AVEN G ER

AVENGER
A RE you hooked on slope soaring,
- b u t looking around for some-
thing different ? Something fast
exciting to fly 1 (Sounds like a TV
advert.)then the Avenger fills the bill.
One afternoon clubmate John Ralph
and I were chasing each other up and
down the local ridge (very exhausting),
when John suggested it would be a
a novel Fighter type soarer that
great idea if we were to have two or
three fighter type models. As he was
will start a new trend on the slopes
always belting me out of the sky in
mid-airs (I am losing three-nil), I this year ! by BILL GRUNDY
agreed that the models may as well look
like fighters. The other soaring types in
our club agreed that it was an exciting
idea, too, but no one wanted to make a
start. Rather than let such a scintillating
idea fade away, I set about designing
such a model. It was to have rakish
fighter-like lines, and I thought a T-tail
would give it that extra something, too.
The result turned out to be a
one-piece model of very purposeful and
striking appearance (even if I do say so
myself) which, besides being fast
enough for any pylon race, is highly
manoeuvrable and quite aerobatic. The
model uses

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MAY, 1971
The all-flying tailplane is an important feature of the Avenger, and is shown
in close-up here. Above: the two halves, riding on rod joiner, secured with
bands at l.e. Right: the push-pull linkage emerges at top l.e. of fintube
and cable used here. Below: a couple of action shots emphasising
fighter-like lines.
ailerons and elevator, for compactness
however, so it will not perform those
manoeuvres which normally require
rudder, unless you are particularly
clever, or use some form of telekinesis.
My own Avenger has been
strength-tested several times, when it
plunged into the ridge at all angles, due
to persistent radio trouble, which I have
since cured (I dropped the receiver into
the dustbin).
I chose the well-tried Eppler 374
wing section because of its wide speed
range, the T-tail to keep that back-end
clean, and the allflying tailplane, not for
any aerodynamic reasons, but because
it is neater and easier to install than
elevators, on a T-tail model. The
fuselage profile is also Epplerits a
low-drag section, so why not a low drag
fuselage ?
CONSTRUCTION
Quite an advanced model, flying-
wise, this is not a beginners project
from the constructional point of view
either, though it will be found quite
plain sailing for the bloke with a few
average models to his credit. This being
so, I am not going to go into copious
detail on the construction. Have a good
study of the plan first and, if there are
too many things you cannot follow,
then you should put off building this
model until you have built a few more
run-of-the-mill ones. Some general
constructional pointers are all that
most average modellers will need, so
here they are. . . .
Start with the wing as it is a
necessary part (for finishing the
fuselage, I mean). All the ribs are shown
individually on the plan, but you can
use the sandwich method if you
prefer it. Build up
the wing using spruce spars, which are
doubled up at the centre and webbed
with ^ in- sheet. After fitting the
tube-and-cable aileron linkage and
shaping the leading edge, fit the bottom
sheeting (I use Evo-stik), trimming off
level with the leading edge. Repeat with
top sheeting, fit cap-strips and sand to
shape before fitting the fuselage.
Having cut out the sides and all formers
for the fuselage, wet the
sandwiching the fin between them and
level when dry. Fit the top and bottom
The method I use is to apply Polycell
outsides of the sides (if you see what I
RADIO MODELLER
mean) and glue them to the formers
with P.V.A. adhesive, bind with
Sellotape and leave overnight to dry. In
the meantime, start on the fin, building
this over the plan, fitting one end of the
nylon control linkage tube to it and
gluing on the 1/32 in. ply side pieces.
Now back to the fuselage, fitting the
wing spars through holes in the
fuselage sides, the -/,r in. ply braces
above and below them and the scrap
block filler between and around them,
as shown. (See also the section showing
this.) Glue it all together with P.V.A.
and block up the tips for correct
dihedral.
The next step is to draw the rear
ends of the fuselage sides together,
securing the nylon tube to one side
with Evo-Stik. Glue the triangular fillets
(called longerons on the plan) at top
and bottom, leaving them protruding
slightly, so that they can be sanded
sheeting using balsa cement, as the
edge sands up better than P.V.A. Line
the inside of the receiver and servo bay
with a coating of fibre- glass resin.
Finally add the nose- block and then
shape the whole assembly up with a
razor plane before fitting the wing
fairings.
The tailplane is straightforward, two
identical halves being built directly over
the plan, the pivot bearing tubes being
fitted before sheeting. Dont worry
about right- hand or left-hand halves,
as the tailplane is symmetrical.
Covering and finishing
Cover the wing and fuselage with
nylon as it adds a great deal of strength.
wallpapering paste Continued on page 51
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AVENGER continued from page 49.
to both the nylon and the structure. to stall the tailplane, resulting in a your Avenger generally trimmed out
Stretch the nylon over the part to be highly spectacular flick-roll all right and have got into the feel of it. Choose
covered and trim the surplus off. Cover when theres plenty of airspace, but a day when the lift is good (I dont
the underside first and, when covering embarrassing, to say the least, if it claim it to be a floater !) and heave it off
the top, just lap the edges underneath. happens near the hillside 1 . . . just keep on feeding in down-trim
Easy. The Polycell enables you to For first flights it is best to have the until you get the model flying nice and
stretch and mould the covering to the c.g. located about Jin- forward of the last then have yourself a ball.
contours of the model quite point shown on the plan,
easilyand gives an added bonus in moving it further back when you get
that it seals the nylon as well, so that it
does not soak up gallons of dope. The
original had just two coats of clear
dope, followed by a sprayed coat of
colour dope. There will obviously be a
temptation to use a camouflage
scheme, for this fighter type model, but
this could produce visibility problems,
so I would advise one of the more
bright schemeslike the Red Arrows !
My own model is a nice bright orange.
Trimming and flying
The movement of the all-flying
tailplane should be limited to in.
either side of neutral. This is most
important as, with a greater amount of
movement, you will be likely

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