the maiden flight of the Flyer’s Dream (above) as he pre flights the model from the boat ramp. The odd looking plane certainly has no problem navigating the waterway (above, at right). The model flies very nicely (at right) and is perfect for any future club float fly, just pay attention to the c.g.
FLYING MODELS 23
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