Full Size Printed Plan Peter O'Dactyl free-flight reptile .010 or towline glider
Description
Full Size Printed Plan & Building Notes
No material plans only
Peter O'Dactyl
A free-flight reptile? It can also fly without power as a towline glider? Well, it should wake up the scale model judges.
Full Size printed plan on a 62”x 32” Sheet
Two-page article with building notes
Wingspan 60”
Engine .010
Roy Clough Jr
This free flying dragon Is right out of the Jurassic period. As a towline glider, or powered with a tiny glow engine, it wheels across the sky with all the awesome grandeur of its remote reptilian ancestors.
Once the most numerous flying species on earth, the pterodactyl Is (ter-o-dak-til) came in a dozen varieties. They ranged in size from tiny winged lizards one foot long to majestic soaring monsters whose wing span' approached 30 feet.
With a wing structure bearing a superficial resemblance to modem bats these flying reptiles were probably the smartest members of the dinosaur family which included the 80-ton Brontosaurus, the terrible Tyrannosaurus Rex and that fighting tank of the dawn age, Triceratops. Fossilised skulls indicate the pterodactyl brain was far advanced over- the walnut-sized think-tanks of the ground bound behemoths.
Our model is something of a compromise between strict biological accuracy and engineering considerations necessary to secure good £lying characteristics. Instead of extensively changing the shape of one beast, we combined the best features of several to obtain a configuration which would fly well and put up a convincing appearance in the air. Thus, "Peter O'Dactyl" is a hybrid creature with the basic skeletal arrangement of pteranodon, but the diamond shaped tail of the smaller Rhamphorhynchus. Teeth found in some pterodactyls are absent in others. We used 'em to produce an engaging toothy grin. The crest which we needed as an engine attachment has ample precedent. Two wing ribs (which the original beastie did not have) were larded on to prevent the trailing edge of the wing from bellying upward and changing the angle of incidence in flight.
Thank you for looking