American Gyro AG4 Crusader 36" span

[Bill G]

I found this plan at outerzone.uk, which is likely an old FF free plan from Model Aircraft Builder. I haven't found any photos of a model built from the plan, as it may have never been prototyped before publishing the plans. The plans were enlarged to 36" span, using the advanced CAD package MS Paint. I'm not sure what I was thinking in choosing this subject after the Aerovan, and it is already obvious that the Aerovan was a very simple build, compared with this one.
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=907

I'll call this build a scratch build, as the plan is more of a "rough guide" with grey areas, some dimensional inconsistencies and lacking boom details. There are some areas that may not go together quite as intended, from what I see so far. Irregardless, the are a number of these old plans appearing on the web, that provide a good starting point for unique subjects.

The booms appear to be shown as simple, built-up design. I was tempted to go that route, but the oval shape would require a good bit of sculpting, with the potential of having heavy booms, given the stock thickness that would be required for the shaping. The boom formers were hand drawn, and will be former and stringer construction, with 1/32" sheeting.

There is a previous Crusader build on rcg by Albyone that has flown, which is similar to how this will go together. After a bit of debating, I decided to build the fuse, inner wing panels and booms as a single assembly, with the outer wing panels being attached later. It's a toss up, as to what method one chooses to build a subject like this. Obviously there will be a good effort to mount all gear and battery as far forward as possible.

There are a number of photos here, from the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/4589598281/