For the wingribs I've used sliced-ribs from a block of balsa sanded in the right shape. A thickness of 1 mm for the ribs is thick enough, except for the root- and end-ribs. These are about 3 mm thick. To construct a wing that is stiff enough to be handled with ease, I used two spars. These spars are made from one part; the ribs are cut in three parts at the place of the spars and glued against the spar. The easiest way to start is to pin down the two spars, the leading and trailing edge. Now you can glue the ribs between the leading edge and the first spar, between the two spars and between the last spar and the trailing edge without any effort. On the place where the ailerons have to come, the trailing edge is cut in two. The rest of the building of the ailerons is the same as for the wing. When the ailerons are finished they are attached to the wing with hinges of copperwire. To facilitate the transport of the Volksplane during my stay in Australia and during the travelling around the world, I decided to make the wings detachable. Therefore, I glued two aluminium tubes (about 1 inch long) in each wing next to the spars. The wing-struts (2 for each wing) are made of balsa and sanded in profile. At the end of each strut I glued 0,4 mm (about 1/64 inch) steel-wire, bent in a hook. This hook will fit in two eyelets (also made of piano-wire): one attached to the wing, and the other to the fuselage. With two struts on each wing, the wing is attached firm enough to the fuselage.
The two sides of the fuselage are build flat on the building board. I began with pinning down the longerons. After that, the uprights and the diagonals can be glued between the longerons. Now the reinforcement for the wing can be glued in place. At the place where the rubberpeg has to come I glued a piece of 5 mm wide balsa with a hole for the peg. When the first side of the fuselage is ready it is taken from the building board and turned over on it's other side. A piece of foil is put over it to protect it from glue. Now the next side of the fuselage can be made, using the other one as a guide. When both fuse-sides are ready, pin them upside down on the building board over the drawing of the fuselage. Now the pieces of wood that keep the fuselage-sides together can be made and glued. At the place where the fin has to come I glued two pieces of balsawood with aluminium-tube inside it (for an easy attachment of the fin). When everything has dried well, take the fuselage off the building board. The bulkheads A1, B1, C1 and D1 can now be glued on the frontside of the fuselage. When this is done, the balsa covering can be glued on. For the attachment of the wing 4 short pieces of 1 mm steelwire have to be glued to the fuselage. This must be done precisely, because the wing incidence will be fixed after gluing. First, draw the place where the 4 pegs have to come (with help of the wing and the place of the alu tubes in the wing). Be careful to take a wing incidence of about 3 to 5 degrees. When the right place is found, make 4 holes in the fuselage where the pegs will fit in. Next, glue the bulkheads (where the pegs are glued on) in the fuselage. Now lay the fuselage on a flat surface, but make sure the top longerons are horizontal (see figure). Place a piece of balsa under the fuselage to keep it in the same position. Position the 4 pegs in the fuselage and put the wings on the pegs. Make two jigs with the correct wing-incidence (the measurements are in the figure below) and place one under each wingtip. Glue the wingpegs on to the bulkheads in the fuselage. At the position where the landinggear will be glued, the fuselage is reinforced with balsa. Now the landinggear, made of balsa and steelwire, can be glued on the fuselage (after covering). The wheels are made of balsa.
The front part of the stabiliser is made of sheetbalsa. This part is pinned down on the building board first. Then the rest can be made, pinned down and glued together. The trimtab is made of solid balsa and is attached to the stabiliser with copperwire hinges. When all parts are glued, and the glue is dry, sand the stabiliser in a symmetrical profile. For the attachment of the stabiliser to the fuselage there are two pieces of steelwire glued to the leading edge, which will fit in two alu tubes glued on the fuselage. The building of the fin is the same as for the stabiliser. First, pin down the leading- and trailing edge. Next, glue the ribs between the leading- and trailing edge. As finishing touch, sand the fin in a symmetrical profile. For the attachment of the fin to the fuselage, I used two pieces of steelwire that will fit in alu tube in the fuselage.
