A few years ago I made a profile Sabre in Depron for the L1 Rapier similar to the way I made my Depron Hawk model. I based it on Bill Dean’s Sabre Dog version and here it is alongside my L2HP powered Easybuilt Mig 15 to give a size comparison.
It flies very nicely but for some while I have wanted to build a stick and tissue model of the F86 Sabre that looked somewhat more scale than the Keil Kraft model from the 1950’s. Although the Mig is a bit draggy it nevertheless looks great in the air so this year I started building a similar sized Sabre, here is the (slow ) progress to date.
The tiny tailplane on the Sabre is a notable feature of the aircraft, however as soon as I had it together as you see here I was concerned that the tailplane was far too small (it is even emphasised in the photo). I had hoped to compensate for the lack of area by making it a thick symmetrical section, which has worked for me in the past on other models. The normal flat plate sections on these types of models is only supposed to be 50% efficient of a proper section so I thought I might be able to get double the effectiveness of a flat plate without increasing the size.
I couldn’t help doubting my reasoning for building the tailplane to scale size so to resolve my doubts I built a quick profile model of the same size in Depron with the same wing and tailplane sections to see if it actually worked. After many test glides in the garden when it was flat calm it seems to work as planned after all! Hooray, well well well! But, I suppose I will have to build a contingency set of larger tailplanes just in case it doesn’t work in anger, I will have to think of a way of easily changing them though. For the test glides I added weight to bring it up to 27 grams to ensure a reasonably accurate flight path, here are some more size comparisons.
Roger comments,
this is looking very tasty indeed, and I look forward to seeing more posts on the build. And then of course, its flying!
Have you decided whether to put the motor in a trough or a pod? Also, the possibility of genuine Jetex power if we have problems with the supply of Rapiers.
I'm still thinking about a Super Sabre for my winter build (see previous thread about this).
Onward and upwards!