I never intend to fly with models at contests that haven't flown before. But like always, I ended up testflying the Volksplane at the contest in Belgium. Because the model came out a bit heavy (heavier at least then what I'm used to with my scale models) I chose what I thought was a big strand of rubber. But this wasn't even big enough to make it move from it's place! After a lot of trying with different sizes I managed to persuade the Volksplane that it was an airplane and not a car (it was finally flying instead of driving around in circles). It was then flying in tight circles, because I was afraid that it would hit the wall or some tables. In February we had a flying day in a gym-hall in Utrecht and because there was no program for that day I decided to trim the Volksplane for our Scale Indoor Nats next month. Because I wasn't very happy with the very tight circle (that was the cause that the Volksplane didn't gain any height), I tried to open it up with some right-trust. Now it did gain height, even more than I ever wanted! After a nice start and climb it was circling around at cruising height (about 3 metres above the ground) in far too wide circles. I wasn't able to catch it before it hit the wall. Luckily enough there was no damage at all, thanks to the very solid front and the detachable wings. In the end I'm happy I finished this airplane. It is a reasonable good looking airplane, but it won't be a winner at contests. For that it is not complex enough. But indoors it is (now) a fine performer and it would have been magnificent to fly it outdoors at your Nats.
| 1 | Leading edge stabiliser | Balsawood | 20 x 2 x 170 |
| 2 | Trailing edge stabiliser | Balsawood | 3 x 2 x 170 |
| 3 | Ribs stabiliser | Balsawood | 1 x 2 x 31 |
| 4 | Trimtab stabiliser | Balsawood | 10 x 2 x 89 |
| 5 | End-rib stabiliser | Balsawood | 1,5 x 2 x 73 |
| 6 | Hinge stabiliser trimtab | Copperwire | Ø 0,5 x 7 |
| 7 | Attachment stab-fuselage | Steelwire | Ø 0,8 x 20 |
| 8 | Leading edge fin | Balsawood | 18 x 2 x 83 |
| 9 | Trailing edge fin | Balsawood | 3 x 2 x 83 |
| 10 | Ribs fin | Balsawood | 1 x 2 x 41 |
| 11 | Trimtab fin | Balsawood | 5 x 1 x 45 |
| 12 | Reinforcement for steelwire | Balsawood | 6 x 3 x 18 |
| 13 | Attachment fin-fuselage | Steelwire | Ø 0,8 x 24 |
| 14 | Leading edge wing | Balsawood | 3 x 4 x 276 |
| 15 | Trailing edge wing | Balsawood | 6 x 3 x 276 |
| 16 | Spar wing | Balsawood | 1,5 x 6 x 276 |
| 17 | Spar wing | Balsawood | 1 x 6 x 276 |
| 18 | Ribs wing | Balsawood | 1 thick x 96 |
| 19 | Root-rib + End-rib wing | Balsawood | 3 thick x 96 |
| 20 | End-rib Aileron | Balsawood | 1 thick x 50 |
| 21 | Wing struts | Balsawood | 5 x 2 x 105 |
| 22 | Reinforcement for attachment of wingstruts | Balsawood | 1 thick x 4 |
| 23 | Alu tube in wing | Aluminium | Øi = 0,8 x 25 |
| 24 | Hinge aileron | Copperwire | Ø 0,5 x 7 |
| 25 | Longerons | Balsawood | 2 x 2 x 387 |
| 26 | Uprights | Balsawood | 2 x 2 |
| 27 | Diagonals | Balsawood | 1 x 2 |
| 28 | Wingreinforcement | Balsawood | 1 mm thick |
| 29 | Rubberpeg reinforcement | Balsawood | 5 x 2 x 22 |
| 30 | Finattachment | Balsawood | 3 x 2 x 17 |
| 31 | Alu tube (Stabiliser + Fin) | Aluminium | Øi = 0,8 x 10 |
| 32 | Landinggear attachment | Balsawood | 2 mm thick |
| 33 | Front covering | Balsawood | 1 mm thick |
| 34 | Bulkheads | Balsawood | 2 mm thick |
| 35 | Noseblock | Solid balsa | 7 |
| 36 | Wingpegs | Steelwire | Ø = 1,5 x 50 |
| 37 | Bulkheads for wingpegs | Balsawood | 2 mm thick |
| 38 | Cockpit-piece | Solid balsa; hollow out | 12 mm thick |
| 39 | Cockpit glass | Plastic | |
| 40 | Landinggear axle | Steelwire | Ø = 1 x 165 |
| 41 | Reinforcement landinggear | Balsawood | 1 x 135 |
| 42 | Wheel | Balsawood | Ø = 34, b = 12 |
| Nr | Part | Material | Measurement (mm) |